Three steps to sustainable university-industry-government alliances

How can we make concepts such as enterprise systems or digital transformation tangible to business students who lack professional experience? While textbooks and lectures have their place, true understanding often blossoms from practical application. 

After a three-year journey of experimentation and partnership building, we have found that a deliberate, multi-stakeholder collaboration between a university, industry partners and government-affiliated bodies provides a powerful solution. This approach not only enriches the student experience but also creates a sustainable ecosystem of shared value. Here’s how you can build a similar model starting with a single course and scaling up.

1. Start small and build credibility

Instead of attempting a university-wide overhaul from the outset, select one course where an industry partnership can make a significant and measurable impact. For us, this was an undergraduate business information systems course. The challenge was to teach enterprise resource planning (ERP), an integrated software system that manages core business processes, in an engaging way.

To address this, we partnered with System Analysis Program Development, a global leader in enterprise software, to introduce ERPsim, a business simulation platform that gives students hands-on experience running a virtual company. The key to this initial success was choosing a partner whose educational tools aligned with our learning objectives. Finding the right partner and building a healthy relationship requires a strategic approach. Our advice is to:

Start with your learning objectives. Identify the practical skills you want students to develop, then search for industry leaders in that domain. Your university’s alumni network and careers service are excellent starting points.

Define mutual value. A successful partnership is a two-way street. While you gain access to industry tools and expertise, consider what you can offer in return. This could be access to emerging talent, feedback on their educational tools or increased brand visibility.

Begin with a small, manageable “ask”. Start by inviting a potential partner for a single guest lecture or a one-off workshop. This lowers the barrier to entry and allows both sides to gauge the potential for a deeper collaboration.

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2. Weave in the governmental strand

While a strong university-industry partnership is a great start, involving a third governmental or quasi-governmental partner can amplify your impact and add a layer of strategic relevance. In our case, we engaged the Suzhou Fintech Association, a government-supported organisation dedicated to connecting academia with the local tech industry. This was not a formal, bureaucratic process but a strategic alliance.

Organisations such as chambers of commerce, regional development agencies or industry-specific councils can facilitate connections with a wider network of companies, offer insights into regional economic priorities and help align your curriculum with broader policy goals. These bodies lend legitimacy to your efforts and help ensure that your students are learning skills that are directly relevant to the region’s economic future, making your programme a vital part of the local talent pipeline.

3. Scale success from classroom to curriculum

The relationships you build and the data you gather during your initial pilot project are the currency you will use to fund larger ambitions. The success of our ERP simulation, backed by positive student feedback and strong industry engagement, provided a clear business case for embedding this collaborative philosophy into a new MSc Digital Business programme. Rather than designing courses in isolation, we made multi-stakeholder engagement the cornerstone of the curriculum design process.

We led comprehensive design sessions with senior executives from a range of companies who invested significant time in helping us identify skills gaps and co-design projects and assessments. The key lesson is to treat industry leaders as genuine curriculum partners, not just occasional guest speakers. To do this, you can:

• Invite them to formal curriculum review meetings, not just advisory boards. Give them a seat at the table where decisions about content, skills and assessment are made.
• Co‑design assignments with industry partners to reflect real-world business challenges, ensuring authenticity and relevance. Clarify the competencies students need on the job and align the training plan with these
• Engage industry partners in assessment, either as competition judges or reviewers. This provides direct, professional feedback and reinforces the partnership's value, while ensuring assessment measures applied competencies rather than just conceptual knowledge.

The success of our pilot gave collaborators the confidence to invest their time. This scaled-up model moved beyond simulation to authentic professional experiences, using complex systems that mirror real-world enterprise environments. The impact was clear: student engagement soared and employers praised our graduates for their practical skills and professional maturity.

Lessons for lasting collaboration

Building a thriving university-industry-government ecosystem is an ongoing process, not a one-off project. Our journey from a single-course innovation to a programme-wide transformation highlights three core principles for success. First, start with authentic partnerships that provide genuine, mutual value. Second, ensure sustainability by cultivating relationships through regular communication and continuous feedback. Finally, measure and showcase your impact to build the credibility required for future growth. By breaking down the artificial barriers between the classroom and the workplace, this framework prepares students for the challenges of the modern economy.

Qiong Ji is an associate professor in the School of Intelligent Finance at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. Junsong Chen is dean of the School of Intelligent Finance at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.