ED-98/CONF.202/13
Paris, August 1998
Original English

Thematic Debate: "Contributing to National and Regional Development"

Leader: CRE/Columbus

Drafted by: John Goddard

University of Newcastle upon Tyne

in collaboration with:

 

 

       . Association of Arab Universities (AAU)

       . Association of African Universities (AAU)

       . Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU)

       . Association of Universities of Asia and the Pacific (AUAP)

       . Conseil Africain et Malgache pour l'Enseignement Supérieur (CAMES)

       . The Association of European Universities (CRE)

       . Community of Mediterranean Universities (CUM)

       . United Nations' Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean)

       .International Association of Agricultural Students (IAAS)

       . Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

       . Inter American Organization for Higher Education (IOHE)

       . METROPOLIS

       . OECD, IMHE Programme

       . Programme of Research and Liaison between Universities for Development (PRELUDE)

       . Union des Universités de l'Amérique Latine (UDUAL)

       . Natura Network

       . Utrecht Network

       . World Federation of Teachers' Unions

 

 

 

ED-98/CONF.202.CLD.9

Summary

Not only has regional or local intervention become more important to economic success, but there has been a qualitative shift in the form of local policy towards indigenous entrepreneurship and innovation, and to providing a more sophisticated environment for mobile capital so as to maximise local value added (R&D and other higher status jobs, successful and therefore growing firms). This leads to a greater concern to harness university education and research to specific economic and social objectives.

Nowhere is this demand for specificity more clear than in the field of regional development. While universities and located in regions, questions are being asked about what contribution they make to the development of those regions? Whilst it might be possible to identify passive impacts of universities in terms of direct and indirect employment, how can the resources of universities be mobilised to actively contribute to the development process?

This implies a better understanding of universities on the part of regional actors and agencies and of regional dynamics on the part of the universities. An obvious starting for such an understanding can be provided by an audit of existing regionally relevant activities with the audit being jointly commissioned by universities and regional agencies. It may be that regional agencies have not clearly articulated regional needs and there may have been many missed opportunities for productive engagement. To reveal these opportunities, it will be necessary for universities to enter into a dialogue with various stakeholders in the regional development process (e.g. local and regional elected authorities, employers and employers'organisations, regional media).

Improved integration of universities with regional development will not be readily achieved by top down planning mechanisms at either the institutional or regional level but by ensuring that the various stakeholders in the regional development process - education and training providers, employers'organistions, trade unions, economic development and labour market agencies, and individual teachers and learners - have an understanding of each other's roles and the factors encouraging or inhibiting greater regional engagement.

In this paper, Professor Goddard suggests that regional criteria could be incorporated into national reaching and research assessment exercises and gives some examples.

 

 

 

The Role of Universities in Regional Development

 

Introduction

 The autonomous teaching and research activities of publicly funded universities is coming under increasing pressure from governments and their electorates. The agenda has moved on from a desire to simply increase the general education level of the population and the output of scientific research; there is now a greater concern to harness university education and research to specific economic and social objectives. Nowhere is this demand for specificity more clear than in the field of regional development. While universities are located in regions, questions are being asked about what contribution they make to the development of those regions? Whilst it might be possible to identify passive impacts of universities in terms of direct and indirect employment, how can the resources of universities be mobilised to actively contribute to the development process? These questions are posed because development has a strong territorial dimension - national objectives can only be achieved by realising the full potential of constituent sub-national units and in this regard universities in different regions are being required to make a contribution.

 This paper briefly outlines the impact of universities on local and regional development and then goes on to discuss some of the factors inhibiting or encouraging greater regional engagement. It argues that a prior condition for an effective dialogue between universities and regions that in turn could lead to a greater embeddedness is a better understanding of universities on the part of regional actors and agencies and of regional dynamics on the part of the universities. This paper seeks to contribute to such an understanding.

 

The Local and Regional Impact of Universities

 An obvious starting for an improved understanding can be provided by an audit of existing regionally relevant activities with the audit being jointly commissioned by universities and regional agencies. Given the diversity of universities within a national territory, it would be also desirable if such an audit were co-sponsored by central government, in collaboration with a body representing the university sector as a whole. Appendix 1 summarise such an audit undertaken for the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals in the UK.

