Transformation via Academic Partnership: A Tale of Two Cities

World economies should thrive because governments build universities as the primary movers for development. Yet we see a lot of economies stagnating because the universities become ivory towers of intellectual elites. The tale of the two cities in the midsection of the Philippines are living manifestations of the legacy of a higher education institution going beyond and out of the four walls of the university to be relevant in helping the local government units perform their functions in innovating and building communities for national development. The academic partnership with the private sector (industry) and the government proves to be a powerful triumvirate which results to a cross subsidization and sharing of resources, synergy via concentrated collaboration to a unified goal among partners/collaborators and the systemic fusion and coexistence resulting to heightened relevance of each in the development process. This book is intended for local government unit executives and university administrators to become more purposeful in catalyzing change and innovation to make the lives of the people they serve better in communities.