The paper explores two universities' strategies of impact and engagement and their perceptions by local economic and policy stakeholders in a post-industrial city of Scotland. The concept of structural embeddedness is used to unpack the logics and repertoires of action of local universities and to relate discourses and actions to the nature and intensity of the relationship between universities and the local context. In contrast with the dominant knowledge and innovation research paradigm presenting universities as key drivers of regional economic development and competitiveness, the paper suggests multiple and at times contradictory levels of impact of universities depending on their capacity to embed themselves in regional development strategies and socio-economic regeneration programmes. The conclusion suggests that the nature and returns of universities' local engagement approaches are determined by their position on the higher education market as much as by their embeddedness in the local economy, culture and polity
(2015). Rethinking the 'third mission': UK universities and regional engagement in challenging times. European Journal of Higher Education, 5(3) pp. 250-263. Abstract: Drawing on the experiences and statements of two universities, this article sets out to relate current trends and discourses of engagement of UK higher education institutions with their regional environment in the context of major policy shifts in higher education and in regional governance. The "third mission" is considered as an aspect of what universities do in place and in relation to other place-based agencies. In this process of exploration, we attempt to identify adjustment behaviours and discourses in contrasting regional contexts and to relate them to the unequal power of universities and to their structural embeddedness in a local socio-economic and policy fabric.
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