The starting point of any audit would be a direct economic impact analysis of universities as an economic sector. Universities are major employers of relatively high grade staff with considerable local spending power. While many of these staff may not be recruited within the region, support staff will

be. The student body itself will also have a direct local impact through local purchasing. Students will be a net addition to the regional economy, insofar as they are recruited from outside the area. All of these impacts are readily measurable by conventional economic multiply analysis. Likewise the effect on the overall employment structure of each region can be readily assessed by setting higher education in the context of the overall regional profile. This might reveal university employment growing whilst other sectors (e.g. agriculture and manufacturing) may be declining.

 These direct employment impacts are essentially static. More significant are the dynamic effects which a university can have through interaction with industry. These are more difficult to measure but a university can audit the geography of its industrial interactions by identifying the location of partners in research grants and contracts, consultancy, exchanges of research staff and spin-out of university companies. Because such research based activity is essentially global in character only a small part is likely to have a regional relevance. A more significant impact is likely to be through teaching and the recruitment of graduates by regional businesses and through programmes of continuing professional development. Here it is possible to monitor the flow of students from home origins through different courses into local employment opportunities.

 The final area that an audit should cover is the contribution of universities to social and community development. In many countries there are long established regional and local variations in participation in higher education and in the skills of the local workforce. Data on the flow of students through universities of the type outlined above can also be used to identify the contribution of universities to raising levels of education attainment in different parts of the country and to enhancing skill levels of the workforce by recruiting non-local students and placing them with local employers. Vocational programmes in such areas as medicine and social sciences, which bring direct community benefits, can be identified. In addition to programmes targeted to the needs of employers, universities will need to demonstrate contributions to non-vocational education and cultural programmes in the Arts. The role of the university staff and students in providing significant local audiences for the regional arts will need to be defined. Last, but not least, the role of university staff and students in providing key leaders in local civil society by participating in voluntary activities, interpreting world affairs in the regional media and undertaking strategic analysis of the regional economy and social situation can be documented.

 In summary, the audit should provide public evidence as to how universities contribute a source of knowledge, linking the region to the wider world.

 

 

A Stakeholder Analysis

 All of these impacts may have arisen without any conscious intervention on the part of the universities or regional agencies. Universities are characteristically lightly managed institutions and beneficial regional effects may simply flow out of the teaching and research priorities set for themselves by the academic staff. At the same time, regional agencies may have not clearly articulated regional needs to the universities, particularly to individual academics responsible for the delivery teaching and research programmes (as distinct from universities' senior management). There may therefore have been many missed opportunities for productive engagement.

 To reveal these opportunities, it will be necessary for universities to enter into a dialogue with various stakeholders in the regional development process. These stakeholders are likely to include:

                  - Central Government bodies responsible for funding higher education;

                  - Local and regional elected authorities;

                  -&#9Employers and employers organisations (e.g. chambers of commerce);

                  - Arts organisations

                  - Regional media

                  - Lower tiers in the education system including schools and colleges

                  - Recent graduates, present and prospective students

 In the context of national and international influences, each of these groups will have distinct goals and missions, means of delivering on these, financial drivers and constraints and customer/client relations. The nature of the interest of these groups in the well-being of the local community and how they can be articulated to universities will also vary. Unlike universities, which seldom have a defined territory, many of these bodies will be required by law to operate within a defined administrative area. The difference in the degree of permeability of territorial boundaries will create difficulties for dialogue that will have to be overcome. Notwithstanding these difficulties the partners will need to work together towards developing a framework which focuses on the nature of their regional interests and which can provide a starting point for further discussion. One such framework, focusing on employment related issues, and developed for the UK Department of Education and Employment is summarised in Annex 2.

 

Universities and Learning Regions

 A key concept which is central to the framework set down in Annex 2 is that of the learning region. Central to any dialogue between universities and regional agencies will be an appreciation of the latest thinking about the nature of the regional development process. A brief discussion of this area of academic enquiry now follows.

 The enormous transformations in the nature of the capitalist world economy since the mid-1970s, have had major implications for economic development strategies and their governance. First, the stability of production systems, product markets and national corporate relations have been undermined by the rate of technological change, most notably through the widespread effects of generic or carrier technologies such as ICTs. Technological innovation and access to resources for innovation (skills, knowledge, information) have therefore become central to the competitive strategy of firms, which have developed new flexible structures to better utilise and capture such advantages on a global scale. States have recognised the need to maintain a position on the leading edge of technology if they are to maintain employment and growth, and hence there is an increasing attention to policies to support and promote R&D, innovation and technology transfer.

