While European universities have much to at an early, peripheral phase, and the central offer European society in the field of commu- challenge is in placing it at the heart of IV.5 nity engagement, there is an urgent challenge university life. KNOWLEDGE, to improve their current performance. A great ENGAGEMENT deal is demanded across all walks of society AND HIGHER for the knowledge emanating from universi- Societal engagement in Europe EDUCATION IN ties, and for the exchange and co-production of knowledge with universities, and a failure European universities have been inextricably EUROPE to respond will undermine popular support tied up with their host societies since their
for the sector. University work in engagement foundation, and universities’ institutions http://www.guninetwork.org/. Paul Benneworth and occurs against a range of competing forces, and ideas have evolved along with their host Michael Osborne including modernization, internationalization societies. Universities have always faced a and budget cuts. As a consequence, universi- dependency on sponsors, which has influ- website ties are faced with having to make strategic enced their relationships with society. As their choices and are being overloaded with Biggar (2010, p. 77) notes: on missions; seemingly less important missions [email protected]. risk becoming peripheral within this scenario. Right from their medieval beginnings, Nonetheless, there is much that is [universities] have served private purposes contact
outstanding in European universities in terms and practical public purposes as well as Innovation of community engagement, and in this chap- the sheer amor scientiae [‘knowledge for for
ter we provide a historical and contemporary knowledge’s sake’] … popes and bishops please background as well as many examples of needed educated pastors and they and kings exemplary practice. Covering a territory needed educated administrators and lawyers Network within which there are so many countries, capable of developing and embedding
and indeed regions, with distinct policies national systems. permission, and practices is a challenge, and much has
inevitably been omitted. That being said, we The scope and scale of engagement has University believe that, in most societies, the community subsequently increased from producing elites request to
engagement of universities in Europe is still to working closely with firms and citizens, Global wish The Table IV.5.1 you Universities between autonomy and dependency – a historical perspective by If Social change Sponsor urgent desire ‘Idea’ of a university University societal only engagement
Agricultural revolution Reproducing religious Cloister (11th-century Establishment religious elites use administrators Italy) for Emergence of nobility Educating loyal administrators for Free cloister (12th-century Religious elites, both establishment infringement. courtly life France) and dissenting Urbanization Educated administrative elite to Catholic University of Temporal elites and regulators manage trade Leuven (15th century) authorised is
Sustaining national Validating the state by imagining Newman’s idea (from National cultural elites ‘imagining’ copyright
communities the nation 17th century onwards) the nation a is Creating technical elite Creating a technical elite Humboldtian Industrial elites overseeing national alongside the administrative elite (19th-century Germany) industrialization projects
Promoting progress Creating economically useful Land grant universities Mass industrial expansion through document
knowledge (19th–20th-century USA) extension posting or Supporting democracy Creating elites for non-traditional Dutch Catholic Universities Political elites leading/underpinning This societal groups (20th-century Netherlands) corporatist settlements
Deliberative Equipping citizens with knowledge Robbins era plate glass Mass democratic expansion and GUNI. Copying democracy to function in a mass democracy universities (1960s UK) participation © Source: Pinheiro et al. (2012).
KNOWLEDGE, ENGAGEMENT AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN EUROPE 219 as universities have developed relationships with lighted the variety of institutional approaches to commu- and duties to religious powers, temporal authorities, nity engagement; CERI’s typology (Table IV.5.2) cultural communities, industry and latterly civic soci- remains useful for understanding those activities. ety. This evolution is summarized in Table IV.5.1. Universities’ contributions to social progress have shaped their evolution. Some engagements have Table IV.5.2 University engagement with societal collectives long-standing links with social movements including Way of Mechanism for delivering service European popular education in the late 19th century providing service (Steele, 2007). Continuing education brought knowl- University puts Use of equipment, premises and laboratories edge to excluded groups (at that time, the working facilities at the Use of teachers and students to make direct classes and women), providing ‘enlightenment’ of disposal of the contribution community the masses. This emphasis on liberal adult education, Drawing on the community in delivering occupational training
based on a model of knowledge transfer from the http://www.guninetwork.org/. Execution of orders Offering training as occupational, continuing elite to the masses, rather than on a co-production placed by community education or cultural of knowledge, has contributed to the decline of University receives a payment from community
continuing education in the 21st century (Osborne for delivery of a service website and Thomas, 2003). A near private contract between the buyer and
the vendor their This has partly been functional, with universities
Analysis of needs of The university comes into the community as an on becoming part of the ‘establishment’ through their community outside expert [email protected]. relations to their patrons (Daalder and Shils, 1982). The university provides services for the But universities’ engagement with marginal communi- community with some reference to an ‘order’ by the community ties has also driven experimental practices that have contact Analysis of problems University engages at community request in Innovation changed society. Cambridge University was formed at request of developing solutions for
when a group Oxford scholars left dissatisfied by the community University has the autonomy and freedom please religious restrictions they faced. The VU University to suggest a range of solutions away from overarching pressure Amsterdam was formed by orthodox Calvinists facing
University delivers a The university delivers a service for the Network discrimination from the Lutheran mainstream, so that solution on behalf of community which is compatible with its
they could educate their future leaders. The Sorbonne the community institutional status permission, in Paris and the Maagdenhuis in Amsterdam were Source: Benneworth et al. (2013) after CERI (1982).
