0000000000469847
AUTHOR
Tatiana Aleksandrovna Iakovleva
Universities' mundaneness and regional engagement : Setting the stage
This chapter introduces the main logic of this volume, which starts from the grassroots level of universities’ “everyday” engagements, looking at the manifold ways in which university knowledge agents build connections with multiple regional partners across the public and private sectors, and civic society more generally. Roles, functions and normative orientations of universities in the context of their surrounding regions have, in many cases, been taken for granted and, thus, have not been systematically addressed and/or still lack theorizing, due to the focus being on extraordinary, large-scale and eye-catching activities, and financially impressive transactions such as patents and spin-…
Universities and regions: New insights and emerging developments
In this concluding chapter, the editors take stock of the empirical findings across the cases and levels of analysis and link the empirical evidence to the analytical framework presented in Chapter 2. In so doing, we revisit the interplay between macro, meso, and micro dimensions of the environments as well as the temporality in which higher education institutions (HEIs) operate, which, taken together, help shape the mundane (everyday) or routine behaviours of actors within HEIs. The editors conclude by suggesting that the empirical evidence and conceptual insights advanced in this volume represent a needed first step, yet more needs to be done (future studies) to further unpack how the dyn…
Unpacking Mundaneness : A novel conceptual framework for universities and regional engagement
In this chapter, we debate the current view on university-regional engagements and suggest a renewed theoretical framework based on four main elements – macro, meso, micro dimensions, as well as a meta-dimension of temporality that cuts across all levels. The macro environment is typically defined as pertaining to public policies, culture, laws, and economy, while the meso environment includes links between the macro (societal) forces and the micro (agents) level through intermediate institutions and structures and is characterized by the processes and mechanisms of interaction of different actors. The micro level is about agency – organizations or individuals/groups within organizations – …