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CRADALL SEMINAR , March 2010. On Embeddedness and Engagement: universities in their local environment Yann Lebeau University of East Anglia y.lebeau@uea.ac.uk. Embeddedness and Engagement. Contexts and meanings of engagement
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CRADALL SEMINAR, March 2010 On Embeddedness and Engagement: universities in their local environment Yann Lebeau University of East Anglia y.lebeau@uea.ac.uk
Embeddedness and Engagement Contexts and meanings of engagement • Citizenship and community cohesion sit high on the political agenda of the UK and the EU. Public engagement as a funding criteria for universities. • Public engagement as a step towards local communities: “brings research and higher education institutions together with the public”. Sometimes (US) incorporates active citizenship. • Public mission : reconciling local and global aspirations • Community engagement as local business opportunities http://www.usc.edu.au/Community/RegionalEngagement/
Embeddedness and Engagement The HEART project • Part of the ESRC’s ‘Impact of HEIs on regional economies’ initiative (9 projects). • One of two focusing on the social/cultural impacts. • 4 cases of universities and their local impact on social disadvantage. • A qualitative approach.
Embeddedness and Engagement 4 stories of “regional” impact and engagement • “world class” in a large urban conurbation: Accidental Regionalism • New university and only show in town: Regional of Necessity • Two universities and a city: Regional embeddedness vs. entanglement • In search of a territorial legitimacy: Making up a region This presentation is based on illustrations from cases 2 (England) and 3 (Scotland)
Embeddedness and Engagement Discourses and impacts in contexts : An analytical framework • Structural embeddedness: where a university stands in the local structure of the overall network of relations . Areas include political/policy embeddedness, cultural embeddedness, territorial embeddedness, social embeddedness. • Logic of action: range of decisions and practices (explicit or implicit, external and internal) having a local impact in the above areas. Has to be understood in the quasi market context within which universities operate.
Embeddedness and Engagement Territorial embeddedness A set of commonly acknowledged characteristics (Industrial decline, area of severe deprivation, low aspirations, segmented city, etc). English Case • The ‘Only show in town’ in a region of 5 borrows • Clarendon University’s intake is predominately local. 2007/08 68% of students studying part-time. Message of territorial loyalty and exclusivity (visibility through college partnerships) Scottish Case • A coherent agglomeration by geographical, socio-economic and political standards . • Belview Tech’s intake is predominantly local. Largely perceived as local institution (strong message of territorial loyalty) • EactCoast Uni is the main provider of key skills and managerial positions to local public sector, but low profile engagement. Diverse perceptions of its “territorial loyalty”.
Embeddedness and Engagement Policy/political embeddedness English Case • Priorities of the region and of the University intersect (e.g. development of a niche area of excellence in digital media) • Regional and local agencies as important sources of finance • University provides expertise and strategies to regional plans Scottish Case • Universities have always been involved in regional regeneration plans (collegiate city strategy). • Have reps on local government-led fora, committees and initiatives. • Clear strategy to be “seen as doing things locally” ( Belview Tech.) • Local policy makers often had past professional links with local universities (reciprocal assimilation of local elites – East coast Uni ).
Embeddedness and Engagement Socio-economic embeddedness English Case • Direct impact on the local infrastructure (studentification). • Providing opportunities for social mobility locally. Scottish Case • HE and FE students = 16% of the city population . • HE sector = A major local employer. • Belview Tech (local staff and students) more embedded in local relational networks than East Cost Uni. • Both involved in partnerships with local industry and regional development agencies (spin offs, incubators, etc).
Embeddedness and Engagement Belview Tech & Clarendon : Public Good Institutions? • Strong social embeddedness (key role in local social mobility processes? ). • In partnerships with all regional stakeholders . Public Policy dependency. • A transformative mission : raising aspirations, enlightening, upskilling, “high culture” agenda. • But Limited self funded community engagement activities.
Embeddedness and Engagement EastCoast Uni: strategic and structural embeddedness • A discourse of engagement with emphasis on trickle down impact. • A strategic positioning in externally funded initiatives. • Often perceived as an ivory tower (image of an island). • Attracts international students and staff. • Has a research impact locally. • Can afford self-funded outreach activities. • Provides essential skills to local regeneration agenda
Embeddedness and Engagement In Conclusion • The role of universities in local cultural regeneration and in tackling disadvantage reflects their dependency towards public funding and policy, their positioning within a competitive higher education market, and their level of structural embeddedness within the local socio-economic fabric. • Institutions characterised by diffuse embeddedness tend to find it difficult to translate this longstanding relationship into a strategic discourse on community engagement. • Qualitative research cannot measure impacts in these areas but allows to understand the underpinnings of universities’ actions and their perceptions.
Embeddedness and Engagement Bibliography • Ball, S. J. and Maroy, C. (2009) 'School's logics of action as mediation and compromise between internal dynamics and external constraints and pressures',Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 39:1, 99 — 112 • Bartlett, W. (1993) Quasi-markets and educational reforms. In Quasi-markets and social policy, ed. John le Grand and William Bartlett. London: Macmillan. • Beilke, J. (2005) Realizing the Ideal: The Scholarship of Engagement in Post-Modern Universities, in McMahon, F. & Claes, T. (eds) Probing the boundaries of higher education. Oxford, Interdisciplinary Press. • Bogdanovic, D., Lebeau, Y., and B. Longhurst (2006) The civic role of higher education institutions and their constituencies. Subtheme 3 literature review in Brennan, J. et. al. (2006) Higher education’s effects on disadvantaged groups and communities: 46-54 • Brown, R. (2009) The Role of the Market in Higher Education. HEPI Occasional Report 1. http://www.lfhe.ac.uk/publications/hepireport1.pdf (accessed August 2009) • Calhoun, C. (2006) The University and the Public Good. Thesis Eleven, 84: 7-43 • Delanty, Gerard (2005). The Sociology of the University and Higher Education: The Consequences of Globalization. in C. Calhoun, C. Rojek and B. Turner (eds) The Sage Handbook of Sociology, pp. 530–45. London: Sage. • Higher Education and Regional Transformation (HEART proejct) : http://ewds.strath.ac.uk/impact/CurrentProjects/Highereducationandregionaltransformation.aspx • Moody, J. and White, D.R. (2003) Structural Cohesion and Embeddedness: A Hierarchical Concept of Social Groups. American Sociological Review 68(1): 103=127 • van Zanten, A. (2009) 'Competitive arenas and schools' logics of action: a European comparison', Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 39:1, 85 — 98.