flashpoints for strikes and wider social unrest driven by University growing social tensions in the late 1960s regarding the request closed nature of post-war society (Daalder and Shils, to
CERI reported the tendencies of universities to Global 1982). These struggles left us with several essential work with nearby communities, whether based on a wish engagement repertoires such as science shops or proximity that was geographical, ethical (for example, The you community engagement (Gnaiger and Martin, 2001). by a common confessional position) or mission-based If
(for example, businesses). The report presented the only best practices of university engagement, including KU use Approaches to engagement within Europe Leuven R&D and the North East London Polytechnic Company. Different practical examples of institutional for
Contemporary university engagement in Europe began arrangements were presented for promoting univer- infringement. with the late 1960s ‘democratic turn’, in which Western sity–business engagement, urban regeneration and European universities became highly engaged with community development. However, all approaches society in many different ways and by many different authorised is
implied that public engagement was an adjunct activity copyright mechanisms. Alongside the 1970s’ general pessimism, to the universities’ core activities, within the ‘develop- a is the ‘spirit of 1968’ engendered much grassroots activ- ment periphery’ (Clark, 1998). ism, this positivity driving many different kinds of From the 1980s onwards, European higher educa-
innovative university engagement activity, exemplified document
tion (HE) was increasingly centralized through posting by the Netherlands’ science shops (Mulder et al., 2001), or
strategic modernization, with payment-by-results and This to activism and community work, through continuing new managerial autonomy introduced to improve the and worker education, to policy advice and business productivity and efficiency of public spending (Kickert, GUNI. Copying consultancy. The early 1980s’ report from the Centre 1995). This profoundly affected relationships between © for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) high- universities and society by:
220 HIGHER EDUCATION in the World 5 ●● framing universities’ activities’ value in cash terms; of Oveido adopted the proposal of extensión univer- ●● ranking different kinds of university activities on siteria. What began as bringing community education their strategic importance; to local industrial populations quickly moved towards ●● encouraging universities to focus on only a few addressing the atrocious living conditions of these strategically important activities. communities. The successes of the ‘Oviedo Group’ Societal engagement is increasingly managed in led to similar efforts by the Universities of Salamanca, exclusively financial terms as a ‘third mission’ at a Seville, Valencia, Zaragoza and Santander, using HE time when national HE systems face European Union as a progressive force in industrial communities in the (EU) pressure to prioritize the reform of teaching and next 35 years. Civil war and dictatorship halted this as research. Public engagement activities with income- universities were integrated into a single bureaucratic generation potential (primarily business engagement) structure. Following the restoration of democracy, have become more important, marginalizing other universities acquired a new societal role in decentral-
engagement activities. Benneworth and Humphrey izing power to civil society institutions. Spanish HE http://www.guninetwork.org/. (2013, p. 182) characterize this effect in Scotland thus: reforms in a 2001 Act gave universities a substantive public and community role, including cultural enhance-
Community engagement was based on existing ment, supporting regional cultural development and website activities, (continuing professional development, diffusing university values and cultures. volunteering, widening access) rather than culturally Looking back three decades, where the situation set their on
or structurally embedded, activities that were marginal out by CERI in 1982 is no longer salient for Europe [email protected]. or existed to support ‘core university businesses’. is in its emphasis on citizens rather than consumers. Research tended to be project-based and reliant on The CERI report saw business and societal engagement relentless income generation. ‘Communities’ were as two comparable elements by which universities contact Innovation often restrictively defined as professional bodies, the fulfilled their societal compacts. What has happened in for
voluntary and community sector and other organised that intervening period in Europe has been a massive please stakeholders (companies, local authorities, NHS, expansion of the emphasis that all stakeholders have Police). placed on business engagement (Zomer and Benne- worth, 2011). This has been driven by the increasing Network
In former Eastern Bloc countries, scientific dominance in Europe of the innovation imperative, permission, academies enjoyed a degree of natural freedom from a belief that as economic development depends on
their important role in (re-)producing the cultures and innovation, public expenditure should be increasingly University narratives of national elites. However, the power of managed to functionally drive innovation activities. request university professors was not always dependent on This has dominated consideration of the ‘third to Global party structures, and therefore they were not always mission’ and, perhaps unsurprisingly, has seen busi- wish enthusiastic proponents of communism, represent- ness engagement prioritized over more diverse kinds of The you ing an intelligentsia opposed to Soviet domination social engagement. Less visible has been a formaliza- by If (Connolly, 2000). Student mobilization was an tion of social engagement activities, with an increasing only important part of power in these socialist regimes emphasis on working through formal, contractual rela- and did not always function predictably: while Polish tionships, often with public sector groups, this coming use and Czechoslovakian students opposed the socialist at the expense of less-well organized and informal for
regime, East German students were as late as 1989 community groups. The net results of these shifts has infringement. strongly supportive of it. Following a period of transi- been that societal engagement either remains voluntary tion, public Eastern European universities were able to (in those systems that retain a high degree of academic adopt very Humboldtian postures, while a huge private autonomy) or has become increasingly marginalized authorised is copyright
HE sector emerged based on immediately marketable (in those systems in which there has been a shift to a skills. From the late 1990s, national reform efforts managerial autonomy). is focused on compatibility with the Bologna Process and the European Research Area, leaving little space document posting to develop distinctive post-socialist approaches to Institutional structures supporting or This community–university engagement. community engagement There is also a strong tradition of engagement in 1 GUNI. Copying southern and Mediterranean European countries, Insofar as it is possible to talk about a European engage- © most clearly in Spain, where, in 1898, the University ment tradition, it is best to talk about an informal tradi-
KNOWLEDGE, ENGAGEMENT AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN EUROPE 221 tion (Teichler, 1991; Schütze, 2010), that is extremely autonomy) or has become increasingly marginalized pluriform and defies simple characterization. Even in (in systems with managerial autonomy). less centrally regulated systems, such as the pre-1980s UK, many activities were carried out with a sense of ‘detached benevolence’ (Benneworth, 2013) rather Regulatory frameworks encouraging than being closely tailored to the needs and demands community–university engagement of external groups. In Europe, service-learning is less advanced than it is in the USA, notwithstanding Community engagement activities across European programmes such as the Community-University universities tend to be short-lived, with university lead- Partnership Programme (Hart et al., 2007). The Organ- ers having difficulty in supporting them in the face of isation for Economic Cooperation and Development other more urgent pressures. This makes it important to (OECD) CERI report highlighted the problems and develop resources for institutional leaders (Robinson et
