Description
“This book shows clearly what can be done and what has yet to be done. It is an important contribution to what must be a vital new phase in the history of higher education”. – Sir Geoffrey Holland It is becoming increasingly recognized that universities can and should play a role as positive economic engines for change, as significant partners with all the other participants in economic and social development. This book provides a basic insight into what universities currently do in terms of the creation of wealth, and into what kind of organizations they might usefully become. It explores how universities benefit their local and regional communities, and what more they might do. The first part of the book contextualizes the economic role of universities in terms, for instance, of the knowledge society, the global economy, small and medium-sized enterprises, and different countries (Canada and the ASEAN countries); the second part provides case studies of universities working with their hinterlands. Harry Gray is Visiting Professor at the University of Salford. He is chairman of the European Network for Innovation and Learning in Organizations and the Community, and Deputy Chair of the North West Region Education and Economy Strategy Group. He was previously a Higher Education Adviser to the UK’s Department for Education and Employment, and he has written widely on management and education. He is a director of Mercia Educational Services. Foreword Introduction Part one: A new awareness The re-scoping of the university Knowledge societies, academic capital and economic growth How universities can thrive locally in a global economy Measuring the economic impact of universities Canada The changing relationship between higher education and small and medium sized enterprises The role of universities in economic growth the ASEAN countries Part two: Examples and cases Universities and communities cases from North East England The impact of a new university on its community the University of Warwick Salford University an historical industrial partnership The University of Sheffield’s regional office Towards the community university Index.
