PURE

An overview

PURE (Pascal Universities Regional

Engagement) 14+ Project Genesis

OECD/IMHE project Supporting the contribution of HEIs to regional development

14 Regions in 12 countries PASCAL Panel of Associates includes Peer

Reviewers from 12 of the 14 Project regions (19 of the 56 reviewer positions), and several members of Self-Evaluation Review teams

Next stage maintaining and extending the network of 14

regions that participated in the OECD project extending the work to other invited regions take further several important issues identified

but not fully addressed in 2004-07 study

Possible Further Areas to monitor and compare approaches to the innovation system and

human capacity-building work of HEIs across all strands of balanced social development - cultural, civil society, health and welfare, environmental as well as economic

to identify barriers and ways of overcoming them, where appropriate trying out approaches new to partnership and organisation successful in other regions

to interrogate and use existing data more effectively and study the impact of HE partnership on regional development, with realistic tasks and targets for HE partnership-based regional development (metrics and impact evaluation) including ‘soft’ social, cultural, health and sustainability dimensions

possibly then to opt into selected benchmarking activities

Further possible areas

to explore the impact on regions of global warming and other ecological questions such as transportation, waste management and disposal, and the contribution of HEIs where science and social science can be applied e.g. to the intelligent energy agenda

to analyse and compare trends towards and away from greater devolution

to compare different intermediary models for university engagement to exchange approaches to advocating engagement nationally and

rolling out regional engagement elsewhere in their countries.

Costs and Benefits Participating in chosen strands Opportunities for international benchmarking Access to transferable practice across regions Direct learning from regions already engaged in analysing how

higher education can support regional competitiveness and balanced, sustainable development.

Connecting with regions both within the OECD and outside. reflecting the reality of global learning and global regional

competitiveness. €25,000 per year for two years (normally derived from a consortium

of organisations) Discounted fees for non-OECD countries (50%) Highly subsidised fees for countries with very low GDP

Process and Timetable Confirmation by regions of involvement - deadline 1 Aug

2009 Appointment of Regional Co-ordinating Group (RCG) Link

Partner (LP) Production of Regional Profile (RP) (including some

secondary analysis of existing datasets) and Regional Briefing Paper (RBP) in preparation for Visit 1 - Oct 2009

Visit 1 by consultative development group (CDG) drawn from PASCAL associates - gathering of qualitative data (Nov - Dec 2009)

Initial applications of two benchmarking tools concerned with engagement (for HEIs) and profile (for regions)

Identification by regions of specific areas of interest and initial clustering of regions by these self-defined areas

Process and Timetable First meeting of regions (together with regions in Cohort 1) - Paris - March 2010, and interim reports

Continuous electronic interchange between regions in both cohorts - regular PC-based V-C meetings

Meeting of regions - Ostersund - June 2010 in conjunction with Pascal conference (optional for cohort 2 regions)

Visit 2 by expert panel (Aug - Oct 2010) Meeting of regions - Gaborone in conjunction with PASCAL conference and end of cohort 1 (Dec 2010)

Detailed reports to each region (March 2011) Synthesis report (June 2011) Final meeting of regions - location to be determined(June 2011)

Structures Regional Coordinating Group (RCG)

plans and review the region’s participation and its intended gains

Link Partner (LP) leads and guides the work of the RCG

Consultative Development Group (CDG) 4 person team lead by CLR

Coordinating Lead Reviewer (CLR) Regional Advisory Network (RAN)

Drawn from LPs

Outputs Regional Profile (RP) Regional Briefing Paper (RBP)

Meaning of region Key characteristics Data Sources Existing monitoring and benchmarking Main existing forms of collaboration Good practices Problems and challenges  Development aspirations Main changes that are looked for Key issues for discussion

Outputs 2 First Regional Visit Report (RVR1)

sets out the region’s circumstances, needs and priorities. explains priority needs, and ambitions for engagement and

regional development.

Second Regional Visit Report (RVR2) Synthesis Report (SR)

Participants in Cohort 1

Buskerud County Darling Downs Essex Flanders Gaborone Glasgow Jamtland Kent Lesotho Melbourne Northern Illinois Puglia Southern Trans-Danube Thames Gateway Varmland

Possible Regions for cohort 2

Aegean Alberta Algarve Belfast Colorado Florida - Boca Raton Helsinki Nord Pas de Calais Oresund Shannon South England (Bournemouth/Southampton) South-West England (Bristol) Tasmania

Themes of major interest

Environment, Tourism, Sustainability

Social Cohesion Skills and out-reach Short cycle providers Mega-events

HEI Benchmarking Themes - contributions to regional

development and competitiveness Enhancing regional infrastructure

supporting the regional infrastructure, regulatory frameworks and underlying quality of environment and lifestyles. This includes the HEI helping the region to identify where improvements can be made, or providing direct input to the quality of the local environment.

Theme 2 Human capital development processes supporting the development of human capital through education and training both within the HEI and in other organisations. The emphasis here is on how the HEI adds to the stock of human capital by facilitating the development of people in the region, and retains both local and non-local graduates. (The education of people from outside the region who then leave it does not add to the stock of human capital in the region, and therefore is not relevant for this process. However it may be important at national level, and it does add to regional GDP.)

Theme 3 Business development processes

the creation and attraction of new firms, as well as support for developing new products, processes and markets for existing firms.

Theme 4 Interactive learning and social capital development processes

encouraging co-operation between firms and other institutions to generate technological, commercial and social benefits. Regional collaboration and learning between organisations are important in regional success. HEIs can promote the application of knowledge through regional partnerships, and encourage networking and the building of trust.

Theme 5 Community development processes ensuring that the benefits of enhanced business competitiveness are widely shared within the community, and that the health and welfare of the population are maximised.

Theme 6 Cultural development

the creation, enhancement and reproduction of regional cultures, underpinning the other processes above, and interpreting culture both as activities that enrich the quality of life and as patterns of social conventions, norms and values that constitute regional identities.

Theme 7 Promoting sustainability

long-term regional development must be underpinned by processes seeking to improve sustainability, even though some of these objectives may appear to conflict with business development objectives.

Regions - Benchmarking Prototype - piloting Holistic rather than partial approach

Concrete assets (e.g. educational achievements of population)

And ambitions, policies and soft factors (critically important for regional economic development)

Indicators of Regional Competitiveness

Conventional economic and social indicators

Qualitative measures examining processes to support regional development mirror some issues addressed in the university benchmarking tool

Quantitative Measures 1

GDP per capita in PPS

GDP growth rate over the last 5 years

Value added per employee in manufacturing

Gross fixed capital formation per employee

Rate of formation of new business , new firms per 100 existing

Levels of foreign direct investment - FDI inflow as % of GDP

Gross Expenditure on R&D as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product

Government expenditure on R&D/GDP

Quantitative Measures 2

Business Expenditure on R&D/GDP

Business R&D personnel per 10,000 inhabitants

Net change in population in the last ten years as proportion of total population

Unemployment level

Male and female activity rates in the workforce

Education participation age 18

Enrolment in tertiary education 18-21 as % of age cohort

% of population aged 25-34 with higher education

Qualitative MeasuresUnderstanding the regionFramework conditionsHuman capital developmentBusiness Development processesInteractive learning and social capitalCommunity Development ProcessesCultural developmentSustainability

Next steps for cohort 2

Discussions with interested regions for cohort 2 starting in August 2009

Creating contracts Times for first visits - October 2009

Contact Professor Michael Osborne at pureadmin@educ.gla.ac.uk

See http://www.obs-pascal.com