The University in its Place. Social and Cultural Perspectives on the Regional Role of Universities
John Brennan, Allan Cochrane, Yann Lebeau, Ruth WilliamsWith the massive expansion of higher education systems in most developed
countries, involving the creation of the many new institutions of higher education,
more and more towns have at least one local university close by. At the same time,
the social and economic trends of globalisation mean that many universities are
internationally engaged in their research and recruit their students from all over the
world. And concepts of knowledge society and economy increasingly shape
thinking and policy making at international, national and local levels.
This book draws on the research project, Higher Education and Regional
Transformation (HEART): The Social and Cultural Impacts of Universities. It was
funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council as part of a wider
research initiative on ‘Impact of Higher Education Institutions on Regional
Economies’ (June 2007–May 2009). The research project addressed the interface of
global and local developments and challenges facing universities, though with the
main emphasis being upon the local and regional. The ‘places’ in which the project’s
four university case studies were located provided both constraints and
opportunities for the universities. In different measures in different places, universities
were helping to shape the futures of their places while, at the same time, they
were being themselves partly shaped by place. This book invites the reader to visit
the four universities and their places and to explore the relationships, opportunities
and constraints that were driving change and innovation.