 Notwithstanding this policy orientation, the globalisation of finance and of the organisation of production - underpinned by ICTs that permit the flexible reshaping and reconfiguring of investment and resources - has weakened the bargaining power of the nation state. International bodies have encouraged greater freedom in the flow of goods and information such that now it is the nature of the production locality as much as national market characteristics that determines investment decisions. Not only has regional or local intervention become more important to economic success, but there has also been a qualitative shift in the form of local policy towards indigenous entrepreneurship and innovation, and to providing a more sophisticated environment for mobile capital so as to maximise local value added (R&D and other high status jobs, successful and therefore growing firms).

 The importance of this perspective for managing firms and localities has been neatly captured by Kanter in her recent book World Class which is significantly subtitled " thriving locally in the global economy " (Kanter, R.M. 1995) According to Kanter, future success will come to those companies, large and small, that can meet global standards and tap into global networks. And it will come to those cities and regions that do the best job of linking the businesses that operate within them to the global economy. She argues that forces of globalisation are so powerful that communities must connect the global and the local and create a civic culture to attract and retain or " embed " footloose investment. The challenge is to find ways in which the global economy can work locally by unlocking those resources which distinguish one place from another. The essential argument here is that universities can provide a vital locational asset within the global economy.

 Kanter goes on to argue that in the face of these globalising pressures, organisations have no alternative but to continually improve and attempt to be world class by paying attention to what she calls the 3 Cs - concepts, competence and connections. She links this to geography by suggesting that " world class places can help grow these assets by offering innovative capabilities, production capabilities, quality skill, learning, networking and collaboration. " The location of universities in regions is a powerful facilitator of these processes - concepts links to research; competence links to teaching and connections links to the transfer to and from a region of people and networks grown out of universities.

 In order to realise such policy shifts, local policy has needed to be innovative and entrepreneurial itself, typically through drawing on a wider network of resources, negotiating and building alliances between local and other tiers of government, universities, private sector interests and non-profit organisations. Thus the successful entrepreneurial municipality shifts from being an arm of the national welfare state to a catalyst for local co-operation and policy innovation.

 Regional success has been characterised by a range of different models, but with a common agreement as to the factors underpinning success: agglomeration economies, economies of scope, trust, networks of small firms and supportive institutions. Central to successful innovation are the structures and modes of interaction between knowledge producers, disseminators and users. Since technologies embody both people and ideas as well as physical artefacts, transactions involving extensive interaction and iterative communication are widely believed to be necessary as a means of facilitating exploitation. This 'organised' method of exchange can encompass both physical technology and/or employees - including producers, disseminators and users - moving between institutions while maintaining close linkages for instance, between universities and linked 'spin-off' companies.

 Within this overall policy environment geographical differences in the nature of cultures, institutions and legacies of past industrial practices will clearly influence the effectiveness of the dissemination of knowledge between and within institutions whether at national or regional scales. Differences are particularly evident if interpreted as uneven capabilities in effectively organising, through informal or formal means, market transactions. For example, Lundvall illustrates the importance of a common culture and language shared by users and producers to facilitate the transmission and translation of highly encoded information such as R & D results. (Lundvall, BÅ (1988). Differences in training cultures and attitudes towards technology are also crucial to the effectiveness of modes of communication and exchange.

 Studies of economically successful regions suggest that their success depends on what Amin and Thrift term " institutional thickness " or what Putnam calls " social capital " (Amin A and Thrift N, 1994). (Putnam, R.D. with Leonardi, R and Nenetti R.Y. 1993). Although difficult to define, this institutional thickness is more than simply a strong presence of institutional bodies and practices supporting enterprise. The institutions should have high levels of interaction, leading to structures of domination or coalition that can achieve collective representation of interests, and a mutual awareness of a common purpose: what Amin and Thrift term a 'collectivisation and corporatisation of economic life'. An attempt to shape the governance structures in local economic development, in a way that increases the likelihood of a beneficial impact must therefore be cognisant of the culture, social structures and politics of the institutional networks linking policy actors and the firms they seek to influence.

