Title: Spatiality in higher education: a case study in integrating pedagogy, community engagement, and regional development

Authors: Teemu Ylikoski; Susanna Kivelä

Addresses: Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Ratatie 22, 01300 Vantaa, Finland ' Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Ratatie 22, 01300 Vantaa, Finland

Abstract: Higher educational institutions (HEIs) are expected to contribute to local economies and the working life through collaboration and regional development. Increasing demands and diminishing resources call for innovative solutions. We discuss the benefits of integrating education and regional development in HEIs through spatiality. We build on community engagement, knowledge transfer, spatiality and the Triple Helix; identifying a HEI's knowledge and people flows. We apply the frame to a case study of a university of applied sciences in Finland. Results suggest that there are a number of ways in which a HEI can collaborate with local industries and strengthen its regional impact without significant structural trade-offs and while supporting pedagogy. The results have implications for higher educational institutions, particularly, concerning the agile, transportable educational space concept. The study raises an important issue related to the assumptions of what makes a university: physical presence versus knowledge flows.

Keywords: higher education; regional development; spatiality; triple helix; Finland; case study; pedagogy; community engagement; knowledge transfer; university-industry cooperation; industrial collaboration; knowledge flows.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIL.2017.083404

International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 2017 Vol.21 No.3, pp.348 - 363

Received: 02 Jun 2015
Accepted: 14 Jan 2016
Published online: 27 Mar 2017 *

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