Universities as Social & Cultural Infrastructure: Roundtable summary note

A series of three roundtables focused on universities as social and cultural infrastructure, in conjunction with the National Civic Impact Accelerator programme (NCIA), took place over March-May 2024. This series expanded on an initial roundtable on this theme held in October 2023.

The series focused on the principal question ‘How can universities as institutions, both individually and collectively, create, support and enhance social and cultural infrastructure to improve and sustain their local communities and places?’

Each of the roundtables focused on a different aspect of this overarching question:

1) Research & Development, and innovation

2) Linking different university constituencies

3) Partnerships, incentives and funding

Each roundtable brought together a wide range of experts and practitioners, including academics, higher education managers and professionals, representatives of think tanks and other policy organisations, and representatives from organisations that work with universities.

Following an overview of each of the discussions and the thematic areas which arose, the report outlines some policy insights for the higher education sector, covering collaboration and partnership, place-sensitive decision-making, and long-term commitments.