1. University Centers in
Europe, Middle East and Asia
Anders Norberg
Skellefteå/Sioux Falls Education Strategist
2013-03-21 Campus Skellefteå
+PhD student, Applied
Educational Science
Umeå University

2. My presentation
• Me, Campus Skellefteå
• My search for campus identity / Europe
• Definition attempts + Middle East, Asia
• Theory, Implications: ”University”/”Place”
• Q&A
• YouTube film about a planned campus in
Pleven, Bulgaria, 8 min

3. 15000 students, 4
campuses
1,1
million
2500 students
8,2
million
36 000 students, 4
campuses

5. Campus Skellefteå
2500 students, some R&D
About 120 univ-employed
15 programs + 3 polytechnics
Businesses, EU-projects
Learning
Centre
Trätek
www.campus.skelleftea.se

6. About Campus Varberg:
(outside
Gothenburg, Sweden)
9 university programs
4 polytechnical programs
1100 students
Was formed 2003 Universities at
Applied research Campus Varberg
Study
Adult education counseling
Project
ideas, management, ad
ministration
Polytechnical
Business startup educations
project
Library Student union
Learning
centre

7. But who are we?
What is this?
A local random
construction?
Something that just
happened?
What should we
call it?

8. Identity search for a regional
learning environment?
THE CENTRALIZED UNIVERSITY VOICE:
• Isn it enough that we call it ”Umeå
university in Skellefteå”, or ”Umeå
university educations in Skellefteå”?(before ~2008)
• We call it our ”Skellefteå Campus” (Luleå
University of Technology)

9. Older identity trials
• ….started as SKERIA, in the 80ies,
”Skellefteå Education and Research on
Industrial Applications”
• ”A study center”? ”A learning center”?
• A ”college”, undefined in Sweden?
• …was this a ”university hotel”, like an
”office hotel” or ”web hotel”?
• …or a multi-university campus?

10. ”Multi-university campus”
…hmm…worth a web search…
• Chricton Campus, Dumfries, Scotland –
”the first multi-university campus in the
United Kingdom”
• …and after many contacts attempts:
• …Prof Rex Taylor, University of
Glasgow, Director Chricton Campus :
Come! We must talk about this!

11. http://www.crichton.ac.uk/

13. ”Multi-institutional campus”
"A campus where two or more distant
educational institutions cooperate with
each other and local development
agencies to create new educational and
training opportunities in a locality deprived
of such opportunities“
(Prof Rex Taylor, Director of University of Glasgow’s operations on Crichton
Campus, presentation on Campus Skellefteå October 26th, 2005)

14. What is a ”multi-institutional
campus” (MIC)?
• …or a multi-university campus?
Well, it is not…
• The same main campus for two universities
• A multi-campus university
• A university system
• A university in the making
• A multiversity

15. A MODERN
HYBRID
LEARNING ENVIRONMENT?
An Education hub?
A multi-institutional campus?
A university center?

16. http://www.medway.ac.uk/

17. Tremough Campus,
Combined Universities Cornwall,
http://www.cuc.ac.uk/

19. Seinäjoki Campus, Finland
Kajaani
Pori
Lahti
Mikkeli
Kokkola
…other
MIC / Univ
consortia

20. European Union -
Interreg IVC: UNICREDS
project
Exchange of experiences
between regions
…about Triple Helix
functions / dysfunctions
and alternative models for
education and research
access & growth in the
knowledge society
15 partners in 7 European
regions, 2010-2012
www.unicreds.eu
3 MULTI-INSTITUTIONAL
CAMPUSES: Skellefteå,
Seinäjoki, Cornwall

21. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzcVE6i7H1I

22. Searching wider…
googleing more,
networking

23. Qatar Education City
http://www.myeducationcity.com/

26. http://www.hbku.edu.qa/

27. Dubai International Academic City
http://www.diacedu.ae/

28. DIAC
(Dubai International Academic City)
• American University in the Emirates (AUE) • Saint-Petersburg State University of
• Amity University Dubai Campus Engineering & Economics
• BITS, Pilani - Dubai • Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of
Science and Technology, Dubai (SZABIST)
• Cambridge College International
• The British University in Dubai (BUiD)
• Canada International College
• Université Saint Joseph Law School – Dubai
• French Fashion University ESMOD Dubai
• University of Bradford
• Heriot-Watt University Dubai Campus
• University of Exeter
• Hult International Business School
• University of Wollongong in Dubai
• Imam Malik College
• Institute of Management Technology, Dubai
• Islamic Azad University (IAU)
• JSS Education “Dubai International Academic City (DIAC)
• Manchester Business School is the world’s only Free Zone dedicated to
• Manipal University, Dubai Higher Education. Established in 2007 as
• Michigan State University Dubai
part of TECOM Investments, DIAC aims to
• Middlesex University Dubai
develop the region’s talent pool and
• Murdoch University Dubai
establish the UAE as a knowledge-based
• S P Jain Center of Management
• SAE Institute Dubai
economy.” http://www.tecom.ae/dubai-international-
academic-city/

29. Guangzhou Mega Education City
Start 2005: 10 000 students, 2011:150 000,
Finally 350 000 – 400 000 students
Sun Yat-sen University,
South China University of Technology,
South China Normal University,
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies,
Guangdong University of Technology,
Guangzhou University,
Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine,
Guangdong Pharmaceutical University,
Xinghai Conservatory of Music
Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts
http://www.guangzhou.gov.cn/special/2006/node_969/

30. Guangzhou HE Mega Center:
Idea?
• Focus on IT industry: implementing the
integration of “studies, research, production”
through interactivities with the existing IT
industry, and thus enhancing the
comprehensive competitiveness of
Guangzhou City.
• Promoting academic culture and tourism : the
university town is situated near by dozens of
touristic attractions in Guangzhou. The
rich campus culture can eventually add lustre
to the existing tourism industry.
http://www.upo.gov.cn/plan2007/zdxmgh/949.shtml

31. Guangzhou HE Mega Center:
Common management
• The establishment and operation of the university
town is the integration of the cooperation between the government,
universities and community.
• Guangzhou University town’s management model
– Social security and traffic communications - responsibility of the
government.
– Public facilities management - responsibility of municipal
– logistics of service – the responsibility of the community and
society.
• Police station, the traffic police brigade, fire brigade are established in
the university to ensure the security management is in place;
• The management in the university are taken care by the
municipality and the government, hence the schools could focus
on their academic activities.
http://www.lwlm.com/KaoChaBaoGao/201201/627882.htm

32. “University Town”
大学城 “Campus City”
• Definition by China National Committee for
Terms in Sciences and Technology
“An urban (suburban) area which develops
around one or several well-known
universities. Such new town is constituted by
one or more campuses, and is equipped with
living/residential area, sport stadium, research
& development zone and large green open
space.”
http://baike.baidu.com/view/46244.htm

33. Songjiang University town
Started planning year 2000, completed year 2005

34. University town of Shenzhen
http://www.utsz.edu.cn/02pic/showPicInfo.aspx?infoid=104&cateid=
7

36. http://www.thebestcolleges.org/10-cities-becoming-education- SEE Kinser, K & Lane, J.E. (2010). Educational Hubs:
destinations/ Archipelagos & Acropolises. International Higher Education, 59,

37. Theory, implications…

38. Range of MIC:s
• From nearly local service for distance
educations…
• ….to small campuses, comparable with
smaller HE institutions
• …to supermarkets of universities
• …to massive upscaling projects aiming at
400 000 students at the same campus
– …but some characteristics in common!

