minus 4 weeks
A month before I started work at Newcastle University, at a talk organised by IPPR North http://www.ippr.org/ – the Ideas on the Third Floor series, Professor Chris Brink, Vice Chancellor of Newcastle University, spoke about “A world class civic university”. These are my notes on what he said. His ideas have therefore been filtered through me.
He engaged us in a thought experiment. In the knowledge economy, what is the supply chain? Is the university simply supply i.e. knowledge production? If so then how do we know that the market want what we suppl?. The big ticket societal challenges have been chosen for the university to engage with so that we understand the demand, respond to the demand.
Civic means the city i.e. place you meet when you walk out of the door of the university. Going back in time we see that the universities were founded to address the issues that were alive in those newly industrialised cities. The university should not be kept apart.
A classic question is “what is the value of going to university?” How do we balance public good and private benefit? People like to have a sense of purpose.
Prof Brink asks for current case studies of engagement between the uni and the world, no matter how small. These are lifted up.
A phrase that I wrote down but don’t understand. A portfolio of Engagement with a stable exit. Is that like opening the barn door so that the horse can stroll out or in as he needs to?
The taxi driver test. If you ask the taxi driver “what is the university doing?”, will the taxi driver be able to tell you? And my own added question would be “will the taxi driver be sending his son/daughter to university?”
Engagement is when the voice is heard – civil society’s voice is heard in the university and the university’s voice is heard out there.
Coherence deficit. North East sees differences more than similarities, sub regional differences are stark.
Phrase self interest in a manner that fosters cohesion and collaboration.
Do what academics do well and do it with a purpose.