The Companies´ Benefits from their Investments in Tertiary Education

The contribution of German business to tertiary education has now been calculated for the second time in a joint study by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research (IW Koeln) and the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft, an association coordinating corporate sponsorship for universities and their students, in collaboration with IW Consult GmbH. In 2012, companies with 50 or more employees invested some 2.5 billion euro in tertiary teaching and learning, their prime aim being to improve recruitment opportunities. Almost as important for these sponsors, however, is the promotion of specialist fields of study of particular relevance to them and ensuring that students acquire knowledge and skills which can be applied in practice. Between half and two thirds of the companies involved were able to achieve these different objectives. The benefit was particularly great for those firms which sponsored students in at least four out of six different ways and which invested in universities themselves. This result suggests that companies should establish long-term partnerships with tertiary institutions where they can combine different sponsorship strategies to achieve specific goals. Regardless of whether they have already achieved their aims, most companies are keen to maintain or even expand their commitment to universities.