tensions that this relative informality brought for the al., 2012), including indicators for engagement, bench- http://www.guninetwork.org/. societal role of European universities: marking of community engagement, development of classifications of universities including engage-
[The] question of a university’s society function in the ment, and collective organizations such as the Global website very broadest sense of the term … includes not only University Network for Innovation (GUNi) promoting the development of access to qualifications, but the community engagement (Conway et al., 2009; Benne- their on
production of knowledge and the social significance worth, 2013). [email protected]. of that knowledge. It also involves a change in the Societal engagement remains implicitly important sharing of responsibility for the development of to universities today. A diversity of universities’ soci- knowledge and teaching… If the university is to be etal missions – in contrast to their consensus around contact Innovation effectively integrated into the community, it must no teaching and research – means that these are much less for
longer concern only those who attend the university, prescribed by statute than are teaching and research please namely the teachers and the students. It should be activities. The regulatory framework – legislation, possible to pass on one’s skills without being a teacher regulation, policy, governance, finance and funding – and to receive training without being a student. (CERI, influences institutional behaviour. Some European Network
1982, p. 13) HE systems are naturally structurally more diverse permission, in terms of missions and regional forms, and have
CERI identified many ways by which universi- different archetypes as social and economic change University ties met societal needs but where the university and demands new university tasks (CEDEFOP, 2008; request not the community often chose which activities were UNESCO, 2011). to Global provided. The key challenge since then has been to Some of these regulatory frameworks are pan- wish
integrate external stakeholders into university engage- European. Financial support for research (for example, The you ment activities, allowing these communities a right to the European Seventh Framework Programme’s by If co-determine how universities make their knowledge Science in Society strand) provides direct opportuni- only available to society. CERI failed to anticipate the ties for a collaboration between researchers and civil
change in relationship with the State from individuals society. Since 2009, this strand’s ‘Structuring Public use
being ‘citizens’ to being ‘consumers’. CERI envis- Engagement in Research’ has funded projects develop- for
aged that business and societal engagement would be ing Mobilisation and Mutual Learning Action Plans on infringement. comparable elements but failed to foresee the belief Societal Challenges in 2011 (European Commission, that public expenditure should be managed to drive undated). Funding for three years brings researchers innovation (Kenway et al., 2012). and a wider constellation of societal actors together authorised is copyright
The emphasis placed by all European HE stakehold- to create a plan for a constructive dialogue between a ers on business engagement has expanded massively science and society around societal challenges, with is (Zomer and Benneworth, 2011) over more diverse nine consortia receiving funding in the first three
social engagement. The formalization of social rounds. In 2013, six grand challenges were targeted, document posting engagement activities has increased, favouring formal, namely infectious diseases, assessments of sustainable or This contractual relationships with public sector groups over innovation, water, integrated urban development, the those with less-well-organized community groups. internet and society, and ethics assessment. GUNI. Copying The net result has been that societal engagement has The majority of regulatory incentives are national © remained voluntary (in systems with high academic or regional through relevant legislation, regulation
222 HIGHER EDUCATION in the World 5 and funding provision. These areas are not always The UK by contrast has little relevant legislation as equally developed – while the Netherlands, Finland UK universities are autonomous organizations part- and Sweden give HE institutions (HEIs) clear legal funded by the State to drive desired behaviours includ- duties, they are weakly implemented financially. In ing societal engagement. One of the principal metrics contrast, in the UK, where there is no formal legal duty used by UK funding councils to measure ‘engagement’ for engagement of universities, substantial funding is success in recruiting from socially disadvantaged has been allocated to universities for their engagement groups (‘widening participation’). This has increased plans and, from 2014, with the Research Excellence participation rates, although not necessarily from previ- Framework (REF), the impact of their research. France ously excluded communities (Osborne and Houston, provides an example of a system with both strong 2012). Similar schemes have incentivized universi- duties on universities to engage as well as the relevant ties to engage with their regions or business, such resources to deliver that engagement. as England’s Higher Education Innovation Fund, a
The Netherlands legally mandates universities’ metric-based reward system stimulating a broad range http://www.guninetwork.org/. societal roles: the 1992 Higher Education Law gives of knowledge exchange activities including regional universities and universities of applied sciences the consortia. Funding has remained modest compared with mission of making their knowledge available for teaching and research, and institutional responses were website society (Benneworth et al., 2013; for Sweden, see vertically differentiated: elite institutions remained Armbruster-Domeyer, 2011). But there is no funding aloof while more locally oriented universities engaged their on stream for societal engagement as there has been for with non-traditional students and businesses. The 2014 [email protected]. technology transfer activities. The net effect has been REF introduced an impact element into research evalu- a huge amount of activity but a lack of extensive ations, partly scoring on the impacts of the research coordination, as for example in the European Higher on culture, creativity and society, but the effect of the contact Innovation Education and Research Areas. REF on public and community (as opposed to business for
Other countries also require HEIs to engage with and policy) engagement remains to be seen. One high- please society: Finnish universities have ‘performance profile UK example is the Beacons for Public Engage- contracts’ with the Ministry of Education and Culture, ment initiative, six university-based centres across the and universities have a responsibility to regional UK funded by UK Funding and Research Councils and Network stakeholders defined as knowledge transfer aligned to the Wellcome Trust (see the National Co-ordinating permission, regionally defined needs (Lester and Sotarauta, 2007). Centre for Public Engagement homepage at http://
Within the university ‘steering system’, regional/ www.publicengagement.ac.uk). University local tasks fall under ‘soft steering’ and ‘steering by France is a clear example of both strong legislation request information’, and no indicators or results are specified and significant financial rewards. A range of decrees to Global in performance contracts. Universities decide their own and laws mandate French universities, with associated wish third mission approach: some universities prioritize funding at national and regional level, to engage with The you regional and local tasks (for example, the University of various communities, including working adults, the by If Lapland and the University of Eastern Finland), while unemployed, socially excluded young people and those only others emphasize national or international targets. with disabilities. The principal emphasis has been on Sweden has no financial incentives, but the Swedish improving access, including university continuing use
Higher Education Act (1997) legally obliges universities education regulations permitting adult progression to for
