Involving universities in regional upgrading in the periphery

This chapter presents and discusses two cases of regional upgrading involving public-run universities in two Northern European countries, Norway and the Netherlands. More specifically, it illuminates how academic groups associated with the field of medicine took pro-active steps to establish and further develop regional coalitions which, over time, have resulted in situated learning. The focus on processes of university-regional engagement and mutual satisfaction in a context where universities are pressured to be globally excellent allow lessons to be drawn for regions in Southern Europe. Subtle transfer is nevertheless required to account for universities’ autonomies and organisational capacity to embed engagement at the institutional level

Humboldt meets Schumpeter? Interpreting the ‘Entrepreneurial Turn’ in European Higher Education

Presentation on department page: http://www.uia.no/no/portaler/om_universitetet/oekonomi_og_samfunnsvitenskap/statsvitenskap_og_ledelsesfag/ forskning_isl/isl_working_papers_seriesUniversities are increasingly pressurized to respond to external imperatives and demands, while, at the same time, being expected to enhance both their efficiency and accountability. This is leading to the local adoption of key, structural and cultural features associated with the model or global script of the entrepreneurial university. This chapter undertakes a critical analysis of the premises associated with the latter model, and provides new insights on the sustainability of the “entrepreneurial turn in higher education” against the backdrop of the challenges facing European universities

Strategizing Identity in Higher Education

There is a growing body of literature shedding light on processes of strategy making within public universities. Yet, to date, only a handful of studies have analysed the role that organizational identity plays in such processes. This paper addresses this knowledge gap, by investigating how identity mediates processes of organizational change across two comprehensive universities based in Northern Europe. Our data and analysis reveal that identity has the potential to provide organizations, like universities, with substantial flexibility during strategic change processes, not only as a tool for legitimating change in the eyes of internal and external constituencies, but also as a strategic mechanism for coping with an increasingly turbulent and volatile external environment. The paper is part of recent re-discovering of the role played by the more tacit dimensions of organizations (culture, identity, logics, etc.) operating within highly institutionalised environments

Beyond the Obvious: Tensions and Volitions Surrounding the Contributions of Universities to Regional Development and Innovation1

There is a general tendency amongst policy and certain academic circles to assume that universities are simple strategic actors capable and willing to respond to a well-articulated set of regional demands. In reality, however, universities are extremely complex organizations that operate in highly institutionalized environments and are susceptible to regulative shifts, resource dependencies, and fluctuations in student numbers. Understanding universities' contributions—and capacities to contribute—to regional development and innovation requires understanding these internal dynamics and how they interact with external environmental agents. Based on a comparative study across various national settings and regional contexts, the chapter highlights the types of tensions and volitions that universities face while attempting to fulfil their “third mission.” Building upon the existing literature and novel empirical insights, the chapter advances a new conceptual model for opening the “black box” of the university-region interface and disentangling the impacts of purposive, political efforts to change universities' internal fabrics and to institutionalize the regional mission

Global scripts and local translations: The case of cultural and creative industries (CCIs) in Norway

Author's version of an article in the journal: City, Culture and Society. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2014.05.007Cultural and creative industries (CCI) have, in recent years, been a prominent feature of policy initiatives across Northern Europe. This paper approaches CCI as a global, hegemonic 'script' or 'myth' that has spread across national boundaries and policy circles and, as a result, been translated in the light of historical trajectories, local dynamics, and strategic imperatives. In doing so, we shed critical light on ongoing dynamics across the Nordic countries, and more specifically, in the Norwegian national context, by illustrating how CCIs have - in the last decade or so - permeated policy frameworks and strategic initiatives at the national, regional and local levels. The paper concludes with some suggestions for future comparative research studies within Europe and beyond

Universities' mundaneness and regional engagement : Setting the stage

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Universities and regions : New insights and emerging developments

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Placing the university: thinking in and beyond globalization

In some respects, the impact of globalization on universities is well rehearsed (competition for international students; the drive for status in global rankings; the opening of overseas campuses; the dream of massive open online courses and other forms of digital education), but the relationship between universities as place-based institutions and globalization is less well understood. It is on that this chapter focuses. Drawing on work undertaken as part of an Economic and Social Research Council project (“Higher Education and Regional Social Transformation”) the author sets the arguments in a wider context. He explores the extent to which and ways in which universities have become key players in the reimagination of their city regions in a (neoliberal) global context. As well as reflecting on the wider public (and local) role of universities, he also considers how universities use the tools available to them to position themselves effectively as successful businesses within the new world in which they find themselves