 

Defining the Learning Region

 In the context of the role of universities in economic development, the most helpful approach to operationalising these ideas can be found in the concept of the learning economy which emerges from studies of national systems of innovation. (Lundvall, B-Å, 1992), (Lundvall, B-Å, Johnson, B 1994). Here Lundvall stresses the importance of interactive learning as the basis for innovation and change in modern developed economies. He defines the learning economy in the following terms. It is an economy where the success of individuals, firms and regions, reflects the capability to learn (and forget old practices); where change is rapid and old skills get obsolete and new skills are in demand; where learning includes the building of competencies, not just increased access to information; where learning is going on in all parts of society, not just high-tech sectors; and where net job creation is in knowledge intensive sectors (high R & D, high proportion with a university degree, and job situation worsens for the unskilled).

 Within the learning economy different kinds of knowledge can be identified. First, know what, that is facts and information. Second, know why, that is principles and laws necessary to reduce trial and error; third, know how, that is the skills and capability to do something, skills that are traditionally acquired within the workplace; and finally know who, that is information about who knows how to do what and the social capability to establish relationships to special groups in order to draw on their expertise. Each of these different forms of learning uses different channels for information exchange. In the case of know what and why, formal learning in school and universities is the normal channel. Know how depends on practical experience through tacit learning (for example, through apprenticeships) but also increasingly through network relationships with industrial and commercial partners. Finally, know who is learned from social interaction via professional associations, day to day dealings with customers, sub-contractors and a wide range of other actors and agencies.

 Focusing on network knowledge, this is a hybrid form of knowledge that is neither completely public or completely private. It depends on trust not the market and is characterised by such considerations as reliability, honesty, co-operation, a sense of duty to others. Network knowledge refers not only to the skills of individuals but the transfer of knowledge from one group to another to form learning systems - the institutional infrastructure of public and private partnerships. Because network knowledge is highly dependant on interpersonal relations, it can most readily be developed within a particular region. Thus Florida argues (Florida R, 1995), 'to be effective in this increasingly borderless global economy, regions must be defined by the same criteria and elements which comprise a knowledge-intensive firm: continuous improvement, new ideas, knowledge creation and organisational learning. Regions must adopt the principles of knowledge creation and continuous learning; they must in effect become knowledge-creating or learning regions'. Key to such a learning region is the human infrastructure and the institutional mechanisms that foster interactive learning, and a central part of this infrastructure, in terms of the reproduction and adaptation of human resources, are universities.

 In the case of human capital, universities in many countries have traditionally produced raw graduates for a national labour market dominated by large employers, with little concern for SMEs or graduate retention in local labour markets. This model has begun to break down in response to changing patterns of employer demands such as the decentralisation of large corporations into clusters of smaller business units and the greater role of smaller businesses as sub-contractors, suppliers, franchisees etc. Such trends have important implications for the skills required of graduates and the location of the firms' recruitment decision. It is therefore not surprising that regional agencies are promoting graduate retention initiatives as a way of upgrading the stock of higher level local skills. In parallel with these demand side changes the expansion of higher education provision together with rising numbers experiencing the need to change career later on in life is leading to a growing supply of mature local students for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

 Notwithstanding these developments, very little is known about the flow of students through higher education into local labour markets and how this relates to the overall economic performance of regions. Yet a key characteristic of the learning region is the way in which knowledge is transferred from one group to another to create learning systems. In terms of universities this includes knowledge of the appropriate skills and competencies required of the workforce.

 What constitutes " appropriate skills " will depend on the overall regional development strategy, be it indigenous development based on local enterprise, exogenous development based on attracting inward investment, or a combination of the two, for example by upgrading local suppliers to support and " embed " inward investment. In this context, the analogy between regions and organisations is one where the shift from personnel management based around handling individual employment contracts and personal development to human resource management which harnesses people development to the strategic objectives of the organisation. So the key question becomes: " Does the region include a human resource development as part of its overall strategy? "

 This question raises a number of specific challenges concerning the type of training programmes, what institutions are best placed to provide the programme, and where within the region or for that matter outside should this provision occur.

 So an obvious requirement of a regional human resource strategy is information about future labour market needs. Given the long time lag between the identification of needs and the development of the necessary skills, one of the fundamental requirements of a learning region is the sharing of intelligence between the education and training system and employers. In addition to ensuring that the education and training system produces people with the flexibility to respond to changing labour market circumstances attention has to be paid to the specific skills and competencies required by particular industries and/or occupations.

