The study of universities’ role in regional engagement has traditionally been focusing on exceptional cases. This book presents a reconceptualization which embraces its underlying complexity and proposes a roadmap for a renewed research agenda. Starting from the grassroots level of universities’ everyday engagements, the book delves into the manifold ways in which university knowledge agents build connections with regional partners. Through 11 empirical chapters, the authors not only chart the diversity among case institutions, engagement mechanisms, and regional contexts but also use that diversity to advance a novel conceptual framework, centered on the process of mundaneness, for unpacking university-regions’ everyday activities, taking into account the dynamic, complex, and co-evolving interplay between (a) key social agents and institutions, (b) the contexts in which they are embedded, as well as (c) the historical trajectories and strategic ambitions underpinning context-specific social arrangements and interactions that are mediated by temporal and spatial dimensions. Drawing on evolutionary economic geography, innovation studies, management and organization studies, and historical perspectives, the volume advances a new mode of understanding university-regional engagement as a form of extendable temporary coupling, which also helps to address perennial policy and managerial questions alike of what to do with universities that do not serve local labour market needs and/or are located in regions suffering from brain drain. The book illustrates such dynamics from diverse national contexts and three continents: Brazil, Caribbean, China, Italy, Norway, and Poland. This book will be valuable reading for advanced students, researchers, and policymakers working in economic geography, regional development, innovation, and higher education management. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

This book explores the impact of localities and regions on universities and shows how the diversity of the higher education landscape is critically affected by the geophysical character of regions and their differentiated economies and cultures; regional inequalities bear heavily on universities' strategy-making. A study of the interrelationship between higher and further education argues that from a regional perspective a change to a tertiary education system in England (following Wales) would create the conditions for better local and regional coordination. Universities make a significant contribution to 'levelling up' through technology transfer and the creation of innovation hubs but the contribution of locally or regionally based students who on graduation return to disadvantaged communities rather than seek employment elsewhere should be recognised also as a longer term step to redressing regional inequality. The book argues strongly that the time has come to decentralise the governance of a re-aligned tertiary system to regions and identifies the move to create metro mayors and combined authorities as providing the appropriate vehicle to release new initiative from regional sources. It cites the success of decentralisation to Scotland and Wales as offering relevant models for scrutiny. The authors draw on 12 UK widely differentiated university case studies, a survey of further education and a study of three continental European comparators (Germany, Ireland and Norway) to develop the argument.

Public Universities and Regional Growth examines evolutions in research and innovation at six University of California campuses. Each chapter presents a deep, historical analysis that traces the dynamic interaction between particular campuses and regional firms in industries that range from biotechnology, scientific instruments, and semiconductors, to software, wine, and wireless technologies. The book provides a uniquely comprehensive and cohesive look at the University of California's complex relationships with regional entrepreneurs. As a leading public institution, the UC is an examplar for other institutions of higher education at a time when the potential and value of these universities is under scrutiny. Any yet, by recent accounts, public research universities performed nearly 70% of all academic research and approximately 60% of federally funded R&D in the United States. Thoughtful and distinctive, Public Universities and Regional Growth illustrates the potential for universities to drive knowledge-based growth while revealing the California system as a uniquely powerful engine for innovation across its home state.

In a knowledge-based economy, universities are vital institutions. This volume explores the roles that universities can play in peripheral regions, contributing to processes of regional economic development and innovative growth. Including a series of case studies drawn from Portugal, Norway, Finland, the Czech Republic, Estonia and the Dutch-German border region, this will be the first book to offer a comprehensive comparative overview of universities in European economically peripheral regions. These studies seek to explore the tensions that arise in peripheral regions where there may not be obvious matches between university activities and regional strengths. Aimed at academics, policy-makers and practitioners working on regional innovation strategies, this volume brings a much-needed sense of realism and ambition for all those concerned with building successful regional societies at the periphery of the knowledge economy.

Universities are under increasing pressure to help promote socio-economic growth in their local communities. However until now, no systematic, critical attention has been paid to the factors and mechanisms that currently make this process so daunting. In Universities and Regional Development, scholars from Europe, the Americas, Africa, and Asia critically address this knowledge gap, focusing on policy, organization, and the role of individual actors to uncover the challenges facing higher education institutions as they seek to engage with their regions. In a systematic and comparative manner, this book shows internal and external audiences why, how, and when the institutionalization of universities’ "third missions" should take place, and also: challenges conventional wisdom about the role of universities in society and the economy demonstrates how institutions in different nations and regions cope with local engagement combines the latest national, regional and local research with international perspectives integrates diverse conceptual and disciplinary frameworks Universities and Regional Development is a key resource for researchers and students of higher education and territorial development, educational policy makers, and university managers seeking to engage with the world beyond their university.

​This book provides the readers with a map of the higher education systems and strategic management trends in the higher education institutions within countries of the Ibero-America region. The key feature of this volume is the presentation of a conceptual framework as a point of reference for the development of university management systems in a specific context. Furthermore, the book provides an overview of the development of higher education in Latin America and the Caribbean, to advance understanding of the changes observed in the institutional strategic management setting. The book examines and compares the types of strategic management processes used, as well as the models of applicability of strategy-making. This analysis is done by cutting through a critical review of the processes and systems of university management used in the various analysed countries, and pays special attention to the actors involved, the processes, the reporting systems, the expectations and the limitations. Additionally, the book introduces a methodology for the identification and implementation of best practice in university strategic management, and presents practical suggestions about the ways in which processes and models can be used to increase quality and competitive advantage.

The Handbook on Universities and Regional Development offers a comprehensive and up-to-date insight into how academic institutions spur their surroundings. The volume sheds light on universities as regional development actors from a historical perspective by introducing institutional changes and discussing the interrelatedness of society, business and academia. It provides detailed investigations on various knowledge transfer mechanisms to help understand the diverse ways through which ideas and intellectual property can flow between universities and businesses. Detailed case studies from three continents (Europe, Asia, and America) demonstrate the highly contextual nature of the interactions between academia, industry and government.