Recent years have seen a growing emphasis upon the need for universities to contribute to the economic, social and environmental well-being of the regions in which they are situated, and for closer links between the university and the region. This book brings together a cross-disciplinary and cross-national team of experts to consider the reasons for, and the implications of, the new relationship between universities and territorial development. Examining the complex interactions between the 'inner life' of the university and its external environment, it poses the question: 'Can the modern university manage the governance and balancing of these, sometimes conflicting, demands'? Against a backdrop of ongoing processes of globalization, there is growing recognition of the importance of sub-national development strategies - processes of regionalization, governmental decentralization and sub-national mobilization, that provide a context for universities to become powerful partners in the process of managing sub-national economic, social and environmental change. Allied to this, the continued evolution of the knowledge economy has freed up location decisions within knowledge-intensive industries, while paradoxically innovation in the production of goods and services has become still more 'tied' to locations that can nurture the human and intellectual capital upon which those industries rely. Thus cities and regions in which higher education services are concentrated have, or are thought to have, a competitive advantage. With universities facing ever increasing pressures of commercialization, which deepen the engagement between universities and external stakeholders, including those based in their localities, the tension between the university's academic (basic research and teaching) mission and external demands has never been greater. This book provides a long overdue analysis, bringing all the competing issues together, synthesizing the key conceptual debates and analyzing the way in which they have been experienced in different local, regional and national contexts and with what effects.
Recent years have seen a growing emphasis upon the need for universities to contribute to the economic, social and environmental well-being of the regions in which they are situated, and for closer links between the university and the region. This book brings together a cross-disciplinary and cross-national team of experts to consider the reasons for, and the implications of, the new relationship between universities and territorial development. Examining the complex interactions between the 'inner life' of the university and its external environment, it poses the question: 'Can the modern university manage the governance and balancing of these, sometimes conflicting, demands'? Against a backdrop of ongoing processes of globalization, there is growing recognition of the importance of sub-national development strategies - processes of regionalization, governmental decentralization and sub-national mobilization, that provide a context for universities to become powerful partners in the process of managing sub-national economic, social and environmental change. Allied to this, the continued evolution of the knowledge economy has freed up location decisions within knowledge-intensive industries, while paradoxically innovation in the production of goods and services has become still more 'tied' to locations that can nurture the human and intellectual capital upon which those industries rely. Thus cities and regions in which higher education services are concentrated have, or are thought to have, a competitive advantage. With universities facing ever increasing pressures of commercialization, which deepen the engagement between universities and external stakeholders, including those based in their localities, the tension between the university's academic (basic research and teaching) mission and external demands has never been greater. This book provides a long overdue analysis, bringing all the competing issues together, synthesizing the key conceptual debates and analyzing the way in which they have been experienced in different local, regional and national contexts and with what effects.
This volume provides insightful analysis of the way higher education engages with socially excluded communities. Leading researchers and commentators examine the validity of the claim that universities can be active facilitators of social mobility, opening access to the knowledge economy for formerly excluded groups. The authors assess the extent to which the ‘Academy’ can deliver on its promise to build bridges with communities whose young people often assume that higher education lies beyond their ambitions. The chapters map the core dynamics of the relationship between higher education and communities which have bucked the more general trend of rapidly rising student numbers. Contributors also take the opportunity to reflect on the potential impact of these dynamics on the evolution of the university’s role as a social institution. The volume was inspired by a symposium attended by a wide spectrum of participants, including government, senior university managers, academic researchers and community groups based in areas suffering from social exclusion. It makes a substantive contribution to an under-researched field, with authors seeking to both shape solutions as well as better diagnose the problem. Some chapters include valuable contextual analysis, using empirical data from North America, Europe and Australia to add substance to the debates on policy and theory. The volume seeks to offer a defining intellectual statement on the interaction between the concept of a ‘university’ and those communities historically missing from higher education participation, the volume deepens our understanding of what might characterise an ‘engaged’ university and strengthens the theoretical foundations of the topic.
