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Unireg (1998-2000)
Universities and regional development.
The Research
The main objective of the research is to investigate the ways in which universities are responding to the new demands placed on them to play a leading role in regional economic and social development, assisting employment creation, encouraging individuals to achieve their potential, and developing a culture of flexibility and learning, and contributing to institutional innovation. Other objectives are:
- to analyse the changing role of the university in the light of the other pressures - fiscal, technological, managerial, political - that are increasingly impinging on them;
- to examine the interaction between national and regional policy contexts for university engagement, and European policy fields specifically providing support for science and technology, innovation, and structural development;
- to assist policymakers, university managers and practitioners at various spatial scales to better tailor policies and actions through the dissemination of good practice and European comparative experiences of existing actions.
Key questions are:
- How are changes in funding regimes, technologies, 'knowledge production' regimes and academic working practices affecting the role that universities play in the regional development process?
- How are the universities strategically engaging with regional business and economic policy communities?
- How is this engagement affecting the educational and cultural roles of the university?
- To what extent, and how, does the university manage the interface between local business or local interest groups and external actors at an inter-regional, national or European level (for instance as brokers of information on business and political developments, funding possibilities, and relevant research outcomes)?
- To what extent does the university play an intellectual and cultural leadership role in setting regional development strategies and how is this organised? What is hindering universities from playing a greater role in regional development?
- How do changes in the role of the university affect the educational and cultural roles of the university?
- How do universities cope with tensions stemming from their different roles as academic knowledge provider and as contributor to regional innovation processes?
- To what extent do universities contribute to the development of new agendas and initiatives in the area of information society, and how does this fit with other university missions?
- How do graduates contribute to regional economic development? To what extent are the career paths of graduates surveyed at the regional scale and are there specific programmes to assist their absorbtion within the regional labour market? To what extent do universities respond to changes in the regional labour market, such as increasing demands for knowledge workers?
- To what extent do universities, through engaging in economic development, contribute to the wider goals of cohesion, and European integration?
There are many differences (for example in the status, funding and organisation) of the university sector between different countries in the EU. At the same time, there are in many cases also major differences between universities with different histories and traditions within each country. Nevertheless, through a strong comparative element the project will examine what can be learned by the higher education community generally from the strategies and tactics adopted by particular institutions.
Considerable resources are also being made available through European programmes in support of regional development, and through vocational training initiatives and RTD programmes which involve universities and have some dimension of regional interaction or support. The complex interactions between these policy areas and national/regional policies and pressures need to be well understood to ensure that maximum value is obtained from these efforts. Policymakers at all levels within the EU can benefit from such
research and advice to better assist the direction of universities towards supporting economic and social cohesion in Europe.
The UNIREG project runs from 1999 until 2001. The main stages of the research are:
- Initial framework (months 1-2)
- National policy frameworks (months 2-4)
- Regional case studies (months (4-12)
- Thematic research (months 12-20)
- Synthesis and exploitation (months 21-24)
The research is carried out by seven national teams, each of which carries out research in its own country for stages (2) and (3) above. In stage (4) each national team takes responsibility for a particular theme within the overall project. Here the ERC is responsible for researching the shaping of knowledge workers with a particular comparative focus on software workers and lawyers. Throughout the project there will be a stress on involving users in the research.
The research will involve desk research and interviews with significant actors (stage 2), interviews using network analysis (stage 3), interviews and probably collection and analysis of survey data (stage 4).
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Partners
Unireg is co-ordinated by the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies, University of Newcastle, UK. The ERC is one of six teams participating in this project.
Information about the partners is available on the Unireg project webpage.
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Publications and Reports
The following reports are available to download from this website:
Boucher, G. and Wickham, J. (2001) 'Where is The 'Regional'?: the Global, European, National Shaping of University Accounting and Computing Students' (PDF, Unireg Where is the Regional.pdf, 199KB)
Boucher, G (2000) 'Unireg Regional Case Study Report: the Shannon Region' (PDF, Shannon Regional Report.pdf, 167KB)
Wickham, J. and Boucher, G. (2000) 'Unireg Regional Case Study Report: Dublin' (PDF, Unireg Dublin Regional Report.pdf, 344KB)
Wickham, J. and Boucher, G, (1998) 'National Policy Frameworks: report on Ireland' (PDF, Unireg Irish National Report.pdf, 142KB)
More reports are available to download on the Unireg project webpage.
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ERC Team
For further information on a specific researcher, please click on the appropriate link.
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