Publisher's Synopsis
'This book provides a welcome and highly relevant analysis of civic universities-academic institutions with particularly strong ties to their cities and regions in terms of research, teaching and civic engagement. These universities are especially relevant in the 21st century, and often forgotten by analysts and policy makers alike who are too busy chasing rankings. The conceptual framework as well as the case studies included in this book are equally valuable.'
- Philip Altbach, Boston College
By exploring a normative model of universities as institutions with a responsibility to contribute to the public good, this book addresses the leadership, management and public policy challenges of maximizing higher education's contribution to civil society. It codifies the extensive academic literature in this field and reviews higher education and other public policies that both drive and inhibit civic engagement both globally and locally.
Comparing experiences and reports of an institutional developmental process undertaken in eight distinctive universities in four European countries and guided by the editors the book explores key questions such as: what is the Civic University, and how can we use this concept to understand higher education's engagement with the outside world in varying institutional and geographical contexts? What are the appropriate internal structures and mechanisms required for a university to effectively encourage and support civic engagement activity for the greatest societal impact?How can embedding civic engagement in individual institutions and wider systems be facilitated by changes in higher education and related policies at the sub-national, national and European level?
Succinct and discerning, The Civic University will be of great interest to academics working in the fields of higher education, science and innovation studies and community and city development. It will also appeal to university leaders and organisers of institutional leadership development programmes along with city leaders and policy makers at national and international levels.