The great universities of the world are to a large extent defined in the public imagination by their physical form: when people think of a university, they usually think of a distinctive place, rather than about say the teaching or the research that might go on there. This is understandable, both because universities usually stay rooted to the same spot over the centuries; and because their physical forms may send powerful messages about the kind of places they are. The physical form of the university, and how the spaces within it become transformed by their users into places which hold meanings for them, has become of increased interest recently from both academic and institutional management perspectives, when trying to understand more about how universities work, and how they may be made more effective. Yet, despite its seemingly obvious importance, the available literature on space and place in higher education internationally is scant when compared to that dealing with, say, teaching and learning methods, or with evaluating quality, or many other topics. This book brings together a range of academic and professional perspectives on university spaces and places, and show how technical matters of building design, maintenance and use interact with academic considerations on the goals of the university. Space issues are located at an intellectual crossroads, where widely differing conceptual and professional perspectives meet, and need to be integrated and this important book brings together perspectives from around the world to show design and use issues are changing Higher Education.. Globally, higher education is being required to do more things – to teach more students, to be better at research, to engage more with business and communities; and many other things. These pressures are leading universities to reconsider their management processes, as well as their academic structures: an often-quoted saying is that "we make our buildings, and afterwards they make us". At a time when universities and colleges are seeking competitive advantages, ideas and analysis about space design and use is much needed and will be well-received.
Essential reading for policy makers, institutional leaders, managers, advisors, and scholars in the field of higher education, The Governance of Higher Education analyzes how higher education systems of governance have evolved in recent years. An authoritative overview that questions why some systems of governance have persisted while others have experienced patterns of change, it further looks at how governments shape the policy-making process in higher education in an effort to secure particular policy outcomes.
Cities and the Knowledge Economy is an in-depth, interdisciplinary, international and comparative examination of the relationship between knowledge and urban development in the contemporary era. Through the lenses of promise, politics and possibility, it examines how the knowledge economy has arisen, how different cities have sought to realise its potential, how universities play a role in its realisation and, overall, what this reveals about the relationship between politics, capitalism, space, place and knowledge in cities. The book argues that the 21st century city has been predicated on particular circuits of knowledge that constitute expertise as residing in elite and professional epistemic communities. In contrast, alternative conceptions of the knowledge society are founded on assumptions which take analysis, deliberation, democracy and the role of the citizen and communities of practice seriously. Drawing on a range of examples from cities around the world, the book reflects on these possibilities and asks what roles the practice of ‘active intermediation’, the university and a critical and engaged social scientific practice can all play in this process. The book is aimed at researchers and students from different disciplines – geography, politics, sociology, business studies, economics and planning – with interests in contemporary urbanism and the role of knowledge in understanding development, as well as urban policymakers, politicians and practitioners who are concerned with the future of our cities and seek to create coalitions of different communities oriented towards more just and sustainable futures.
"From its Green River source in Wyoming to its black conclusion in Mexico's Gulf of California, the 1,700-mile Colorado is America's second-longest river and the one with the most beautiful vistas. For Fletcher this was an opportunity to perform aesthetic and emotional geology on the landscape (and on himself), and to treat the reader to a host of dramatic, moving and hilarious experiences. We see sandhill cranes and great blue herons; we experience many miles of whitewater challenges that stretch Fletcher's rafting capabilities to the limit; we float through stupendous canyons and open desert, pass mountains and abandoned villages; we flyfish for rainbow trout. We meet the people who live along the river, other adventurers, tourists. We wake up every morning to fresh views and the rewards of wilderness solitude. And finally we come to know this feisty curmudgeon who in his late sixties achieved the journey of a lifetime."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The subject of Yeats s politics is one that his various biographers have failed to examine. This fascinating and original look at the complex political life of one of the world s most renowned poets attempts to redress the balance."
