Draft Vision Statement for Ideal Relationship Between
Academia, Industry and Government
The following is a vision statement about what an ideal relationship
between industry and academia would look like, from the standpoint
of academia. Participants in the visioning exercise were asked
to imagine what things would look like in ten years, if industrial
academic cooperation proceeded in an ideal fashion.
A few comments about this statement may be helpful:
The process for constructing this vision may be of interest. Bill
Parr drafted a few initial bullets, and then sent them out via
email to a large number of heads and chairs of statistics programs,
seeking inputs and contributions. The contributions were obtained,
integrated into the document, and then the document was sent out
again. This process was repeated five times, with an average of
over 40 responses being received per revision. The following vision
document is the result of that work.
Some of the content of the vision deserves a little discussion:
Receiving particularly large amounts of discussion were the notes
on academic values, particularly those regarding valuing sending
a Ph.D. to a good industrial position equally with sending a Ph.D.
to a good academic position, and regarding valuing joint publications
on significant real applied problems equally with theoretical
publications on significant problems.
During the presentation of this vision to a joint meeting of institutional
(industrial and governmental) and academic representatives, one
particular suggestion of merit (not in the draft of the vision
statement) which found general favor was that academic programs
should consistently have at least one industrial statistician
on the review team, not only academic statisticians.
And now, the draft vision statement:
VISION: Academic Standpoint
If we are successful in cooperation between industry and academia,
in 10 years we will be able to truthfully say that:
In the area of exchange:
Statisticians from academia and industry routinely exchange roles,
with faculty taking one semester to one year "sabbaticals"
from academia to contribute in industry, and industrial statisticians
taking one semester to one year "sabbaticals" to work
within universities.
In the area of education:
We (in academia) know what industrial organizations want, and
supply statisticians with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes
to be effective both when they are initially employed and throughout
their careers (through lifelong learning).
We (in academia) have real examples and applications to present
in the classroom, based on what we have learned about industrial
practice.
We (in academia) send out students routinely for internships and
co-op arrangements which benefit industry in hiring decisions,
students in better value added to their education, and academics
in more inputs for relevance. These internships and co-op arrangements
have forged strong linkages between us and industry.
We (in academia) seek out industrial statisticians to participate
with us by giving seminars to our students and helping our students
understand the current realities of industrial practice.
In the area of research:
We (in academia) are able to guide our research based on the needs
of actual users of statistics.
We (in academia) pursue industry as a developmental funding source.
We (in academia) lead industrial problem solving into the future
with new developments in theory and means to apply that theory
in industrial settings, appropriately targeted to meet real needs.
We (in academia) transfer new knowledge in multiple ways, via
courses, seminars, workshops, consulting arrangements, outgoing
students, and the written (and electronic) word.
We (in academia) have worked through current prohibitions against
proprietary research to facilitate ongoing working relationships
between universities and industry (not only between university
statisticians and industry).
In the area of academic values:
We (in academia) believe that sending a Ph.D. graduate to a good
industrial position requiring Ph.D. level competence is as valuable
to our program and the profession as sending her/him to an academic
position.
We (in academia) give as much credit for a joint publication addressing
a significant real problem in a creative way as we do for a theoretical
paper addressing a significant problem in a creative way.
We (in academia) use industry as laboratories for the development
of new theory and applicable techniques.
What do we hope to see on behalf of industry?
Industry informs academia of their needs for broadly trained statisticians
rather than menu-driven technicians.
Industry acts to energize the current batch of academicians teaching
statistics to transforming both their content and their pedagogy,
based on best current practices.
Industry supports professional societies and academic institutions
in the transfer of new knowledge through seminars, workshops and
consulting arrangements.
Industry uses the academy in the solution of industrial problems
through research grants and contracts and collaborating with academic
institutions in the establishment of research centers.
Please email comments or reactions regarding this draft vision
statement to Bill Parr at bill@billparr.org.
Thanks.