Welcome to the PASCAL Universities' Regional Engagement Project (PURE) homepage.

The Pascal project, Pascal Universities' Regional Engagement (PURE) flows on from work conducted by the OECD over the past decade, and in particular from the project, Supporting the Contribution of Higher Education to Regional Development, which involved 14 regions in five continents and culminated in the publication in 2007 of Higher Education and Regions: Globally Competitive, Regionally Engaged.

This first cohort of PURE regions began work together in early 2009 by preparing the brief Regional Profiles (RPs) and Regional Briefing Papers (RBPs), which now appear on this Website. They are designed to give readers, especially in the other 1st cohort participating regions, and also in regions considering joining at a later time, the opportunity to see in summary form, firstly what the regions looks like in terms of ‘vital statistics’ and characteristics, and secondly what in particular the regions hope to derive from participation in PURE.

The principal purpose of the RPs and RBPs was to orient the Consultative Development Groups who visited each region in March-April 2009, and also to clarify how far the aspirations as set out are understood and shared by different parties within the region. They provided a basis for setting the agenda for work through the life of the project, with periodic reporting and collective review as outlined in PURE Briefing Paper No. 1.

The RPs, RBPs and the first Regional Visit Report (RVR1) also assist the formation of specialized sub-groups of clusters of regions within PURE wishing to focus on one or more particular issues important to development and the contribution of higher education in their respective regions.

The regions taking part in PURE (cohort 1) are, in alphabetical order, as follows:

Bukersud County, Norway
Darling Downs, Australia
Essex County, England
Flanders Region, Belgium
Gaborone City, Botswana
Glasgow City, Scotland
Kent County, England
Jamtland Region, Sweden
Lesotho
Melbourne City, Australia
Northern Illinois
Puglia Region, Italy
South-Trans-Danubian Region, Hungary
Thames Gateway, London, England
Varmland Region, Sweden

A second cohort of regions will be established to start work within PURE in the Autumn of 2009. Other regions wishing to join this cohort should contact PURE at pureadmin@educ.gla.ac.uk