University-business collaboration (UBC) is expected to play a critical role in shaping future economies, both in stimulating innovation and in supporting Australia’s largest service export, education-related travel services. Yet UBC remains limited in Australia, despite proven benefits such as patents and publication outputs. This paper takes a consumer perspective to investigate less visible outcomes of such collaborations. Results of an experiment show significant benefits of research- and teaching-oriented UBC for industry partners, especially in relation to reputation for innovation and attitude towards the firm. While the perceived research quality of universities improved, hypothesized effects on teaching quality were not confirmed. These results suggest marketing as a potential agent for change, encouraging further collaboration by focusing on effects for universities and their industry partners. The paper concludes with future research directions for this critical area devoid of attention from marketing academics.