The aim of the research was to examine the impact of power on public policy using higher
education development in Greater Peterborough as a case study. The research focused on the
'Towards Peterborough's University' project managed by Greater Peterborough Training &
Enterprise Council (GPtec), funded by Government Office Eastern Region (GOER), and which
aimed to establish quality university education in Greater Peterborough. It represents an
ethnographic study (chiefly participant observation) concentrating on the first two years of
development—from the setting up of the project in October 1994 to establishment and formal
registration of a project company in December 1996. [Continues.