 Labour market intelligence focuses on the direct contribution of universities to the economic success of their localities. A further question concerns the indirect contribution of universities to the social and cultural basis of effective democratic governance and, ultimately, economic success. For example, Putnam, has shown the strong relationship between civic culture and institutions (understood as " norms of reciprocity and networks of civic engagement ") and wider socio-economic performance. (Putnam, R D with Leonardi R and Nanetti, R Y, (1993). Regions or localities that are rich in such networks 'encourage social trust and co-operation because they reduce incentives to defect, reduce uncertainty, and provide models for future co-operation'. In so far as universities are by tradition classically " civic " institutions, they can play a key role in the development of the cultural and political determinants of socio-economic success. A key challenge is to enhance the role which universities, and their staff and students, play in the development of such networks of civic engagement, and hence in the wider political and cultural leadership of their localities (for example through the formal and informal engagement of universities in local political processes, through university staff serving as elected politicians or providing a source of advice for local government, contributions to the media etc.).

 

 

Implications for University Management

 The implications of many of these processes of globalisation and localisation that have been outlined have yet to be addressed by most universities. The scale of the challenge should not be underestimated.

 Adjusting the curriculum to rapidly changing needs of employers and the labour market provides a good example. In terms of Lundvall's description of the learning economy, whilst universities have been good at the know what and know why aspects of education, and are improving on the know how aspects through incorporation of the tacit learning acquired via work placements into teaching programmes, the know who dimension is altogether more problematic. Progress on this front implies a deep relationship between research and teaching based on the sharing of the network knowledge of the research endeavour with students at all levels.

 When considering their relationship with industry in a regional context Universities need to consider themselves as being located at the head of a supply chain which is devoted to the provision of knowledge. The distribution channels for this knowledge are through students (projects and placements), graduates and post-graduates, as well as through published and contract research and consultancy that leads to new and improved technologies and management processes. But unlike a business enterprise situated in a similar supply chain position, universities devote relatively little resources to marketing their products in the form of graduates or to responding to signals about what the market wants. They simply have a sales department, in the form of the Careers Service, which has no ability or mechanisms to match output (quality, quantity or specification) to customer needs.

 The market place is, of course, extremely complex because it is composed of the totality of organisations that currently, or might in the future, employ graduates. At one end of the spectrum are tightly regulated vocational markets like medicine, architecture, law and engineering. At the other end of the spectrum are the largely unarticulated demands of SMEs. If universities are to play a more active role in economic development, it is vital that they understand the market, segment it and use this information to guide their teaching activities. This means not simply responding to currently expressed wants but actively researching the dynamics underlying changing employer needs and treating students as clients and employers as the end customer.

 In some countries the fact that this approach is far from universal can be partly attributed to the student funding regime which currently rewards " production " but not " sale ". In consequence the marketing function is often poorly developed. If universities were in part rewarded for the delivery of graduates into employment, including local employment, they would clearly have an incentive to put more effort into marketing and economic development.

 But becoming a market led organisation requires a major change in university culture. It implies a strong sense of institutional purpose whereas universities remain dominated by academics whose principle professional loyalty is to their national or international invisible college rather than their parent institution. The " new production of knowledge " described by Gibbons et al involves partnerships with the users and beneficiaries of research that transcends institutional boundaries and which are difficult to integrate with formal institutional planning and resource allocation. According to (Gibbons et al, 1996) new patterns of strategic alliances between academic groups based on complimentary competencies may occur but not between institutions within a region.

 In short, improved integration of universities with regional development will not be readily achieved by top down planning mechanisms at either the institutional or regional level but by ensuring that the various stakeholders in the regional development process - education and training providers, employers and employers organisations, trade unions, economic development and labour market agencies and individual teachers and learners - have an understanding of each others role and the factors encouraging or inhibiting greater regional engagement. For example understanding that universities and labour market agencies work in the context of national higher education policy and labour market training targets, employers of global competitive pressures to downsize, outsource etc. and students of personal financial constraints on investment in learning.

 While national governments may seek to increase the engagement of universities with economic development, the means of achieving this goal is far from clear, particularly in the context of the value universities attach to individual autonomy. Such autonomy is associated with a diversity of institutions, often on a regional as well as a national scale, a pattern which has evolved historically. For those universities with a strong research base, regional issues may be of minor concern. Such institutions see themselves as serving the region by attracting students from outside with those students who remain adding to the local stock of human capital. They also contribute to attracting inward investment and possibly embedding that investment through training and research links. Such institutions thus contribute to exogenous regional development. Nevertheless, even within research based universities, certain departments, degree programmes and research activities will have strong regional linkages.

