An Approach To The Effects Of Greek Regional Universities On The Development Of The Country Regions

Although the start of the debate on the contribution of universities to local and regional development dates back several decades, it is only in the past 25 years that it has been intensified and seen from a new perspective in terms of of investigation and consideration. It is therefore imperative that the 'higher education - development' relationship be reviewed and placed on a different basis. The causes for this are the major change in the content of 'development' and the concept of 'university' (mainly in terms of its role in society and the economy), new policies and socio-economic conditions globally, the contemporary weight attributed to new technologies and knowledge dissemination as a 'development factor', as well as the large number of unsuccessful attempts to use the universities as a 'means' for development. In the context of this general consideration at global level, this chapter seeks to investigate whether the Greek regional universities - as they have been established, allocated, organised and operated - have played, and may play, some part in the development of the broader areas (region, town). In other words, this chapter attempts to investigate whether the expansion of higher education institutions throughout Greece has contributed to the improvement in the quality standard of education and a resolution of the country's 'regional problem'. The implementation of the study was based on the investigation of the relevant international and Greek bibliography, and on a series of surveys focusing on: a) the Greek planning system for 'development', 'spatial', 'regional policies' and their association with 'higher education', and b) the entirety of regional universities and cities - prefecture capitals of Greece, placing special emphasis on the seventeen university cities

e-university: a cross-case study in four Italian universities

This paper describes the aims, the methods, the stages and the results of the research project 'e-University. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) as a factor of change in Italian universities’, undertaken between 2003 and 2006 by the Universities of Trento, Perugia and Sassari and the Catholic University of Milan. The characteristics of the four institutions’ subjects and objects of the investigation are analysed as case studies and then compared as a cross-case study in the light of the factors that we feel constitute the main areas of concern in the four institutions as to the implementation of ICTs in the teaching/learning process, ie, the characteristics of the governance strategic plan, the choices relating to technology and the choices related to pedagogy. The paper describes the collaborative effort characterising the community of researchers through the different stages of the research. It also analyses how the individual features of each university—relating to its history, the number of students, the range of faculties, the diffusion of e-learning, the driving factors for innovation, the institution’s policies—have fostered a lively and fruitful discussion between different view points, thus engendering deeper reflections for each context