Higher Education and Regional Growth

Local Contexts and Global Challenges

Rick Wylie

• Publisher: Policy Network
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781786608321
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Public Policy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

• The specialisation, knowledge and innovation brought about by universities often play a key role for the economic success of cities and regions. Yet higher education is also increasingly regarded, in some European countries and regions, as an economic sector in itself, whereby the measure of success lies in the ability to attract international students and set up international partnerships. Universities need therefore to find successful strategies responding to global challenges and fitting local contexts.
  

This edited volume brings together a collection of international and regional experts on the subject of higher education and regional growth. It explores the changing role of universities in a globally competitive environment and the way in which they interact with the regional business and policy community. The publication builds upon a seminar co-organised by Policy Network and the UCLan Applied Policy Science Unit which was funded by the Samuel Lindow Foundation, which took place at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) on 12 December 2014. It brings together the wide array of evidence presented at the event and provides the reader with additional input from academic experts.

ENTREPRENEURIAL UNIVERSITIES IN A REGIONAL CONTEXT

John Lonsdale

INTRODUCTION

This chapter considers entrepreneurial universities in a regional context. Some measures of entrepreneurship favour wealthy institutions and these have featured prominently in the literature. By attracting large volumes of research income and drawing upon rich resources they can translate this into a high number of start-ups and spin-outs. However, these institutions are very much in the minority, but all is not lost for other universities with fewer existing resources. Enterprising and entrepreneurial approaches can make a significant difference to not only the institution, but to the student base and relations with stakeholders in the region and beyond.

This chapter surveys some key underpinning literature in this area, focusing on how entrepreneurial approaches in universities can produce a wide range of benefits, academically, for students and for regional economies. The approach goes beyond the narrow measure of spin out creation and considers how the context of the university will influence its approach.

Universities are well placed to take advantage of existing networks, create new networks and to deploy the immense social capital that they possess. Acknowledgment is given to the tensions of academic workloads and identity as serious concerns that need to be considered in any strategy.

Each needs to find its own way – while broad principles are generalisable, the outcomes will be a function of resources and networks built by the universities. These contextual resources in some way constrain universities, but can also be the basis for distinctive development and differentiation from other instructions.

An example of this approach as undertaken at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), a large enterprising university in the north-west of England, is provided.

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL UNIVERSITY – AN OVERVIEW

While surveys of the literature1 suggest that academic entrepreneurship as a field of scholarly study is relatively new; in fact the concept of entrepreneurial universities has a much longer history. There is a fertile body of literature looking at the idea of the entrepreneurial university.

Drucker2 writes ‘no better text for a history of entrepreneurship could be found than the creation and development of the modern university’ and cites the creation of the University of Berlin by Humboldt in 1809 as a key example, which was then picked up in the United States some 60 years later. Humboldt’s objectives were to take intellectual and scientific leadership away from the French and capture the energies released by the French Revolution, and so the idea of university activities being used for economic advantage is nothing new.

In long-term studies of university transformation, Clark3 identified five elements that enable that transformation. These are: a strengthened steering core with strength to set an independent course; the expanded development periphery which includes cross-discipline projects and TTOs; a diversified funding base; a stimulated academic heartland; and an integrated entrepreneurial culture. These elements suggest that for universities to be truly entrepreneurial, coordinated action is needed throughout the organisation to enact the five elements – they are unlikely to come about by chance, and therefore support at government and university board level is required.

In a study of 15 UK universities, Martin and Turner4 consider the tensions created by trying to create entrepreneurial universities, especially when commercial missions are placed on top of a traditionally focused organisation. Recounting the experiences of staff, ‘participants felt there were simultaneously two levels of reality – the voiced mission statement ... and the signaled purposes which emphasises the need to bring in money and raise profiles’5. Other observations included different views as to what their roles were and what commercialisation meant, doubts about personal capability to do such work and the lack of practical curriculum. The findings highlighted the need for policymakers to understand the heterogeneity of the HIE base and to address organisational cultures related to third mission activities in their organisation6.

Themes of change and adaptability come out of the literature. Davies7 suggests that entrepreneurial universities are those with commercial and financial awareness; they are more than just adaptable. While many organisations show signs of responsiveness and adaptability to their new situation, this is arguably not the same as entrepreneurial behaviour. Entrepreneurial universities reach out, extending their own boundaries and are players in shaping their own environment.

ACADEMIC ENTREPRENEURS

Universities host and develop a wide range of entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. This raises two questions: the first as to what we consider an entrepreneur to be like and do, and the second the implications of being entrepreneurial in large organisations like universities.

There are many and varied definitions of entrepreneurship. Schumpeter8 describes an entrepreneur as a person who is willing and able to convert a new idea or invention into a successful innovation. Druilhe and Garnsey9 define entrepreneurship as ‘the pursuit of opportunity and the mobilisation of resources to deliver value and capture returns’. Shattock10 offers a brief but provoking definition of entrepreneurship in an academic context as ‘extending the boundaries of the university’. This idea of boundary pushing is reflected in Clark11:

The new understanding is that entrepreneurship is not a personality type, nor is it a stage in the life cycle of an organisation. Rather, it is a way of managing, where one pursues opportunities beyond means that are currently available.

Other definitions focus more on venture or business creation. Johnson12 defines entrepreneurship as capturing ideas, converting them into products and services, building a venture to take them to market. Shane et al13 describe entrepreneurship as a process by which opportunities to create future goods and services are discovered, evaluated and exploited. This is described as a creative process and does imply the creation of a company.

For universities, the focus on venture creation is arguably too narrow...