University relationshipsa social capital perspective

Resumo

The PhD dissertation by Khalid Al Sulemaini addresses an issue that is relevant in the current state of the art in competitiveness and territorial development literature. It is widely accepted that universities are facing the challenge of adapting their activity in order to respond to the challenges of the territories where they are located. In order to do so, they need to establish relationships with other actors in these territories, such as governments and firms. But few analytical frameworks go into detail on how these relationships can be developed. The dissertation contributes in the search for the answer to this challenge. The research design is clearly presented as well as the learning process through which the PhD candidate has evolved to reach the results. The starting point in this path is the literature review on social capital. The candidate proposes this concept as a relevant one to understand the relationships of university with the other actors in territorial development. Then the candidate reviews the literature on innovation and competitiveness, with special emphasis on national and regional innovation systems in order to identify which are the main relationships that should be studied to understand how university relates to its environment. The table synthetising the different relationships and how literature has described them is one of the relevant contributions of this dissertation. Combining the literature on social capital and on innovation and competitiveness the candidate proposes an analytical framework to study social capital in university relationships. This is the second relevant contribution of the candidate in this dissertation. Following a deductive path the dissertation evolves from the literature and the analytical framework to the field work. This part of the dissertation starts with a method chapter where the process followed to elaborate the field work is described. The candidate has studied two cases using qualitative methods and conducting in depth interviews with a considerable number of actors involved in university relationships not only at university, but also in governments and firms. One of them is a university in Oman, the other a university in Argentina. The results of the field work are presented in a descriptive way in two chapters, where several challenges faced by universities emerge. After the descriptive chapters on the cases, the candidate develops a discussion that combines the concepts raised in the literature review and analytical framework on the one hand and the evidence collected in the case studies. This is a third relevant contribution of the PhD, as the candidate goes beyond description, sharing more analytical insight and approaching more directly the main challenges faced by the universities analysed. The dissertation finishes with a concluding chapter where conclusions are combined with recommendations for the different actors involved in the type of university relationships analysed.