National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education 1997

For me the civic university movement can  be traced back to a 1994  report commissioned from the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS) at Newcastle  by the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principles  (CVCP) the predecessor to the current association Universities UK on Universities and Communities as part of its  evidence to the  National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education,  chaired by Lord Dearing and   published in 1997. The report was commissioned by the UK government and was the largest review of higher education in the UK since the Robbins Committee in the early 1960s. Whilst he was chair of the Government Office  for the North East , Dearing sought advice from CURDS and asked CVCP to commission this review .

The headings of the report remain relevant to this day

• Universities in a changing environment

• Defining the local community

• Universities and their local economic impact

• Universities and local economic development

• Social and community development

• Managing the university- community interface​

So do the recommendations that Dearing made on his report

• “HE is now a significant force in regional economies as a source of income and employment, a contribution to cultural life and in supporting regional and local economic development

•  As part of the compact we envisage between HE and society each institution should be clear about its mission in relation to local communities and regions”

 Dearing clearly recognised that this ‘compact’   was wide ranging, had a strong local dimension and was one where the university’s contribution to  ‘the economy’ could not be separated from the wider society in which it is embedded.

CVCP Universities and Communities [PDF]