to interact with society. This leaves room to interpret the higher level lifelong learning, formalized in the 2007 infringement. third mission broadly from educational outreach to tech- Law of University Responsibilities and Freedoms nology. National policy and legislation has, however, (the ‘LRU Law’). Most well-known internationally been implemented in a weak ‘top-down’ approach is the Recognition of Prior Learning system, initi- authorised is copyright
(Brundenius et al., 2011). Some institutions choose a ated by a 1985 decree and extended in 2002, which a strong approach: Mälardalen University College collab- enables individuals to claim credit up to doctoral level is orates with several local municipalities in a formalized based on their professional (paid/unpaid) experience, partnership called the Samhällskontraktet (Social including in non-profit-making associations and trade document posting Contract), and Karlstad University, Luleå Technical
unions. This has obliged many French universities to or This University, the University of Gothenburg and Linnæus rethink their social role, with a considerable impact on University have similar constructions. Such work rarely academic practice. GUNI. Copying involves the whole university, while collaborative action While regulatory frameworks are vital, it is inevi- © plans have little traction in university policies. table that, in the plurality of legislative models found
KNOWLEDGE, ENGAGEMENT AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN EUROPE 223 across the countries of Europe, engagement is a choice The precise mix of activities is in some cases driven by rather than a compulsion, and that choice is often the universities’ own supply wishes, while at the other linked to the synergy that engagement has with tradi- end of this continuum are activities that are collabora- tional missions of teaching and research. In the next tive and responsive to community demands. section, we will provide a typology demonstrating how that integration can come about, with some exemplars. Table IV.5.3 A typology of different kinds of university engagement activity Archetypal projects and activities for Mode Main areas of engagement activity university engagement Collaborative research projects Research projects involving co-creation Universities respond to this highly differentiated regula- Research Research commissioned by hard-to-reach groups tory engagement framework in a variegated manner. http://www.guninetwork.org/. With few formally managed duties and responsibilities, Research on these groups then fed back there are few incentives for universities to institutional- Consultancy for hard-to-reach group as a client
ize engagement. Although structures such as technology Public funded knowledge exchange projects website Knowledge Capacity building between hard-to-reach groups transfer offices have become pervasive (Wink, 2004), exchange their that has been much rarer for community engagement Knowledge exchange through student ‘consultancy’ on
structures (Robinson et al., 2012; Powell and Dayson, Promoting public understanding and media [email protected]. 2013). Similarly units promoting widening participation Making university assets and services open (UK) or validating prior experience (France) remain Encouraging hard-to-reach groups to use assets peripheral to core HEI infrastructures. The typical Euro- Service contact
Making an intellectual contribution as ‘expert’ Innovation pean picture is of much activity, but greatly fragmented Contributing to the civic life of the region for
without overall institutional coordination. please Teaching appropriate engagement practices Arguably, massification means that universities are Practical education for citizenship having a greater impact on societal activity than ever
Teaching Public lectures and seminar series Network before. The sector is incredibly innovative – with new CPD for hard-to-reach groups
kinds of engagement (Science Slam) and engagement permission, theories (Living Laboratories and Social Innovation) Adult and lifelong learning Source: Benneworth et al., 2009, in Benneworth et al. (2013). emerging from universities. However, European University policy-makers have had difficulty finding ways to place request this university engagement with society at the heart of to Global HE missions. Notwithstanding their lack of political Service-learning – taking students into communi- wish
traction, many good practice examples can be found ties – is less prevalent in Europe than North America, The you across European universities, although the general although there is a European Service-Learning by If peripherality of societal engagement for universities Association. A recent European Commission-funded only makes creating effective community engagement project, VALUE (Volunteering and Lifelong Learning
extremely time-consuming and place‑specific. in Universities in Europe; http://www.valuenetwork. use
org.uk), provides a good overview of activity across 12 for
AN OVERVIEW OF COMMUNITY–UNIVERSITY countries. The case of Leuphana University (Germany) infringement. ENGAGEMENT exemplifies how volunteering and service are integrally One way to classify university engagement is ‘modes embedded into the curriculum; Reinmuth et al. (2007) of delivery’, distinguishing teaching, research, know- provide further illustrations from Germany. Other authorised is copyright
ledge exchange and service-learning. These various universities such as the National University of Ireland a kinds of potential community–university engagement (Galway) are also explicit about volunteering and is are shown in Table IV.5.3 (Benneworth et al., 2009; service – its Community Knowledge Initiative allows
Benneworth, 2013). Most concrete engagement initia- students to obtain credit for service learning. document posting tives have multiple aims, some covering all of these Science shops, first established in Europe in the or This categories and involving different kinds of university 1970s in the Netherlands, are a means for a univer- activity together. Science shops include both service- sity (or non-governmental organization) to provide participatory research support to civil society groups GUNI. Copying learning and teaching, and may also bring elements of © knowledge exchange and in some cases even research. normally excluded from specialist knowledge. Having
224 HIGHER EDUCATION in the World 5 spread internationally, they are linked through the partnerships and citizens’ networks to stimulate formal Living Knowledge Network in Bonn, Germany. Their and non-formal learning on a city-wide basis (Eckert et importance is illustrated by the considerable fund- al., 2012). ing provided by the European Seventh Framework Another interesting example demonstrating engage- Programme for the Public Engagement with Research ment across the economic, social, cultural and environ- and Research Engagement with Society (PERARES) mental is the South Transdanubia region (Hungary). project. This project, coordinated by the University of Community activists, including the Mayor of Karasz, Groningen Science Shop, ‘aims to strengthen public work with HE in various activities seeking both to engagement in research through involving researchers restore traditions and to generate income. Some activ- and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the formu- ists have visiting faculty appointments at the Univer- lation of research agendas and the research process’ sity of Pécs, enabling student work experience and (PERARES, 2013) and looks at 26 best-practice Euro- research project placement in the villages. They draw
pean science shops. on university expertise, mainly from Pécs but also from http://www.guninetwork.org/. Validation of informal and non-formal learning the University of Kaposvár (forestry management) (VNIL) provides arguably the best example of ascribing and two other universities with relevant specialisms, value to knowledge developed in community settings particularly in mycology. The village fruit-juicing website that may challenge university monopolies as the sites facilities – a cooperative-style multi-supplier activity of knowledge production. This field has exercised that spreads the benefit widely – even include apples their on the European Commission in the past decade with an from the University of Kaposvár in their mix; part of [email protected]. emphasis on employability, with the Malta Qualifica- the value-added finished product is marketed in places tions Council (see http://www.ncfhe.org.mt/), among such as Budapest. many such European bodies, speaking of VNIL’s contact Innovation benefits for third-sector and voluntary organizations. Economic partnership for
