Building a sustainable university–community partnership: case study in science education

Abstract

Collaboration with the educational systems is needed to leverage the community to address the problem of declining interest in science education among young people, yet building effective university–community partnerships is a highly complex process. This research investigated partnership building in a regional science initiative designed to encourage and develop relationships between academic experts, scientists, engineers, and community. The study goals were to evaluate (1) the organizational structures that enable operation of a multi-organizational regional partnership; (2) the members’ perceptions of the common goals benefits and costs of participation in the partnership. Using the sequential mixed-method approach, 60 interviews conducted in the first phase were used to develop a questionnaire to which 224 partners responded. The research results provided a comprehensive evaluation of the university–community partnership. The results also demonstrated the effectiveness of a scale employed defining four hierarchical levels of partnership for assessing the development of any partnership over time.