What's in it for Further Education Colleges?

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships offer college staff opportunities to:

• Apply knowledge and expertise to important business problems
• Gain experience of current business development
• Generate research ideas and teaching materials relevant to business

Each Knowledge Transfer Partnership may involve one or more Associates, can last 1, 2, 3 or, exceptionally, 4 years and the knowledge base partner may be a university or other higher education institution, or public or private research institute or organisation.

Energetic lecturers can enhance their reputations and teaching and research skills by participating in KTP. It enables them to:

• Lead rewarding collaborations with innovative businesses
• Assist strategic change in businesses
• Supervise and act as mentors for those working on company-based projects
• Enhance the business relevance of their teaching and research

A government grant, plus the contribution from the company partner, fully covers an FE College's costs of participation in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership; the grant also includes a significant contribution to overhead costs.

For each KTP Associate engaged for one year on a project, no matter what the size of the company, the total funding available is around £60,000 pa.