The impact of the establishment of a university in a peripheral region on the local labour market for graduates

Abstract

The establishment of a university can be used as policy instrument to revitalize peripheral regions. Such newly established universities tend to experience rapid growth, but little is known about how this affects the labour market for graduates in these regions over time. A quantitative case study, employing individual-level microdata, analyzed changes in the wage levels and mobility of graduates of Aalborg University, which was established in 1974 in the North Denmark region. The analysis shows that the establishment of Aalborg University contributed to the upgrading of the human capital in the region, fulfilling a demand in the labour market, as indicated by wage growth similar to that of the labour market in other regions and a growing percentage of local young people to stay in the region after graduation. Furthermore, the university increased its intake of students from outside the region, who then as graduates dispersed to other parts of the country, thereby serving to supply human capital at the national level. These insights add to our understanding of how a new university can play a role in the economic development of a peripheral region, while at the same time also having impact at the national level. Nevertheless, this instrument is not applicable to all regions in the same way, since local critical mass and regional embeddedness are required to enable a region to absorb a substantial number of graduates and benefit from the presence of the university. ARTICLE HISTORY

SME–University Collaboration in Non-metropolitan regions: A Multiple Case Study Analysis of How Collaborations Start and Unfold

“…By suggesting that universities' actions are key to initiating industry-university relations in non-metropolitan regions, the model adds to previous research indicating that universities in non-metropolitan regions can be key innovation partners in these regions by committing their educational and research activities to supporting innovation in the regional business community (Alpaydin et al, 2018;Boucher et al, 2003;Evers, 2019;Fonseca and Çinar, 2017;Guerrero and Evers, 2018;Rodrigues and Teles, 2017). The findings also support the view that the David Fernández Guerrero characteristics of universities matter because the universities that carried out these actions are higher education institutions with a long track record of promoting industry-university links with firms in the region (Alpaydin et al, 2018;Fonseca and Çinar, 2017;Guerrero and Evers, 2018).…”

“…Universities in non-metropolitan regions can be a key regional source of knowledge that is otherwise scarcely available to local firms in the region (Boucher et al, 2003). Universities in non-metropolitan regions that are actively involved in regional development engage in this work through a broad range of actions David Fernández Guerrero connected to their third mission, such as training of graduates suited to the regional labour market, entrepreneurship training and spin-off formation, commissioned research services and collaborative research (Alpaydin et al, 2018;Charles, 2016;Evers, 2019;Fonseca and Çinar, 2017;Guerrero and Evers, 2018;Nilsson, 2006). The activities of these higher education institutions can be seen from the perspective of the entrepreneurial university concept, including different forms of technology transfer activities supporting innovation in local firms, such as contract research, consultancy, collaborative research or participation in cluster initiatives.…”

“…), and the rationale for establishing these institutions was related to providing university degrees in regions with limited access to this type David Fernández Guerrero of education, which enabled an increase in the capacity of regional firms to absorb new knowledge, innovate and interact with universities (Evers, 2019;Faggian and Mccann, 2009;Guerrero and Evers, 2018). However, while educational levels in these regions have increased in the last decades, a relatively small proportion of the local workforce holds a university degree as compared to metropolitan regions (Evers, 2019;Faggian and Mccann, 2009;Guerrero and Evers, 2018; see table 2 in section 4.2.). This is so, in part, because non-metropolitan regions' thin labour markets offer a relatively poor fit between university graduates' qualifications and the jobs on offer.…”

“…In non-metropolitan regions, such policies are enacted in an environment where there is typically one main university campus or a few branch campuses (Boucher et al, 2003;Charles, 2016;Eder, 2019;Trippl et al, 2018). Moreover, industry-university relations in nonmetropolitan regions are influenced by a thin labour market for university graduates, with a relatively small proportion of university graduates in the regional labour force (Ahlin et al, 2014;Evers, 2019;Faggian and Mccann, 2009) or a relatively high proportion of firms from sectors that have not traditionally relied on university knowledge (Jauhiainen and Moilanen, 2012;Trippl, 2005, 2015). Thus, to a certain extent, non-metropolitan regions can be regarded as an economic periphery in relation to metropolitan centres (Eder, 2019).…”

Anchoring (in) the region: the dynamics of university-engaged urban development in Newark, NJ, USA

“…Debates surrounding regional development policies in Europe tend to understand peripheral regions (at sub-and supra-national scales) in relation to their geographic distance from economic centres, negative lock-ins (tied to declining industrial economies), their paucity of actors, and institutional fragmentation (Labrianidis, 2010;Svensson, Klofsten, and Etzkowitz, 2012;Tödtling and Trippl, 2005). The lack of lack institutional 'thickness' or established innovation cultures present persistent obstacles to their integration into a highly-competitive knowledgebased space economy (Ashiem, Moodysson, and Tödtling, 2011;Pelkonen and Nieminen, 2016) while a mismatch between graduates' skills and local labour market demands often leads to the outmigration of, or persistent un/under-employment for, highly-skilled workers (Evers, 2019). Successfully leveraging universitiesas centres of knowledge production and institutions with significant resources, capacities, and leadership potentialis seen as critical to spurring capacity building and economic growth in less developed European regions (Garcia-Rodriguez et al, 2017;Nieth, 2019; Raagmaa and Keerberg, 2017).…”