Publication Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

7-2003

Abstract

The university is among the oldest and most durable institutions in the world, surviving over 900 years. Until relatively recently, universities were small institutions, catering to slight proportions of the general population. They were elite institutions. Educating these small groups was the remit of universities. However, the reach, roles, and expectations of universities have changed especially in the last century and a half. While still catering to a select group, the proportions of many societies which have access to university education have grown. Further, whereas education was previously the sole function of universities, research expectations appeared about 150 years ago. Today, ever more is expected of universities, including supporting and contributing to national economic and social development and technological advancement. This has expanded the role of universities to encompass, inter alia, the facilitation of lifelong learning through the provision of continuing education opportunities, the encouragement of and participation in entrepreneurial activities, and the engagementof university academics in multiple social and community roles.

Keywords

Higher education, universities, continuing education, role of universities

Discipline

Higher Education

Research Areas

Humanities

Publication

Environment and Planning A

Volume

35

Issue

7

First Page

1143

Last Page

1150

ISSN

0308-518X

Identifier

10.1068/a35311

Publisher

SAGE

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1068/a35311

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