Universities’ contributions to economic development is please OUR CLASSIFICATION FRAMEWORK FOR usually understood in terms of high-technology busi- COMMUNITY–UNIVERSITY ENGAGEMENT nesses and job creation, but these impacts often bypass The following sections document a range of examples excluded communities. European universities face Network
of good practice in engagement that are innovative, the resultant tensions between their high-technology permission, sustainable and provide lessons for others seeking to footprints and the ordinary economic needs of their
engage. Some are drawn from recent work within the neighbouring communities, and some have developed University Pascal Universities Region Engagement project (Duke modes of economic engagement relevant to these request et al., 2013), which mapped HEI engagement systems ordinary communities. A key problem facing excluded to Global at city and regional level in 11 European localities communities is that of capital flight and disinvestment, wish covering Finland, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Sweden and so universities can make key contributions by creating The you the UK, using a framework developed by Charles et al. new facilities in poorer areas, demand for transport and by If (2010; following Charles and Benneworth, 2002).2 retail services of more general local benefit. only Societal engagement can be categorized as being Liverpool Hope University (UK) created a new directed towards economic, societal, cultural or campus in England’s poorest ward, Everton, with use environmental development (cf. OECD, 2007), very a cultural centre including arts incubator units; this for
broad distinctions illustrating principal purposes, but campus anchors other public sector investment, includ- infringement. in practice, engagement activities may cover multiple ing the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Another categories. Brennan et al. (2006) provide a framework economic development problem for excluded commu- to analyse how such work can be analysed in relation to nities is access to credit, with doorstep lending and authorised is copyright 3 communities that have been disadvantaged in relation payday loans financially burdening already indigent a to their HE access. They refer to local and regional communities; Salford University has worked with local is partnership working, cultural presence, civic roles and groups to create Moneyline, a set of community finance the provision of employment opportunities by universi- initiatives bringing access to credit back to ten inner document posting ties. Kaunas University of Technology in Lithuania city communities in England’s north west (Powell and or This provides an all-embracing example in supporting its Dayson, 2013). city to develop itself into a Learning City, covering Universities as a whole or departmental/ faculty units GUNI. Copying de facto all potential aspects of engagement. Here the may contribute directly to community partnerships or be © university and municipality have sought to develop major stakeholders in community development projects,
KNOWLEDGE, ENGAGEMENT AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN EUROPE 225 contributing to regeneration, business development and populations: a number of initiatives target in varying environmental sustainability. In Helsinki (Finland), the measure both improved labour market prospects and Active Life Village is sponsored by the City of Espoo improved well-being. The Tertiary Higher Education and the Laurea University of Applied Sciences with for People in Mid-life Project provides cognate case involvement from Aalto University of Technology, studies from the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, and service and technology companies. It supports Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK (Krüger et new businesses drawing on technological innovation to al., 2014). provide new opportunities in the welfare sector. There is also work around health and well-being in Another area where universities and communities ageing societies, with much university work inspired are working closely together is around creating and from a research perspective, but also integrating public capitalizing on cultural assets, often supporting this engagement, as in the example of Newcastle Univer- with creating niche small and medium-sized enter- sity’s Initiative on Changing Age in the UK (see http://
prises in tourism and the environment, and meeting www.ncl.ac.uk/changingage/). This programme seeks, http://www.guninetwork.org/. their training/development needs. Examples are: through an engagement and education centre, to engage ●● the University of Lecce, Puglia (Italy) – the regen- with voluntary sector agencies, facilitating consultation
eration of an abandoned factory in an urban area to with communities around ageing and demography website make a major cultural centre; issues, and thereby engaging non-experts in shaping their ●● Buskerud University College in Buskerud County future research and policy-making. on
(Norway) mountain – eco-tourism; Other targeted groups include ethnic minority [email protected]. ●● Mid Sweden University in Jämtland – tourism groups, currently with a particular focus on the Roma related to nature culture and indigenous peoples, people, lower socioeconomic class categories, women, local food, sport and adventure. those in remote regions and people with disabilities. contact Innovation A number of policy documents from the European for
Social inclusion Commission (EC), starting in 1991 with the Memoran- please Social exclusion involves individuals being systemati- dum on Higher Education in the European Community, cally disadvantaged in ways that hinder their access to have emphasized the need for greater inclusiveness. jobs, housing, transport, education and other services This memorandum urged HEIs to widen access to Network
vital for participation in contemporary society (Benne- higher qualifications, create opportunities for the updat- permission, worth et al., 2013). These barriers are often overlap- ing and renewal of qualifications, increase preparatory
ping and self-reinforcing; university contributions to courses and also do more to recognize prior learning University social inclusion are not just about opening education and experience (EC, 1991). The main imperative is request provision, but about making this sufficiently easy that the need to support an increasingly knowledge-driven to Global people can benefit in practice. In Europe, this involves society, an argument that continues to resonate today. wish
delivering education close to communities, and facili- The extent to which these various schemes for The you tating progression from basic to advanced educational improvement are responsive to community demand by If levels. Different institutions have emphasized various and recognize communities’ contribution to knowledge only dimensions, lifelong learning, learning in minority production is, however, debatable (Osborne, 2003). languages and flexible learning, alongside activi- France’s system of validation d’acquis de l’expérience use
ties targeting other exclusion elements undermining (VAE) challenges what counts as valid knowledge, for
participation in education, including health issues. although ultimately HEIs still validate credits within the infringement. In Glasgow (UK), several universities have system. The national system provides many interesting community outreach programmes encompassing cases, and particular institutions such as the Université the arts, culture, lifelong learning and work with des Sciences et Technologies de Lille (Lille1) are lead- authorised is copyright
poor communities. The Universities of Glasgow and ers in the field. Social and economic imperatives need a Strathclyde have both made considerable provision in not be contradictory: the VAE scheme encompasses is the liberal adult education tradition: the Senior Stud- both human and social capital facets, stimulating
ies Institute at Strathclyde focuses on work with those social inclusion by helping individuals improve their document posting in the ‘third age’, not only engaging older people employability. While some commentators suggest that or This through leisure courses, but also offering enhancing the scheme contains a paradox of objectives (Pouget employment opportunities in later life (the Learning in and Figari, 2009), it is not unusual for programmes GUNI. Copying Later Life programme). There is considerable activity of access to focus on the improvement of individual © across European universities in engaging with ageing economic prospects.
