John Goddard, Newcastle University

 

Continuing public support for universities could well depend on how well institutions as a whole respond through their teaching and research to major societal challenges such as environmental sustainability and demographic change. Many of these challenges have local as well as global dimensions. The concept of the civic university is put forward as a model for institutions and their partners in civil society to aspire to. The civic university provides opportunities for the society of which it forms part; engages as a whole with its surroundings, not piecemeal; partners with other local universities and colleges and is managed in such a way that it participates fully in the region of which it forms part. While it operates on a global scale, it uses its location to from its identity and to provide opportunities for it grow and help others, including individual learners, businesses and public institutions.