Bridging the Gap between Academia and Industry

We have always looked to higher education, business and industrial research and
development to create individual prosperity, drive societal economic development and
elevate the position of the Middle East in global commerce.

However, several chronic and persistent disconnect between and within higher
education and industry have created a gap that slows stalls or even prevents progress.
We are too satisfied with copying products and business models others have
developed. University graduates, when motivated toward entrepreneurship, will often
settle for operating a franchise or founding a distributorship rather than doing
something new and creative. We are not aiming far enough.

These problems are not beyond our ability to solve, but it requires new ways of viewing
some long-established systems and relationships, and the willingness to break with
tradition for the betterment of both academia and industry.

I have identified eight areas where we can do much better. I am going to look more
closely at each of these areas and you will see as we proceed that there is a good deal of
interconnectivity between several.

1. Curricula and job market do not correspond

There is a huge gap between what is being taught in our universities and what industry
actually needs in terms of professional skills and talents. Universities in the Middle
East, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, tend to focus on theory. The
reasons for this are easy to understand. After all, higher education is itself an industry,
and as such it tends to find the best ways to perpetuate itself. To do that it has made the
elevation and advancement of theories one of its primary products. I dont want to
shortchange the importance of theories or market analyses at all. Great business minds
always need to be looking at where we are, how economies function and more.

However, today too much teaching is concentrated in these areas and not enough in
providing industry with graduates who are ready to hit the ground running when
they enter the private workforce. Why do we put the burden on industry to essentially
retrain our graduates in the more practical aspects of commerce?

2. Internships vs cooperative education

The short-term internship is a standard component of many higher education degree

programs. On the face of it, it seems like a great idea: Get students out into companies
for some practical experience. But in my observation, the system has degraded badly. It
has become such an ordinary and automatic requirement that few give it the attention it
deserves.
From the academic side, it is merely a requirement that must be met. From the industry
side, it is often a barely tolerated workplace disruption. Students swarm into the office,
commanding the time of regular employees only to be quickly gone. Interns typically
spend their time as document controllers and pick up little or no practical knowledge.

The mold needs to be broken and a more cooperative approach established between
business and academia. Elevate the importance of internships and the amount of time
invested in them. Schools need to more closely monitor the duties and responsibilities
interns are given to be sure they are substantive.

Let us consider the fact that students, when doing their internships, tend to avoid
working at a startup even if it is very promising. They lean toward having the big
names on their CVs; this attitude harms not only startups that are looking for fresh
minds, but the students themselves. Frankly, the amount of experience students acquire
while working at a corporation cannot be compared to what they get working for a
startup. In startups they dont have templates, they learn to improvise, think on their
feet and think outside the box. Universities should make students aware of these
differences and encourage students to be more daring. Yes, a big name on your CV will
help you get a good job. I suggest doing two internships!

3. Intellectual Property Ownership

Mark Zuckerberg, who invented Facebook, did it on his own time while a student at
Harvard. Would he have bothered if he knew that all the royalties or income from
Facebook would go into university coffers? Further, was the university system itself
even capable of making something like Zuckerberg created? He didnt think so.
Zuckerberg told the campus newspaper, Everyones been talking a lot about a
universal face book within Harvard. I think it is kind of silly that it would take the
University a couple of years to get around to it as I can do it better than they can, and I
can do it in a week.

Sadly, campus-based research and developmentin MENA and around the worldis
in a sorry state. Undergraduate and graduate students see it as a burden at best and a
dead end at worst. Students work for professors who are conducting research mostly to
solidify their university careers. Any intellectual property students might develop
becomes the property of the university so they have less incentive to work hard or be
creative. (If they have some great ideas, the wise ones will hold on to them until after
they graduate.)

A system in which students could enjoy the financial fruits of their intellectual property
and entrepreneurial ideas is desperately needed. If such a system creates more good
ideas, in the long run universities would enjoy even greater financial benefits than they
do today, not to mention increased stature.
4. Industry-experienced professors

This discussion started with the need for more practical and less theoretical teaching.
Another dimension of that is to find ways to offer more classes taught by professors
who have a wealth of industry experience. The old model of getting an undergraduate
degree, followed by advanced degrees, followed by a university teaching position is
woefully inadequate today. Universities must require their professors to have serious
industry experience before securing a teaching position. Students relate much better to
professors who can speak from real-life situations and more fully express the practical
implications of case studies. Also, professors with practical experience will be sought
after by industries looking for solutions to problems. This will strengthen the ties
between universities and industry and create many ancillary benefits for students.

5. The rush for advanced degrees

For many students there is no question that they will move straight to grad school after
being awarded their bachelors degree. The market for MBAs is saturated. That
depresses salaries and perhaps the entire MBA-mill is dulling our ability to sense what
is really important.

Recently Forbes named its top 10 entrepreneurs for 2013. I dont think one MBA holder
made the list, although college dropout Evan Spiegel did. Spiegel, who founded
Snapchat, turned down a $3 billion buyout offer from Facebook. Moreover, if you think
a business or technical degree is critical, consider Bre Petits who is a major player in the
3-D printing revolution. He studied psychology, mythology and performing arts on his
way to a bachelors degree. And how about author and investor Tim Ferriss who has a
degree in East Asian Studies?

Certainly we need people with the knowledge and skills gained in most MBA
programs. But more than that we need people who can see beyond what exists today
and have the courage and ambition to create tomorrows new realities. And this leads to
my final three points.

6. R&D is under appreciated

A theme that runs through much of what I have been saying here is that in the Middle
Eastin both industry and academiaresearch and development is under appreciated.
Frankly, it should be treasured the most in both places and its position intentionally
elevated. More resources must be invested in R&D. Hey, what will we do if the other
guys run out of ideas? I dont think we should have any trouble attracting the worlds
best minds to MENA, but they wont come here if there arent exciting new areas being
researched and new products and services being developed. To me, this potential is
exciting.
7. Universities as incubators

We should begin to see universities as startup incubators. For example, a group of

students doing their senior design project could be given an intellectual property of the
universitys and start a company around it under the auspices of the university. The
university has a good infrastructure and could also offer faculty supervision, which
would be very helpful if the professors have strong real-world experience. Everyone
benefits from relationships like these. If the startup is successful, jobs are created along
with income for the school, an enhanced reputation for the university and an ongoing
synergy between the school and business.

8. Link technical and business schools

Engineering students get little or no exposure to the realities of business. However, the
ultimate success or failure of anything they develop depends entirely on the products
success in the marketplace. On the other hand, business students dont know what
tomorrows engineers are capable of creating. Top tier universities in the United States,
including Stanford, are making an entrepreneurship and commercial viability element
part of their curriculum for engineering students. Who knows what will happen after
teaming up business and engineering students. The possibilities are virtually endless.

This is my list of eight strategies to unleash real entrepreneurship throughout the

Middle East. I am sure there are other things that could be done. But no matter how
long our to do lists are, the important thing is to start now.