226 HIGHER EDUCATION in the World 5 A linked notion is the recognition and exchange of These activities may be facilitators of social inclu- indigenous knowledge that is unique to a particular sion for excluded groups, catalysts for innovation culture or society (Warren, 1991) and which has been and significant elements of local, regional and even described as the social capital of the poor. Although national economic development. much of the focus of debate on indigenous knowledge In Pécs, Hungary, the university has built upon the is not generally on Europe, we can find interesting city’s European Capital of Culture (ECoC) status in engagements in countries such as Finland, for example 2010 by offering provision linked to the wider region’s at the Arctic Indigenous Peoples and Sami Research multicultural heritage, including local Roma individu- Office of the University of Lapland. als being able to study in their mother tongue at the A final dimension is university involvement in Department of Romology. The university has also community research. Spain is particularly strong created a cultural industries incubator at the Zsolnay in this with the Instituto Paulo Freire, a national ceramics factory, a prime objective of the ECoC: the
community–university research network. This Institute Faculty of Arts and some departments of the Faculty of http://www.guninetwork.org/. supports activities in a number of Spanish universities, Humanities of the university are being installed in the based on the critical pedagogy theories of Paulo Freire, incubator both to attract creative artists and to foster and community–university participatory research is cultural tourism. website active in stimulating social engagement (Hall, 2011). There are many other examples of universities In Barcelona, the Centre of Research in Theories and contributing to cultural events. In the UK, the Univer- their on
Practice that Overcome Inequalities is concerned with sity of East London is adjacent to the 2012 Olympic [email protected]. analysing social inequalities and with the consequent Games site. The university is building on the Games’ training needs. success by promoting public access to its facilities and Interesting cases are also found in Italy. Laura its sports science courses, and is validating courses in contact Innovation Saija (2013), for example, explains how substantial sports and events management, exploiting its close- for efforts by the University of Catania have contributed to ness to other large-scale cultural venues (the ExCel please driving out Mafia influence from a 1960s Sicilian new Exhibition Centre and the O2 Arena) and developing town, Librino, contributing in many ways to building a foundation degrees (short-cycle) in visitor management new democratic and participatory culture to replace the related to retail, exhibitions, tourism and hospitality. Network
dominant patronage-based relationships. Similarly in Glasgow, the University of the West of permission, Scotland is contributing to assessing the impact of the
Culture and creativity forthcoming 2014 Commonwealth Games on commu- University Universities are pipelines into other cultures in other nity development where students’ service-learning request times and places, providing lenses through which their offers a potential contributory mechanism. to Global host societies can understand these other situations wish and develop their own place in the world. This has Sustainable development The you not always been edifying, with universities and their In contemporary Europe, the environmental costs of by If scholars playing a role in some of the worst excesses of development are pushed onto the poorest communities only imperialism and colonialism. But universities have also that are least able to resist them (Davoudi and Brooks, been important in developing local cultures: sometimes 2012). Environmental justice is increasingly important use new universities have been created explicitly to gain for sustainable development – poor communities for
recognition for minority cultural groups. This activity frequently disproportionately bear the pollution costs infringement. has recently magnified in scope, partly with the explo- of urban transport systems, while at the same time, sion of ‘popular culture’, with universities both provid- because of their limited access to transport services, ing a lens to understand these cultural developments they gain the lowest benefit from them. The greatest authorised is copyright and equipping particular groups with the knowledge contribution that universities are making to sustainable a and tools to utilize that culture to benefit itself. development is therefore in terms of social and envi- is A key focus for many universities has been activities ronmental justice, and fairness in the allocation of the oriented towards creativity and the creative industries. costs and benefits of economic development. Universi- document posting These range from short courses oriented to particular ties are not often politically powerful actors able to or This interest groups, supporting the creative industries, change or challenge society’s working; their most making available cultural assets such as museums and effective work comes in supporting grassroots mobi- GUNI. Copying galleries and research, development and infrastructure lizations that challenge these environmental injustices. © support linked to events on an international scale. A number of European universities have commit-
KNOWLEDGE, ENGAGEMENT AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN EUROPE 227 ted themselves strategically to promoting sustainable can provide dialogue and action between researchers development, being active in and signatories to the and communities in sustainable food production. The Third Talloires Declaration, a set of commitments Partnerships of Institutions and Citizens for Research by university administrators to embed sustainable and Innovation was stimulated by the work of the development in all their universities’ activities. The Community-University Research Alliance to create Declaration evolved into the organization University collaborative projects between researchers and CSOs, Leaders for a Sustainable Future, although its spread and has sought to build an eco-region in this part of has been less wide through Europe than other parts of France. One subsidiary project involved developing the world. In the UK, a number of universities have new farming practices in managing and selecting wheat committed themselves to a more practical sustainable varieties for organic bread production (Gallet al., 2009). development tool, the Universities that Count accredi- tation system, based on an index of environmental and
social responsibility (ESR). This was promoted by Strategies and actions to advance http://www.guninetwork.org/. Higher Education Funding Council for England, and a engagement in Europe wide range of UK HEIs now follow the ESR monitor-
ing activity to give their contribution to sustainable The preceding section has told a story of engagement website development a strategic focus. by European universities being an ‘exceptional’ activ- The findings of Davoudi and Brooks formed part ity, where a university group places additional effort their on
of the work of the Newcastle Fairness Commission, into engaging with a public group to bring wider [email protected]. which was important in bringing into focus some of the benefits from university knowledge. The challenge injustices that exist but are often invisible or taken for is bringing these activities away from universities’ granted in the distribution of environmental burdens experimental peripheries and incorporating them into contact Innovation and benefits in urban development. An important role the heart of the 21st-century university, bringing vari- for
played by universities in environmental justice is plac- ous engagement projects out of their protective spaces please ing the demands of minority and excluded communi- nurtured by enthusiasts, exposing them to the reality of ties on wider agendas and forcing others to take notice. existence within universities. Any serious university An obvious challenge for universities comes when this engagement activity raises challenges and problems: Network
conflicts with their own corporate interests, for exam- contributing seriously to European society requires a permission, ple around gentrification. Universities need to develop commitment to address these tensions and face down
an effective ethical framework to ensure that their interests challenged by engagement activity. In this University position as relatively strong, well-resourced actors with section, we highlight some key tensions and pressures request spatial interests does not come into conflict with their that universities experience when consolidating experi- to Global wider societal duties. mental engagement activities into holistic strategic wish
At the most basic level, much university work has management practices. The you focused on the universities’ own management practices Universities can contribute to balancing knowledge by If and on moving towards sustainable behaviour. The asymmetries by mobilizing ‘outsider’ knowledges in only earlier work of GUNi notes that ‘greening the campus’ peripheral communities. But this highlights the tension
has been the main response in this area (Tilbury, 2012, that the financialization of HE brings: when universi- use
p. 19). It is evident from earlier examples that much ties are steered through financial mechanisms, groups for
more than this is possible. Internal change is essential, without financial resources have difficulty influenc- infringement. and many practices are illustrative of what can be ing strategic university decisions. The move from achieved, one example of note being the University universal free HE to student fees and loans threatens to of Plymouth (UK) with what it describes as a holistic limit the participatory opportunities in HE to society’s authorised is copyright
model of change, the 4C model of Campus, Curricu- wealthy. With Europe undergoing financial austerity, a lum, Community and Culture. budget cuts to universities might encourage a restric- is The development of green skills has been noted in tion of access to their knowledge to those able to pay.
