Co-production and the pedagogy of exchange: Lessons ‎‎from community ‎‎research training in Birmingham

In the 21st century, universities in the UK are under scrutiny with research and knowledge ‎‎increasingly individualised and privatised whilst the student experience has been ‎financialised. In ‎reaching for global recognition, universities often overlook local ‎communities or present barriers to ‎their poorest residents. There is a growing concern with ‎the way in which universities are becoming invisible to ‎local communities. This is more ‎evident for deprived communities where universities’ mechanisms for empowerment can ‎be showcased and their civic role is reinvigorated.‎ Universities can play an important role in ‎local economic development ‎and also as contributor to the local cultural and social capital ‎in their areas. There is a need ‎to understand how universities’ pathways to ‎commercialisation, breaking barriers between ‎technical and non-technical disciplines, ‎being part of the innovation eco-systems can further ‎its role as an anchor institution. When ‎this impact extends beyond economic levels what is the role of ‎knowledge Exchange and ‎social equality in addressing long-term local economic challenges.‎

In this chapter, we explore several questions in relation to the visibility of universities as ‎public spaces ‎for local communities and the visibility of local communities to globalised ‎learning institutions. Our ‎paper is based on our research findings as part of a large three-‎year ERDF project: USE-IT! ‎Unlocking Social and Economic Innovation Together. This project ‎is developing a community ‎research model for empowering local communities, making ‎hard-to-reach groups more visible and ‎articulating a new role for universities as anchor ‎institutions. The project involves action research with ‎communities adjacent to large-scale ‎urban transformation projects and a core aspect of the project is ‎developing co-produced ‎knowledge using principles of collaborative governance. The paper will be ‎based on ‎interviews with community groups, residents and key stakeholders in the Birmingham City-‎‎Region organised around the topic of public space and the role of the higher education ‎sector in ‎empowering and making visible its anchor role.‎