L'Université Technique de Twente (THT): La difficile coordination de la planification nationale et des besoins régionaux

Abstract

stablished in 1961 within the framework of the nationally planned expansion of universities, the Technical University of Twente is the third technical university in the Netherlands. It was situated at Enschede (inauguration 1964) as the result of a campaign, organised by local industry, to find a compensation for the decline of the local textile industry, the region's main source of economic expansion during the last century. The University, it was hoped, would provide a new source of development and be a new start for the region. The report concludes that the THT has not, up till now, lived up to the expectations placed upon it, mainly because it was conceived and structured to meet national planning requirements and to fit in with national views on higher education rather than responding directly to regional needs. The most outstanding lack of linkage between the university and the region's industrial base occurs in the area of subject choice by students and the type of research undertaken in the THT. Nevertheless, it is recognized that the THT has played a constructive role, particularly in developing regional awareness and in creating a new cultural identity for the area. It has, in addition, improved recurrent and in-service education in the region. This study is, then, a good example of the need for further investigations into the interface between regional development and higher education.