Universities are increasingly seen as key drivers in regional workforce development, but many still struggle to create truly responsive partnerships with industry. Our experience shows that when collaborations are designed with mutual value in mind – from co-developed teaching to joint research – they can strengthen local economies and open up meaningful work pathways for students.
Here are key considerations:
1. Align teaching and training with regional industry needs
Partnering with your region’s economic development agencies, who have a mandate to drive growth and identify emerging industries, is a way to discover how a university can contribute to local development. It might include collaborating on research or developing course content that aligns with priority sectors and ensures graduates are work-ready.
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To address local skills shortages and support economic priorities, universities can co-design programmes with industry. For example, a regional economic growth strategy based on aerospace has led to an engineering minor being co-developed with local businesses. Proprietary research has also been undertaken collaboratively with aerospace industry partners. As a result, students are immersed in cutting-edge technologies, ensuring academic content reflects current and emerging trends, while supporting the growth of the local businesses within the aerospace sector.
Lesson: Partner with industry and economic development agencies to meet the current and future workforce needs.
2. Use ‘pull’ research partnerships to respond to industry needs
University research can be a powerful lever for regional development and graduate employment, but only if it is well connected to industry needs. Adopting a “pull” collaboration model (where industry informs research direction) creates more relevant outputs, and better student learning experiences, than a “push” model (where research is generated and offered to industry).
Collaboration between power companies and universities in Aotearoa New Zealand, for instance, has enabled applied research aligned with challenges such as energy efficiency and decarbonisation. The Aruhiko Power Engineering Excellence Trust (PEET) provides a template: it funds scholarships, hosts a liaison officer embedded in a university, and ensures that postgraduate research is co-developed with member organisations across the sector.
This collaboration has enabled the power industry to innovate rapidly within the sector and has attracted many high-quality graduates into the university programmes and the industry. The formal structure, including a fully funded liaison position, has ensured the long-term viability of academic programmes, enabled research that meets industry demands, and has created a workforce tailored to industry demands.
Lesson: Establish long-term research partnerships with industry groups or consortia to ensure alignment, continuity and mutual value.
3. Bridge the transition from study to work with meaningful experience
It’s in both universities’ and industry’s interests that graduates succeed when they transfer to the workforce, and collaboration can smooth this transition. Graduates perform better when they have had exposure to authentic workplace experiences during study.
Internships and industry projects also shape students’ confidence and their professional identity. Course-based internship programmes help students to develop their employability skills in a supportive and encouraging way, while providing the community and businesses with value in solving problems that may not be addressed in business as usual.
Government-supported schemes, such as New Zealand’s summer R&D experience grants, subsidise student summer internships and reduce the costs for employers. These experience grants are highly innovation-oriented, adding to the R&D capability of organisations while giving high-quality experience to students.
Lesson: Encourage low-barrier, high-impact engagement opportunities between students and employers to support smoother transitions into work.
4. Support the development of the existing workforce, not just new graduates
Universities have an important role to play in reskilling and upskilling the current workforce. Professional education, when done in partnership with industry, can strengthen organisational capability and open new pathways for individuals.
When developing short courses or microcredentials, co-design is key. For employers, the advantage of co-designing courses in, for example, project management or artificial intelligence, can allow them to fill critical skill gaps while workers remain productive on the job. Online delivery, with flexible formats, makes upskilling accessible to working professionals.
For universities, co-creation ensures that course content is up to date and relevant to industry’s needs. This enables the university to develop new content and provide more short courses, and has encouraged students to continue their studies into full university programmes such as a master’s in business administration.
Lesson: Collaborate with employers to identify priority skills for development and deliver agile programmes that support lifelong learning.
5. Build relationships before formal agreements
Strong partnerships often grow from informal engagement. One New Zealand-based engineering company has attracted top graduates through sustained involvement in student clubs, guest lecturing and summer internships. This informal visibility positioned them as an employer of choice for graduates and led naturally to formal agreements, including funding collaborative research and talent development strategies.
Lesson: Focus on building trust and shared purpose before launching large-scale initiatives. Start small, stay visible and listen to industry needs.
Think opportunity, not compliance
Universities around the world are under pressure to better align graduate outcomes with workforce needs. But this isn’t just a compliance challenge; it’s an opportunity. By working hand in hand with industry, universities can become catalysts for regional transformation, not just suppliers of talent. By supporting this regional development, researchers can work at the cutting edge of innovation, grow local economies and ensure graduates have greater opportunities through an ever-increasing workforce demand.
The most successful partnerships value co-creation, prioritise real-world relevance and remain adaptable as the employment landscape evolves.
Grant Ritchie is the employer engagement lead at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury.
The University of Canterbury is the host of THE Campus Live ANZ “Local roots to global reach: Shaping ANZ universities’ future” on 2-3 September 2025.
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