Managing Multi-Stakeholder Partnership (MSP) in Higher Education: Challenges, Opportunities and Implications for Sustainable Development

Abstract

Higher education, by its very nature, is a collaborative enterprise. It involves partnerships between different actors and stakeholders: policy/decision-makers, educators, researchers, curriculum designers, university leaders, the community and the labor market. While there is an increasing volume of work on public-private partnership, there is much to be desired in the sphere of multistakeholder partnership (MSP) in higher education in general and the significance of MSP for sustainable development, in particular. This presentation attempts to assess the role of multistakeholders in higher education for sustainable development. The principal objective of the study is to outline the essential features, opportunities and challenges related to MSPs that can have considerable bearing on the quality, relevance and contributions of tertiary education to the implementation of national regional and international instruments or commitments including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The paper is based on a desk review of the literature. The method of analysis is qualitative interpretation. The primary focus of the study is to pin-point areas of future empirical studies on MSPs and their role in strengthen higher education in both the public and private higher sectors.