Exploratory analysis of university-industry interactions: the case of Nigerian oil sector

This paper examines the extent and nature of interaction between the university and firms in the Nigerian oil sector. The study through the use of questionnaire elicits information from 150 indigenous oil firms operating at the upstream sub-sector of the industry. Path analysis and correlation analysis were used to determine the weights and the significant impact of the industrial relationship with the university. The result revealed that there is a low level of interactions between the indigenous firms in oil industry and university in Nigeria. The outcome of this study further showed that engagement of academic staff in project/consultancy, joint research between university and oil industry, attendance of training program/workshops and student internship are found to have more effect in contributing to university-industry interactions; and these factors are positively and statistically significant to university-industry interaction. However, while licensing of university held patents and the use of university laboratory have weak correlations to university-industry interaction, path analysis further showed that the use of university laboratory was not statistically significant to university-industry interactions.