studies by CEDEFOP (2010) and the International Emphasizing commercial outcomes for third mission document posting Labour Organization (Srietska-Ilina et al., 2011) with activities can discourage community groups from or This many EU examples among the 21 country studies working with universities – even universities’ deci- covering Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Spain sions on floorspace charging can drive out community GUNI. Copying and the UK. The regional government of the Ile-de- groups and create additional wedges between universi- © France illustrates concretely possible approaches that ties and community groups.
228 HIGHER EDUCATION in the World 5 Universities can be important in the thinking to tion, universities may restrict their engagement to renew society, with public intellectuals providing those community groups who share university norms a useful reservoir of cultural capital contributing to and interests. This risks confusing a general duty to civic reinvention and even resistance. But university support socioeconomic development with a more self- academics also face pressure to focus on a handful of interested reading that community engagement should core activities that may restrict that wider public func- directly benefit the university. Although universities tion. The relentless rise of the world-class university should engage with communities with which they share norm – placeless research excellence rather than values, restricting engagement to those where there is community-based research relevance – represents a clear mutual benefit risks undermining universities’ a real threat to extending engagement. University universality in their social mission. research now focuses almost exclusively on winning research funding and on excellent publications than on
making social contributions: contributing to the public Conclusions and final comments http://www.guninetwork.org/. intellectual realm is a second-class activity, one not valued by the universities. This risks universities aban- Universities have a great deal to offer European society doning their capacity to contribute to wider processes in terms of their engagement contributions. European website of collective reimagination and rethinking. universities face an urgent challenge to improve their European universities are strong as meeting places engagement – there is great demand across society their on of transcultural elite dialogue and understanding. for their knowledge, and a failure to respond will [email protected]. Universities have long equipped societies with the undermine popular support for universities. But this intellectual tools to relate to other societies, and univer- is happening against a background of a range of pres- sities have been very effective in responding to chal- sures, including modernization, internationalization contact Innovation lenges from fundamentalist ideologies or the rise of the and budget cuts, that drive in the opposite direction. for so-called ‘BRICs’. Universities remain marketplaces Universities are faced with having to make strategic please of ideas, and the European Research Area and Bologna choices and being overloaded with missions – less Process have been very effective in promoting inter- important missions risk becoming peripheral within cultural exchanges between academics and students. universities. Network
But the challenge in Europe is extending this from the Community engagement is still at an early, periph- permission, metropolitan elite to a more demotic level. The metro- eral phase in many European universities, and the
politan elite share common norms and behaviours with central challenge is in placing it at the heart of university University universities – universities are familiar to them. Bring- life. Anyone reading the CERI report in 1982 would be request ing other kinds of community – with their own behav- surprised to see the extent to which only one element to Global iours and values – into the university brings particular of ‘community’ – business communities – has been wish tensions and may conflict with university desires for embraced and normalized by universities. Europe must The you universalism. But engaging in these conversations, for likewise normalize community–university engage- by If example around extreme right-wing nationalism, is ment, a common-sense and taken-for-granted mission only vital for European societies, and universities have the rather than a special, peripheral and experimental situ- opportunity to address the problems these communities ation. But there remains the very real problem in main- use may bring. streaming these interesting and alluring experiments, for
Universities have strong linkages with civil society, incorporating them into the mainstream of universities infringement. but current pressures risk universities facing a choice as institutions, organizations, companies and networks, of ignoring civil society or treating it as a junior partner and consolidating them to change the very nature of in the relationship. Engaging with a plurality of civil European HE. Indeed, if Europe’s universities fail to authorised is copyright society interests generates conflicts and tensions with heed this agenda and follow the seductions of ignor- a scientists’ autonomy to choose their own research ing the wider public, this risks undercutting the social is questions, particularly around controversial new tech- compact by which Europe’s publics provide privileged nologies or where there are strong differences between positions for its universities. document posting public and private benefits. We have already seen Sophisticated demands and pressures from civil or This civil society groups opposing university research into society are difficult for universities as responsible actors genetically modified crops because of dissatisfaction to reject and ignore in the long term, but in Europe’s GUNI. Copying that they concentrate power unhelpfully in the hands increasingly individualized and consumerist society, © of a few agrochemical firms. Facing such opposi- these signals and wishes risk being lost against the
KNOWLEDGE, ENGAGEMENT AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN EUROPE 229 noise of markets, league tables, rankings and competi- REFERENCES tion. Vital to this is creating a space within Europe’s ‘overloaded universities’ for community engagement Armbruster-Domeyer, H., in cooperation with Hermansson, to become important to universities. Contrary to what K. and Modéer, C. (2011) International Review, Analy- sis and Proposals on Indicators for Measuring Public is sometimes claimed, it is not enough for university Engagement. VA Report 2011:2. Stockholm: Vetenskap leaders simply to declare that ‘engagement matters’ & Allmänhet (Public & Science). (Benneworth et al., 2013). Making engagement central Benneworth, P. (2013) ‘The evaluation of universities and to a university necessitates changes in its full portfolio their contributions to social exclusion’. In: Benneworth, P. (ed.) University Engagement with Socially Excluded of activities. When students must complete a commu- Communities. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 309–27. nity engagement project to graduate, all staff must Benneworth, P. and Humphrey, L. (2013) ‘Universities’ accept that engagement matters, rather than some staff perspectives on community engagement’. In: Benne- being enthusiastic where it is voluntary. Universities worth, P. (ed.) University Engagement with Socially Excluded Communities. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 165–88. must build up their capacity to: Benneworth, P.S., Charles, D.R., Conway, C., Hodgson, C. http://www.guninetwork.org/. ●● deliver community engagement; and Humphrey, L. (2009) ‘How the societal impact of ●● accept community engagement; universities can be improved both conceptually and prac-
