The role of an external facilitator in developing new co-creation platforms in university education

Abstract

<p>

Previous studies suggest that change in education is often initiated with the recruitment of an external facilitator, faculty with industry experience or newly hired faculty replacing those retiring [1,2]. The main interests of this study are twofold: what role does an external facilitator have in a change process and to discuss whether new development should be initiated, sustained and facilitated from within the organization or by an external change agent.<br />This paper relies on two case studies, one in Austria and one China. Firstly, a case study on an environment supporting an interdisciplinary product development course hosted by a University of Technology in Austria. And secondly, a case study of Sino-Finnish Centre, a collaboration platform between a Finnish and Chinese university. The aims of both cases were essentially similar: to create new practices, a collaborative learning environment and more student-centric culture based on an existing experiential learning platform. In both the change was initiated with a recruitment of an external facilitator. However, the starting points varied significantly: in China the intention was to form a formal strategic partnership between the two universities and the new platform was supposed to be the tangible collaboration environment, whereas in Austria the interest was to create a more student-centric and vibrant atmosphere and a supporting environment around an interdisciplinary product development course.<br /></p>