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The contribution of higher education institutions to regional development is a theme that has attracted growing attention in recent years. Knowledge institutions are increasingly expected not only to conduct education and research, but also to play an active role in the economic, social and cultural development of their regions. The extent to which higher education institutions are able to play this role depends on a number of circumstances: the characteristics of the institutions, the regions in which they are located and the policy frameworks are all significant. At the same time, there are signs of more fundamental conceptual and strategic confusion. The discussions in this domain are frequently characterised by slogans and popular metaphors. This literature review was prepared to support the OECD project entitled 'Supporting the Contribution of Higher Education Institutions to Regional Development', which was conducted by the OECD Programme on Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE) in collaboration with the Directorate of Public Governance and Territorial Development. Drawing mainly from a selection of European and North American publications, the report takes an overall view on the development of higher education institutions in the regional context. It focuses on the evolution and discourses of higher education and research, the regional aspects of higher education policies, the various functions and roles that the institutions play, measures taken to link the universities with their regional partners, and the conditions which favour or hamper stronger regional engagement. (A bibliography is included. Contains 9 figures.)

This paper reviews recent measurement work on User-Created Content (UCC) undertaken in OECD countries. It shows that UCC is emerging as a significant area of economic and social activity worthy of consideration for official measurement and discusses the implications for the OECD Model Survey on ICT Access and Use by Households and Individuals. (Study summary and questionnaires are annexed. Contains 10 footnotes, 6 figures and 1 table.)

This publication reports on a workshop to review and analyze existing practices in the design, implementation, and evaluation of curriculum in technical and vocational education (TVE). In the main working document, "Curriculum Development in TVE" (Tom Saluja), are the following: definition of curriculum development; description of how to measure the effectiveness of curriculum and models of curriculum development; and outline of the stages of curriculum development, implementation, and evaluation. Summaries of presentations describe experiences of countries in curriculum development, implementation, assessment, evaluation, and validation. These country papers are included: Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Japan, Mexico, Tanzania, and Uganda. A synthesis of country papers focuses on the following areas: education system, TVE system, responsibility for curriculum development, quality assurance, system of implementation, role of various bodies, constraints, and future trends. Eight major issues with proposed solutions are identified: national socioeconomic development and technological advances; relevance of curricula and competency-based vocational education; feedback from implementation and evaluation; quality of teachers/instructors; attitude of students to TVE; financial resources for curriculum development and delivery; legislation related to TVE curricula; and national institutional capacity in curriculum development. Future strategies and recommendations are listed. A participant list is appended. (YLB)

This publication analyzes relationships between various forms of learning and economic performance at the regional level and provides rather strong evidence of the importance of individual and firm-level organizational learning for regions' economic performance. Chapter 1 is an introduction. Chapter 2 maps out a conceptual framework for the "learning region" by using the systems of innovation approach. It focuses on the relationships between the development of regional systems of innovation and the processes of individual and organizational learning. Chapter 3 presents a set of research questions to be addressed in the empirical analysis. Chapter 4 addresses some research questions through correlation analyses of learning and economic performance for all regions in the 15 member states of the European Union. Chapter 5 gives the empirical analysis greater depth through five case studies of actual regions attempting to respond positively to the challenges posed by the emergence of the new learning economy. The diversity of socioeconomic circumstances and developmental strategies emphasizes that each area necessarily has to create its own strategy for economic and social growth that must reflect the specifics of its past and current circumstances. Chapter 6 summarizes conclusions of the empirical work, a necessary basis for identifying problems that could and should be solved or mitigated through public policy intervention. Chapter 7 presents such policy implications and ends with a list of 10 policy principles for creating and sustaining "learning regions." Appendixes include statistical profiles of the case study areas. (Contains 96 references.) (YLB)