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KNOWLEDGE, ENGAGEMENT AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN EUROPE 231 Tilbury, D. (2012) ‘Higher education for sustainability: a cultural Development. World Bank Discussion Paper global overview of commitment and progress’. In GUNi No.127. Washington, DC: World Bank. (ed.) Higher Education in the World 4. Higher Educa- Wink, R. (ed.) (2004) Academia-Business Links in UK and tion’s Commitment to Sustainability: from Understanding Germany: Policy Outcomes and Lessons Learnt. Chelten- to Action. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. ham: Edward Elgar. UNESCO (2011) Trends in Diversification of Post-Secondary Zomer, A. and Benneworth, P. (2011) ‘The rise of the univer- Education. Paris: UNESCO. sity’s Third Mission’. In: Enders, J., de Boer, H.F. and Universities that Count. A Report on Benchmarking Environ- Westerheijden, D. (eds) Reform of Higher Education in mental and Corporate Responsibility in Higher Education. Europe. Rotterdam: Sense. Retrieved September 2013 from http://www.eauc.org.uk/ file_uploads/he_benchmarking_project_report.pdf. Warren, D.M. (1991) Using Indigenous Knowledge in Agri- http://www.guninetwork.org/. Inside View IV.5.1 Marek Kwiek Knowledge production, regional engagement and higher education in Poland website While the policy discourse in Poland is already Sà, 2011). Links between higher education commercialization of research. At the same
stressing the fundamental role of universities’ and the economy are tightening throughout time, surprisingly, almost half of the companies their
regional engagement in research, it is hard to Europe. The third assumption is that teach- surveyed that had actually been in touch with on [email protected]. assess how long it will take to develop strong ing is expected to be more closely linked to scientists (45%) reported that the initiative for links between universities and their regions. the needs of the labour market, avoiding the cooperation came from the scientists. Compa-
The strongest links are clearly seen in the mismatch between higher education offer- nies involved in partnerships with universities contact
teaching dimension of regional engagement. ings and labour market needs, and research were generally satisfied; the effects of coopera- Innovation
Regional engagement in research is a much is expected to be more easily commercialized. tion with scientists were rated as ‘rather posi- for more distant goal, and the investment of In Poland, following the new law on higher tive’ by 51% and ‘definitely positive’ by 17% please more public resources in joint programmes for education of March 2011, new mechanisms to of respondents. Only 3% of surveyed compa-
universities and companies, as well as major link universities and their regions include state nies provided a ‘rather negative’ or ‘definitely Network changes in current individual and institutional funding for university partnerships with busi- negative’ assessment of a university partner-
research assessment formulas and academic nesses, especially through public and private ship (MNISW, 2006, pp. 4–10). permission, promotion requirements, are needed. science and technology parks, new incentives The linkages between Polish universities
Recent reforms of Polish higher educa- for universities’ regional initiatives, including and their economic environments are, from a University tion and research systems (2008–2011) have for new study programmes prepared with the comparative international perspective, weak, request to been based on several assumptions. The first assistance of local and regional companies, and international reports on Polish higher Global assumption is that higher education is increas- modified requirements for the academic career education released in the last few years stress wish
ingly conceived as a vehicle for economic ladder, and increased cooperation with local the exceptional academic character of Polish The you development of the nation and of the region in industry in university governance, with new universities, and their engagement with their by If whose social and economic fabric it is embed- industry representatives on universities’ (still own (academic) issues rather than issues of ded (see OECD, 1999, 2000). The regional optional) boards of trustees. interest to, or relevant for, society and the only
mission means opening up universities to The level of university responsiveness to economy. The linkages between educational use
the regions in which they are located, which labour market needs in Poland is still low. The offerings (especially in public institutions) and for may result in a wide range of interactions, level of cooperation with the business sector is labour market needs are also weak, although infringement. from cultural to social to economic (Arbo and also low. As a ministerial report on the barri- both are strengthening. As an OECD report Benneworth, 2006). The fundamental role of ers of cooperation between research centres has stressed, Polish institutions are ‘typi-
knowledge production in the economic growth and companies stresses, Polish companies cally – although not always – strongly inward- authorised is of knowledge-driven economies puts universi- need to be made more aware of the possibili- looking in focus, rather than facing outward copyright a
ties and the outcomes of their teaching and ties associated with cooperating with univer- towards the wider society, including working is research increasingly in the public spotlight sities: approximately 20% of companies did life’ (OECD, 2007, p. 77; see also World Bank/ (Foray, 2006; Leydesdorff, 2006; Etzkowitz, not know that that it was possible to cooper- EIB 2004). document
2008; Kwiek, 2013a). ate with the academic community, and 40% The linkages between Polish universities posting or The second assumption is that the of companies had never tried to get in touch and their social environments are, in contrast, This ‘economic relevance’ of universities, directly with universities. In addition, 40% of surveyed strong: both national metropolitan research
or indirectly, links university activities with companies did not know how to reach research universities and local universities engage with GUNI. Copying innovations in the private sector (Geiger and centres that were potentially interested in the civil society organizations, third-sector organi- ©
232 HIGHER EDUCATION in the World 5