Collaboration is a joint work with other people or organizations to create or achieve a goal.
Collaboration in institutions can inspire teachers, students, researchers and administrators with a common vision of educational excellence and the sense of purpose needed to help achieve it.
Collaborating internally can strengthen your institution by connecting people, sharing knowledge and opportunities across enterprises, increasing internal competencies, leveraging specialization, and identifying needs and effective advocates.
Collaborative education programs can offer student recruitment opportunities, increase IU’s visibility in other countries and with international institutions of higher education, and foster faculty research collaboration.
There have been an increase in interest around enhancing academic and student affairs collaboration. Researchers are writing about the need for collaboration to increase student learning and improving college retention.
We will be outlining and discussing the roles of collaboration in higher institutions below.
- Collaboration promotes collegiality to build companionship and friendships
Encouraging collaboration among teachers and students is a way that department heads can improve collegiality.
Collegiality can be a yardstick for promotion at higher education institutions. The ability to work with others is a key social skill that enhances an individual’s professional life. With frequent collaborations on research and teaching projects. New friendships are forged, and new ideas are created. One of the positive side-effects of collegiality is a higher retention rate of faculty members. It is true that happier faculty members tend to be more productive and will be more likely to stay put.
- Collaboration increases productivity
Collaboration is often seen as a group effort and often a top-down directive. Environment is certainly an important aspect of collaboration, and a culture of collaboration with the goal of improving productivity may be even more attractive to faculty members. A collaborative culture can elevate productivity through the sharing of information and resources, mutual trust and respect, effective communication and the pursuit of a common goal.
Prioritising collaboration over competition has the potential to greatly benefit organisations, including higher education institutions. By focusing on fostering collaboration and cultivating a collaborative environment,
- Collaboration indulges students to brainstorm together
When we put our heads together, we perform better than when we work alone. We are also more likely to discuss ideas and generate new perspectives when more people are involved. Therefore, faculty and students are encouraged to join forces with one another to cooperate, brainstorm and work together on projects. This can serve as an opportunity to check for flaws and/or refine ideas. One important thing to remember is that effective communication and teamwork skills are often the real rewards of these collaborations.
- Collaboration indulges students to Learning new things and having new perspectives
Collaborating with individuals from diverse backgrounds, be they faculty or students, leads to new ways of thinking and creative solutions to a challenge.
People from different backgrounds or disciplines see same thing in very different ways. A different perspective can help us understand a situation in a new light, to consider and learn from the beliefs and viewpoints of others. The ability to see from others’ perspective will also help reduce conflict and prejudice.
- Collaboration shakes off loneliness
Research collaborations may not only improve research output, but potentially provide an effective way to cope with academic loneliness.
2014 survey conducted in the UK found that more than 40 per cent of researchers feel lonely at work. Being merged to carry out a research program with other parties is just a perfect way to stay active in company of your research team mate.