The contribution of universities to the reduction of inequalities and to the development of peripheries: insight from international case studies

Universities have been involved in profound changes that have led them to strengthen their international dimension, in terms of research and publications, and to reinforce the interaction with the regions where they are located. After the analysis of various forms of relationship between the university and the territorial context, this work aims to reflect on the role that the university can play in the world peripheries and on the potentialities and difficulties faced for the reduction of the gap between the advanced areas and the more marginal ones. The analysis will focus on three fields in which universities can play a role: (i) in providing a "generative" contribution in terms of innovation, establishing collaborative relationships with existing firms, promoting new high-tech sectors, start-ups and creative spaces; (ii) in playing a "relational" role, through connections between codified global knowledge and more tacit, local one; (iii) in bringing a "social and cultural" contribution, through training, organising social and cultural events, involving local communities. After the theoretical background, four international case studies will be described. The first one is that of the new campus of the Universidad Politecnica Salesiana (UPS) in Guayaquil (Ecuador), where UPS revitalizes quality of life in a difficult neighborood. The second is Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva, in the peripheral region of Negev in Israel, where the university has been a pivotal element for the economic and social re-launch of the most depressed region of Israel. The third case is the University of Isfahan in Iran, with its attempt to insert new high-tech activities in a region characterised by traditional industries. The fourth case is the University of Calabria, in the Italian Southern city of Cosenza, where a relatively young university has been able to set up an incubator and generate new start-ups in a poorly industrialised area.