More-Than-Civic: Higher Education and Civil Society in Post-Industrial Localities

This chapter suggests debates and dialogues on the civic nature of higher education would benefit greatly from reflecting on and examining the wider responsibilities of universities in relation to economic impact. We discuss how building strong relationships with civil society and creating a civic strategy based on participatory and asset-based community development principles led Staffordshire University to support community action to directly challenge issues of hardship and poverty within its ‘civic region’. We deploy the notion of a ‘civic region’ to capture the networked interventions made by Staffordshire University, primarily in the territorially-bounded Stoke-on-Trent region of North Staffordshire. By bringing into the equation civil society—defined as the sphere in which social movements are active and where challenges of political power and unequal wealth are experienced—we encourage further exploration of what we would term ‘being more-than-civic’.