ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates the concept of a compact for higher education by considering what would be entailed in introducing such a compact to one geographical area of England. The case study area taken is the 'Thames Gateway' – the estuary of the Thames below central London – an area engaged in large scale economic regeneration. The chapter presents the results of analysis of the 1996 Research Assessment Exercise in the Thames Gateway higher education institutions (HEIs) and discusses what this implies for the future of the local learning infrastructure within the local economy and community. It outlines what a compact for higher education might mean in the Thames Gateway. The chapter argues that further entrenchment of the divide between research and teaching universities is unlikely to serve the needs to regional economic regeneration and that links need to stretch across these sectors and to encompass further education, as well as local economic and community organisations.
