Cities, Knowledge and Universities: Transformations in the Image of the Intangible

Abstract

The current higher educational landscape in the UK is marked by complex sets of expectations, accompanied by efforts to encourage universities into diversifying and stratifying functions. Yet the picture is far from clear and a number of tensions and contradictions remain, such as in relation to incentivisation and reward structures which impact differentially on universities. For universities that attempt to translate these agendas into meaningful actions at the local level, the result is a mixture of enthusiasm, engagement, retreat and defence. This article will demonstrate such processes in action through a discussion of the ongoing “Manchester––Knowledge Capital” initiative, which seeks to bring local and regional partners and universities together to create a critically acclaimed global pivot to the emerging knowledge economy.

Keywords:

• Cities
• Universities
• Knowledge
• Transformation
• Diversification

Acknowledgement

Our thanks to Michael Harloe for reading an earlier version of this paper and for his insightful comments on particular issues and processes.

Notes

[1] SURF is a multi‐disciplinary research centre at the University of Salford with its own offices in central Manchester. It is largely self‐financing and works on issues associated with regeneration, housing, city and regional policy, territorial knowledge, and science and technology. Its funders include research councils, development agencies, the EU, central and local government, universities, and health and private sector organisations. For more information please see http://www.surf.salford.ac.uk

[2] The research that underpins this article is also funded by the Economic and Social Research Council’s Science in Society Programme, Award Number L14425004. We gratefully acknowledge this support.

[3] Higher education institutions in the UK include universities, higher education colleges, and a small number of university colleges. We focus upon universities in this discussion, given the current debates over the particular place of the university as a site of knowledge production and our primary focus on the Manchester: Knowledge Capital initiative, while recognising that the changes we describe impact also on other higher education institutions.

[4] See also Eurydice (2000). Brief overviews of the English and British HE systems can also be found online at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/british_universities

[5] For a more historical overview, see Stephens (1989).

[6] For an overview see http://www.hefce.ac.uk/research/funding/resfund/ (accessed May 2006).

[7] These subjects are: nursing; professions allied to medicine; social work; art and design; communication, cultural, and media studies; dance, drama, and performing arts; and sports‐related studies.

[8] The full transcript of the Roberts Review and an overview is available at http://www.ra-review.ac.uk/reports/roberts.asp.

[9] For more details on foundation degrees please see http://www.foundationdegree.org.uk/

[10] For details on higher education reform in England, see http://www.dfes.gov.uk/hegateway/hereform

[11] The Russell Group is the nearest equivalent to the Ivy League in the US. However, the important difference is that universities in the Russell Group are state‐funded, not state‐run, and exclude research universities such as York, St Andrews, and Durham (Buckingham is the only private university in Britain).

[12] These brief profiles have been built from each university’s official website and publicly available information, accessed in April 2004.

[13] This is poetic licence and also transferable to those contexts in which tenure still exists.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tim May

Tim May is Professor and Director of SURF. Tim is the author of works on social theory, research methodology and methods, philosophy of social science, and organisational change. He is currently undertaking research on regional knowledge transfer, science, and regional policy. He also works for universities, advising them on intellectual, organisational, and strategic developments, and is a member of the Transatlantic Forum on the Future of Universities.

Beth Perry ¹

Beth Perry is a research fellow at the Centre for Sustainable Urban and Regional Futures (SURF) at the University of Salford, Manchester, UK. Beth’s research is in the areas of urban and regional policy and governance, particularly in relation to theories of multi‐level governance and the role of universities in regional development and the knowledge economy.