University Teaching and Research for Development in Africa: Industry Linkages

Abstract

This study sought to contribute to knowledge by assessing the extent to which industrylinkage strategies influence performance of universities in Kenya.  Resource based viewwas used as the main theory anchoring the study.  Cross-Sectional survey was adopted asthe research design.  The population of the study consists of sixty five (65) public andprivate universities incorporated in Kenya.  Out of this, a sample of forty seven (47)universities which had undergone at least one graduation cycle was taken.  Primary andsecondary data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires and review of existinguniversity documents and regulatory bodies websites respectively.  The instrument wastested for reliability and found fit. Analysis was undertaken using correlation andregression analyses to test hypotheses.  Analysis of variance was also used to determine thedifferences between group means. Coefficient of variation (C.V) was also used to measurevariability and consistency in scores of different universities when standard deviation andarithmetic means are compared. Out of the targeted forty seven (47) respondents fromforty seven (47) universities, a total of forty four (44) questionnaires were returned,representing 94% response rate.  It was established that positive and significantcorrelations existed between industry linkage strategies and university performance.  Theresults provided have rich implications for theory, policy and practice.  The significance offirm resources and linkage components in strategy formulation and implementation cannotbe overlooked.  The findings offer insights to university authorities and policy makers byanswering the question on the role of industry linkage strategies and universityperformance.  The key recommendation that the study offers to the stakeholders, is theneed to consider industry linkage aspects during strategy formulation and implementationprocess in order to substantially exploit the synergies resulting from enhanced symbioticcorrelations between university education and the industry. The main limitation of thisstudy is that primary data was collected from only one respondent per university but common methods bias was mitigated through the use of additional secondary data tovalidate primary data.  Thus, the limitation did not affect the credence of the results aspresented and discussed.  Secondly, although it was not possible to include all thedeterminants of institutional performance, balanced score card was appropriately used torepresent financial and non-financial aspects that constitute performance indicators.