Higher Education and the Creative Economy: Creative Graduates, Knowledge Transfer and Regional Impact Debates

Abstract

This paper highlights the growing importance of interdisciplinary research at the intersection between higher education, creative industries and growth of regional creative economies. The paper not only focuses specifically on the UK context but also encompasses issues of further international interest and debate. It undertakes a review of existing literature on the cultural role of higher education institutions (HEIs) and points to recent research on HEIs' increasing importance for embedding creative graduates into a region. We not only illustrate how this area of research aligns with the concepts of the ‘creative city’ and the ‘creative class’ but also consider how talent attraction and retention processes include HEIs and art schools as part of a richer understanding of the creative economy as a contextualised production system. Furthermore, we investigate the role of HEIs as so‐called ‘third spaces’ for creative knowledge transfer, which in recent years has become a popular cultural and higher education strategy to address the difficulties of feeding creative and cultural knowledge into the wider economy. The paper concludes by highlighting future avenues for cross‐disciplinary research in three areas: communities of practice, local stakeholder management and a shared community agenda, to inform further policy and development in this area.

The Development of Creative Clinic Model In University: Issues And Implications

“…The number of studies has underlined this phenomenon. Nicholaides [12] analyzes the role of universities in South Africa; Kasim [13] conducted a similar study on how universities in Malaysia have formed an entrepreneurial agenda; Faggian [14] discussed the importance of universities as providers of local MSME research and development; Darwish [15] conducted a study of the role of universities in developing SMEs in Bahrain; Ghina [16] examined the effectiveness of entrepreneurship education in higher education institutions in Indonesia; Comunian [17] conducted a study of the relationship between universities and the creative economy with analysis on creative graduates, knowledge transfer and regional impacts; and Bomani [18] examine the role of higher education institutions in the development of SMEs in Zimbabwe. In general, research findings indicate that tertiary institutions play a very important role in optimizing the performance of SMEs through training, technology transfer, business incubators, research, and research commercialization.…”

Knowledge Economy: Characteristics and Dimensions

“…Creativity is not something special, for particular individuals; it belongs to everyone, each person possessing creative potential. Also, it is not directly proportional to the level of instruction, since creativity exists in the rich and the poor, the literate, or the illiterate (Comunian, Gilmore & Jacobi, 2015). That is why education has to develop and exploit creativity, education being the key component of the development of human capital (Hearn & Rooney, 2008).…”

Urban Multilingualism and the Civic University: A Dynamic, Non-Linear Model of Participatory Research

“…For the Arts and Humanities, where demonstrating impact on policy and society is seen as particularly challenging, Comunian, Gilmore and Jacobi (2015) embrace the term 'creative economy' to designate the interplay of knowledge and cultural production with economic processes and propose a model of knowledge transfer in which universities provide 'third spaces' where regional exchange and collaboration networks with and among external partners can be developed. In relation to teaching and learning, universities around the globe have been embracing models of Social Responsibility that aim to educate students toward active citizenship by creating community partnerships and leadership schemes (see Shek & Hollister, 2017).…”