 Alongside such institutions in most regions are those where serving the local and regional community remains a central component of their mission. Regional universities also have national and international links that can provide gateways for local firms and students to the wider world. Finally, between these extremes there may be universities which are trying to develop their research base in selected fields and in the process devoting considerable resources to " going global ". Determining which particular mix of institutions and more importantly mix of teaching and research programmes would best underpin the economic development of a region is a key challenge. With the right form of incentives in terms of government procedures for university assessment and leadership development programmes, it might be possible to ensure that the appropriate signals reach and are embedded into the programmes of individual universities.

 As regards assessment, regional criteria could be incorporated into national teaching and research assessment exercises. In addition, a strong case can be made for establishing a regional assessment process undertaken by universities themselves. Such assessments could be done with the aid of consultants with expertise in economic development and higher education management. The assessments would cover institutional organisation, teaching, research and other services actually or potentially relevant to regional needs. The outcome of the assessment could be linked to a government development fund for pump priming initiatives which seek to enhance the university's contribution to economic development. Institutions would be free to participate in such a scheme and/or confine it to those parts of their activity that they deem to be regionally relevant.

 A number of questions will need to be addressed in such assessments. These include:

Synthesis: Does the university recognise that by its very nature the territorial development process is broadly based embracing economic, technology, environmental, social, cultural and political agendas? The university is capable of contribution to this process across a broad front, not least by highlighting the interconnections across these various areas. Indeed regional engagement provides an opportunity for reasserting the unity of the university as a place based institution.

Collaboration: Are procedures in place to support inter-university collaboration? All universities in a region have an interest in raising participation in the lifelong learning process. " Growing the market " is to be preferred to mercantalism and this will involved collaboration within and between levels in the education system, including schools and colleges.

Partnerships: Are the objectives of partnerships clear? Partnerships are for the long term and need to move beyond the identification of additional sources of funding to dialogue that affects the behaviour of participants.

Mapping and Measuring: Who talks to who about what? The university's pattern of regional engagement will need to be mapped and the flow of information down these channels measured. Intelligence about the flow of students into academic programmes and subsequently into the regional labour market is a fundamental measurement task for the university.

Human Resource Development: Is the regional agenda incorporated into institutional HR policies? New agendas need new skills on the part of administrators and teachers and these need to be recognised in the university's HR programmes.

Focus: What is the distinctive contribution of the university to the regional agenda? Notwithstanding the potential breadth of its contribution the university will need prioritise those areas where it can make the most cost effective contribution to the development of the region.

Geographical Identity: What are the unique feature of the region to which the university can contribute? While there are global, economic, technological, social and cultural drivers of the development processes, these interact very differently with specific regional development trajectories. The university will need to develop a collectively understanding of its region in order to identify particular opportunities for engagement.

Regional Policy: What are the main drivers of regional policy? Regional and national agencies have a suite of policies to address regional development. The university's need to understand these policies and identify areas where they can support and reinforce these policy objectives.

Leadership: What role does the university play in regional leadership? In addition to responding to established policy, universities have the capacity to set regional and national agendas. This involves more than injecting good ides into the policy process; it also requires building the institutional capacity to take these ideas forward.

Teaching and Learning: Has regional labour market intelligence influenced the shape of teaching and learning programmes? Whilst mechanisms are being put in place in some universities to respond to the regional research agenda, less progress appears to have been made on linking teaching and learning to regional needs.

Mainstream: Has regional engagement become part of the academic mainstream of the university? Whilst many universities have established gatekeeper functions (eg Regional Development Officers) it remains unclear how far this has influenced mainstream teaching and research.

Communications: Are regional needs and priorities communicated through universities? In addition to strategic engagement, there will be opportunities for regional engagement generated externally and internally that will need to be communicated around the institution. Newsletters, electronic mail and established fora provide an opportunity for such communication.

Research and Intelligence: Is the university providing the region with intelligence for its forward planning? In order to shape the regional development agenda the university's will need to draw upon its global network and external information and tailor this to regional needs.