39. Mechanisms?
• Higher education access needed
• Life-Long Learning increases
• The symbolic importance of places
• Regions take their fate in own hands
• Fast education up-scaling by outsourcing
• Differentiation of regional education
provision in a world of institutional
specialization

40. “University” vs “place”
…changes
over time

41. First medieval universities
were communities and corporations
of masters and students

42. Identification between ”University” & ”Campus”

43. ”University” & ”campus” sliding
apart
• A ”University” becomes more of a
specialized international brand of research
….and education?
• A ”Campus” develops into a
customizeable local / regional platform for
universities and other organizations, filling
a local function

44. Two perspectives in MIC
backgrounds
1) University outreach perspective
2) Regional development perspective

45. 1. University outreach perspective
Learning centres
Branch campuses
Main campus
International
campus
SL campus
…and there are 17000+ universities… (source:Webometrics)

46. ..so universities international campuses
sometimes happens to co-exist in the same
infrastructures elsewhere…
…which often is the idea itself from the
regional perspective
But MIC:s are not easily visible from the
centralized university / hierarchical horizon?

47. 2. Regional development
perspective
• Regions, subregions, cities, villages are trying
to become competitive in the global
knowledge economy
• Belief in “Triple Helix” cooperation and
innovation, “the Knowledge triangle”, “The
Entrepreneurial university”, etc
…but what if there is no university present?

48. …regional development
perspective
• …a university presence, or a local
campus, is very valuable for development
purposes…at almost any cost?
• …but a university can demand 50+ years
to form
• …and we have a tension between old
national provision and current regional
demand
• …university presence /representation is
becoming a necessity in all communities?

49. Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, UAE True?
And it comes now in all sizes:
..there are no future-confident regions that lack higher
education, research and innovation?

53. Lets sum up: MIC – “recipe” / European
• >1 regional university with decentralised F2F (face-to-face) classes
• Learning centre with support to flexible learning students
• Local R&D, development projects, mm
• Vocational and polytechnical education
• Science Park, Business labs & business startup
• Local coordination organisation often needed
• Local construction and ownership of buildings and infrastructure? Or
is there an older useful infrastructure?
= concentration of development factors in one
place, a MIC – representing the direction
towards the future?

54. MIC PROBLEM AREAS
• Very dependent on the universities
• Must attract students
• Expensive for the local region/city
• Hard to understand at first glance
• Education-heavy, research-poor

55. MIC POSSIBILITIES
• Very flexible
• Very scalable
• Can offer university presence without a new
university
• Can support local business development
• If one university leaves, another can replace it
• Synergy effects between universities possible
• The MIC recruits mostly students that won t
move to a big campus – and these students will
often stay in the area after exam –if, but only
if, there are jobs…

56. Alternatives for local representation of a
university on a MUC
• Research and teaching department?
• Regional office?
• Only educations?
• Franchise construction?
• Subcontractor?
• …and often is a regional development
organisation important as a coordinator and
catalyst

57. University-University-relations on a MUC
• Parallelism? Policy agreement?
• Coordination? Consortium document?
Deal?
• Cooperation? “Agreement”?
“Tolerance”?
• Competition?
• Coopetition?
• Vertical relation – to mother university
• Horisontal relation – to other universities and
stakeholders on the MIC

58. University internal motivations
• Possibility to specialize more on academic
matters (as someone else helps manage
campus infrastructure)
• Specialization in global research makes a
university handicapped in broadness of local
education offerings in the long run, will
increasingly need cooperation in education
• Local / regional interests pay some
infrastructure costs

59. Multi-institutional campus as HETEROTOPIA”/
”Of Other Spaces”? (Foucault 1967)
• “We are in the epoch of simultaneity: we are in
the epoch of juxtaposition, the epoch of the near
and far, of the side-by-side, of the dispersed.”
• “We may still not have reached the point of a
practical de-sanctification of space…”
• ”…something like counter-sites, a kind of
effectively enacted utopia in which the real
sites…are simultaneously represented,
contested, and inverted.”
• “The heterotopia is capable of juxtaposing in a
single real place several spaces…in themselves
incompatible.” http://foucault.info/documents/heteroTopia/foucault.heteroTopia.en.html

60. Wrapping up MIC…with speculations:
• Will most campuses in the future be of a multi-
institutional character?
• And will perhaps regional organizations run
practical management?

61. Thanks for your attention!
Anders.norberg@edusci.umu.se
…now researching ”Blended Learning and
Educational Logistics”; the landscape
beyond the campus/distance dichotomy.
Time, space and education, combinations

62. Q (& A?)