The Birth, Growth and Future of the

Multi-University / Partnership Campus Concept

Anders Norberg, Education AnalystUmeå University

What is a ”partnership campus”?

• …or a multi-university campus?• …or a multi-institutional campus?

Well, it is not…

• The same main campus for two universities• A multi-campus university• A university system• A multiversity• A university in the making

Definition attempt

"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 på Campus Skellefteå October 26th, 2005)

A MODERN HYBRID LEARNING ENVIRONMENT CONCEPT

Universities at Campus Varberg

Study counseling

Applied research

Business startup project

Project ideas, management, administration

LibraryStudent union

Adult education

About Campus Varberg:

(outside Gothenburg, Sweden)

9 university programs

4 polytechnical programs

1100 students

Was formed 2003

Polytechnical educations

Campus Skellefteå

Learning Centre

Trätek

1500 students, some R&DAbout 120 univ-employed15 programs + 3 polytechnicsBusinesses, EU-projects

The establishment of CUC: the partners

CUC Falmouth

Tremough Campus, Falmouth

Cornwall/UK

CUC= “Combined Universities Cornwall” (coordination organisation)

Seinäjoki Campus, Finland

Kajaani

Pori

Lahti

Mikkeli

Kokkola

…other

MUC / Univ consortia

USA

• University centers

• Joint-use facilities

Not planned as a MUC, but similar ambitions

Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, UAE

And the other way around:

..there are no future-confident regions that lack higher education, research and innovation?

MUC – “recipe”

• >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 needed• Local construction and ownership of buildings and

infrastructure? Or is there an older useful infrastructure?

= concentration of development factors in one place, a MUC – representing the direction towards the future?

Multi-University-Campus/Learning centre/

Branch university campus?

• Is a MUC an overgrown learning centre, XL?

• Is a MUC a university campus formed on local initiative??

MUC – backgrounds?• The belief in higher education and research as a necessary

component in all modern regional development• The ambition to develop a better educated population in the region• More of “mature” university students, who are stuck where they live• New technology for education distribution makes almost everything

possible• Universities become more and more specialised, one university

does not “know everything” any longer (if ever) – they need each others help for good quality of broad education

…and of course: New universities are not often established any longer in Europe and the US, they merge and cooperate and distribute over more places instead.

Is the building of a MUC an ambition to represent the knowledge society in a physical way in the infrastructure of a local town?

MUC PROBLEM AREAS

• MUC is very dependent on the universities• If the MUC cannot attract additional students, no

university is interested• A MUC has often more education than research• A MUC can become expensive for the local

region/city – their ambition can be bigger than the ambitions of the universities

• A MUC is hard to understand at first glance

MUC POSSIBILITIES

• Very flexible through cooperation with different universities

• A way for regions without a university to offer good local education possibilities

• MUC is very scalable, can be expanded fast• The connection between local/regional development and

education offerings is strong• Synergy effects between universities possible• If one university leaves, another can be connected• The MUC 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…

Alternatives for local representation of a

university on a MUC

• Research and teaching department?

• Regional office?

• Only educations?

• Franchise construction?

• Subcontractor?

University-University-relations on a MUC

• Parallellity?• Coordination?• Cooperation?• Competition?

• Vertical relation – to mother university• Horisontal relation – to other universities

and stakeholders on the MU-Campus

Policy agreement? Deal?

MUC - Alternative backgrounds

• …the fastest way to establish and scale education access with good quality?

• …a possibility to start and scale up fast, with brand labels and quality

• …a platform for creative meetings between university cultures?

• …an effective tool for differentiation of the regional education offerings

Great Northern Way Campus, Vancouver, Canada (gnwc.ca)

University of British Columbia

Started for colliding university cultures in superb media education?

Qatar Education City

Formed for differentiation of education in the county?

Coordination and support organisation is the Qatar Foundation

Qatar Education City

Guangzhou Mega Education City

• In the first free economic zone in China - population growth from 30 000 to 15 millions in 30 years

Start 2005: 10 000 students, soon 120 000, Finally 350 000 – 400 000 studentsSun 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

Dubai Academic CityAmerican University in the EmiratesBirla Institute of Technology & Science PilaniCambridge College International Dubai

Hogeschool-Universiteit Brussel (HUB), European University College BrusselsFrench Fashion University EsmodHeriot-Watt University Dubai CampusHult International Business SchoolInstitute of Management TechnologyIslamic Azad UniversityJSS Education FoundationMahatma Gandhi UniversityMAHE, Manipal-Dubai CampusManchester Business School WorldwideMichigan State University Dubai (MSU Dubai)Middlesex University, Dubai CampusMurdoch University International Study Centre DubaiPIM International CenterS P Jain Center of ManagementSAE InstituteSaint-Petersburg State University of Engineering and EconomicsShaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST)Syrian Virtual UniversityThe British University in DubaiThe University of ExeterThe University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD)Universitas 21 Global Pte LtdUniversity of Phoenix

”Tax Free Zone”

–´for education and research

- Universities can apply online…

- A ”university hotel”?

Internal driving forces towards the MUC concept for a university

• …if research is seen as the main task, undergrads at site can be a nuisance

• Specialisation of research in global competition makes a university handicapped in broadness of local education offerings

• No-one questions cooperation and competition (”coopetition”) for quality in research – now education is next

• Possibility to concentrate on focus areas in teaching

Questions? Problems? Possibilites?

Future?

• Will most education environments in the future become of a multi-university character?

Not so Not so unlikely….?!?unlikely….?!?