Your civic duty

The time has come to reclaim the mission of the civic university in the 21st century. It could be the solution to many of the problems faced not only by higher education institutions but by society more widely.

What better way to counteract concerns about fee levels and executive pay than to demonstrate the huge value that universities bring to their local communities and, by extension, the country as a whole? After all, universities are about so much more than taking in young people and preparing them for work.

At the moment, there seems to be far more concern—from policymakers, regulators and the general public—about value for money in university teaching than there is about institutions’ role as anchors within their local communities. But without successful universities, many regions would face significant challenges.