Considering the civic university

A delegation of academics from Cardiff University have recently returned from a trip to the Basque Country (Spain) to discuss the challenges of the engaged University.

The trip was arranged by the School of Geography and Planning’s Professor Kevin Morgan who organised a seminar with the Basque region’s universities. The seminar was designed to address the idea of the civic and engaged university, and to consider the challenges, and opportunities, of adopting this institutional ethos.

Professor Morgan invited Cardiff Business School’s Dean, Professor Martin Kitchener, to address to the attendees and introduce the Business School’s bold new Public Value strategy. The Public Value strategy aligns well with the notion of a civic and engaged university, delivering benefit to communities and stakeholders beyond just the academic.

During the trip Professor Morgan and Professor Rick Delbridge, Cardiff University’s Dean of Research, Innovation and Enterprise, also met with MONDRAGON Corporation, with a view to exploring a new collaborative relationship. Mondragon Corporation is one Spain’s leading business groups, made up of autonomous and independent cooperatives

A delegation from the Basque universities will be welcomed to Cardiff in the spring for Cardiff University’s Innovation Conference.

Cardiff Business School officially launched its Public Value strategy in late 2015 with a commitment to promoting social improvement alongside economic improvement. The School is directing its resources and activities to working in interdisciplinary ways to tackle the grand societal challenges of our time.