Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Directorate for Education Education Management and Infrastructure Division Programme on Institutional Management of Higher Education (IMHE) Supporting the Contribution of Higher Education Institutions to Regional Development Peer Review Report: North East of England Chris Duke, Robert Hassink, James Powell and Jaana Puukka January 2006 The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the OECD or its Member Countries. 1 This Peer Review Report is based on the review visit to the North East of England in October 2005, the regional Self-Evaluation Report, and other background material. As a result, the report reflects the situation up to that period. The preparation and completion of this report would not have been possible without the support of very many people and organisations. OECD/IMHE and the Peer Review Team for the North East of England wish to acknowledge the substantial contribution of the region, particularly through its Coordinator, the authors of the Self-Evaluation Report, and its Regional Steering Group. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE...................................................................................................................................... 5 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS...................................................................................... 7 1. INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................... 9 1.1 Evaluation Context and Approach .................................................................................. 9 1.2 The Conduct of the Evaluation ..................................................................................... 10 1.3 The North East – Key Features of the Region .............................................................. 12 1.4 The Structure of this Report.......................................................................................... 13 2. THE NATIONAL POLICY ARENA – AMBIGUITIES AND TENSIONS ABOUT EDUCATION AND ABOUT REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT.............................................. 15 2.1 Whitehall and the Regions ............................................................................................ 15 2.2 The Post-Referendum Vacuum..................................................................................... 16 2.3 The Department for Education and Skills, and HEFCE................................................ 16 2.4 Other Costs of Ambivalence over Regionalism............................................................ 17 2.5 Investing Adequately in ‘Excellence’ ........................................................................... 18 2.6 The Need for Strong Purpose and Sensitive Hearing.................................................... 18 3. REGIONS, THE BOUNDARIES OF THE REGION, AND THE DISTINCTIVINESS OF THE NORTH EAST ......................................................................................................... 20 3.1 Regions – Managing Complexity.................................................................................. 20 3.2 Gaining from and Managing Breadth and Diversity..................................................... 20 3.3 The North East – Strongly Separate and Different ....................................................... 21 3.4 City Regions and Contest within the North East Region.............................................. 22 3.5 The North of England and Northern Way..................................................................... 23 4. THE ROLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 25 4.1 The Decline of Manufacturing Industry........................................................................ 25 4.2 The Response to Economic Decline ............................................................................. 25 4.3 Recognising and Developing the Role of the Universities............................................ 27 4.4 Recommendations......................................................................................................... 30 5. WIDER APPROACHES TO DEVELOPMENT .................................................................... 32 5.1 A Balanced Perspective................................................................................................. 32 5.2 Wider Aspirations – and their Costs ............................................................................. 32 5.3 Social Inclusion and Wider Participation...................................................................... 33 5.4 Culture........................................................................................................................... 35 5.5 Sport.............................................................................................................................. 37 5.6 Connectedness, Acceptance, and Broader Engagement................................................ 37 5.7 Measurement and Audit ................................................................................................ 38 3 6. CAPACITY BUILDING FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION – VIRTUOUS KNOWLEDGE SHARING................................................................................ 40 6.1 Coincidence of Regional Purpose ................................................................................. 41 6.2 Universities of the North East (Unis4NE)..................................................................... 42 6.3 Benefits from Mature Conversation.............................................................................. 43 6.4 Leadership in HEIs and for the Region......................................................................... 45 6.5 Leadership, Cooperative Competition and Celebration ................................................ 46 6.6 Demand and Need to Develop a More Relevant Portfolio of Provision....................... 48 6.7 Growing Strategic Alliances and Useful Partnerships .................................................. 49 7. CONCLUSIONS FOR THE REGION, NATIONALLY, AND FOR WIDER COMPARISON....................................................................................................................... 51 7.1 Possibilities and Prospects for and in the North East.................................................... 51 7.2 Consideration for Future Policy Development and Implementation at National Level 53 7.3 Learning Internationally – Contribution to OECD Inter-Regional Learning................ 55 ANNEXES TO THE MAIN REVIEW REPORT: CASES OF BEST PRACTICE ................... 57 Case 1 - Regeneration of Sunderland as a Knowledge Economy City .................................... 57 Case 2 - Newcastle Science City.............................................................................................. 60 Case 3 - DigitalCity - from Hyderabad to Middlesbrough ...................................................... 62 Case 4 - University-led Regeneration through the North East Productivity Alliance (NEPA) Project ......................................................................................................... 64 Case 5 - ‘Better than its Image’ – Tackling Inclusion in Teesside .......................................... 66 Case 6 - Cultural and Creative Industries ................................................................................ 68 Case 7 - University-led Engagement of North East Communities through Sport ................... 71 Case 8 - Knowledge House...................................................................................................... 74 Case 9 - The Northern Rural Network (NRN)......................................................................... 76 REFERENCES............................................................................................................................ 78 APPENDIX 1. THE OECD REVIEW TEAM............................................................................ 79 Lead Evaluator......................................................................................................................... 79 International Expert ................................................................................................................. 79 National Expert ........................................................................................................................ 79 Team Coordinator .................................................................................................................... 79 APPENDIX 2. REGIONAL COORDINATOR, REGIONAL STEERING COMMITTEE, AND THE AUTHORS OF THE REGIONAL SELF-EVALUATION REPORT...................... 80 Members of the Regional Steering Group of the North East of England ................................ 80 APPENDIX 3. PROGRAMME OF THE REVIEW VISIT ........................................................ 81 4 PREFACE We have written this report with three main readerships in mind. The first is the people working together to nurture the development of the North East of England, a distinct and well defined geographical, administrative, historical, economic and cultural region striving to rebuild itself following massive deindustrialisation, with the help of five universities located in the region, together with the higher education resources of the Open University in the North East and a number of Further Education Colleges that make higher education provision. We hope that the report will help them along the path of what we came to call ‘mature conversation’ and partnership