Responsiveness: Is the university able to respond quickly to unanticipated regional needs? Economic development is opportunistic as well as strategic. If windows of opportunity (eg release of a new technology, mobile investment projects, new fiscal incentives, new regulatory regimes) are not seized regionally the advantages will be taken up elsewhere. The university will have to put mechanisms in place to respond, for example with new courses and research programmes

 Alongside such assessments it would be necessary to have a programme of human resource development targeting those individuals inside and outside of universities that have boundary spanning functions relevant to joint working on economic development. One of the key factors of success in regional partnerships in the presence of " animateurs " who act as gatekeepers between different organisations/networks. A small number of staff in universities, labour market and economic development agencies and dynamic businesses hold positions in which extra-organisational networking is a central feature of their job. People who hold such position will do so by virtue of their personal and professional competency; they nevertheless require developmental support for their own professional improvement, and moral support from individuals and groups around them. For the most part the necessary skills and attributes are intuitive and learned through practice; however the growing need for such people suggests that some more fundamental training and support is required. Relevant skills include: networking; facilitation; working with alternative cultures; setting up projects; planning and contract management; raising financial support; personal organisation; supervision and

 

personal support techniques; insight into organisational policies and dynamics. The establishment of such a development programme for individuals engaged in the university/regional interface would be a further small positive step towards its improved management. Similar strictures apply to other stakeholders concerned to raise regional competitiveness.

 

 

Points for reflection

 

Acknowledgements

 This paper draws on a report prepared for the UK Department for Education and Employment on Universities and Economic Development by a group of researchers and managers at the University of Newcastle working through its Newcastle School of Management (Chief Executive, Dr Roger Vaughan). Other members of the team were Dr Madeleine Atkins, Dean of the Faculty of Education; Dr Roger Vaughan, Dr Richard Firth, Director of the Careers Service; Richard Tomlin, Director of Research Services, and John Dersley, University Regional Development Officer. I would also like to acknowledge the contributions of my colleague from the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies, Dr David Charles.

 

 

References

Amin, A and Thrift, N (eds.) (1994) Globalisation, Institutions and Regional Development in Europe, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Florida, R (1995) " Toward the learning region ", Futures, 27(5), 527-536.

Gibbons M, Limoges C, Nowotny H, Schwartzman S, Scott P, Trow M (1994) The New Production of Knowledge, Sage Publications, London

Goddard, J.B., Charles, D.R., Pike, A., Potts, G. and Bradley D. (1994) Universities and Communities,† Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals, London.

Kanter, R.M. (1995) World Class: Thriving Locally in the Global Economy, Simon and Schuster, New York.

Lundvall, B-Å (1988) " Innovation as an interactive process: from user-producer interaction to the national systems of innovation ", in G. Dosi et al, Technical Change and Economic Theory, Frances Pinter, London.

Lundvall, B-Å (ed.) (1992) National Systems of Innovation. Towards a theory of innovation and interactive learning, Pinter, London.

Lundvall, B-Å, Johnson, B. (1994) " The learning economy ", Journal of Industry Studies, 2, 23-42.

Putnam, R.D. , with Leonardi, R. and Nanetti, R.Y. (1993) Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.

van der Meer, E. (1996) Knowledge on the Move: The University as a Local Source of Expertise, University of Amsterdam.

 

 

ANNEX 1.

 

UNIVERSITIES AND COMMUNITIES:

Summary of a report for the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals

Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies

University of Newcastle upon Tyne

 

1. Universities in a changing external environment: the rationale for the study and its approach

2. Defining the local community

3. Local Economic Impacts

4. Local economic development

5. The built environment

6. Social and community development

7. Managing the University - Community Interface

8. The way forward

ANNEX 2

 

UNIVERSITIES AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 

 

 

 

Chapter 1 - Introduction

 

Chapter 2 - National Higher Education Policy

 

Chapter 3 - The Regional Interests of Universities

 

FIGURE 1

 

MISSION/ DELIVERY

BUDGETARY FACTORS

CUSTOMER/

CLIENT

CURRICULUM

CELL 1

CELL 2

CELL 3

 

RESEARCH/ CONSULTANCY

CELL 4

CELL 5

CELL 6

 

 

 

Chapter 4 - Employers

 

Chapter 5 - Students

 

Chapter 6 - Regions

Chapter 7 - The University/Regional Development Interface