University Science Promotion: A Model of a Center for Public Science

Abstract

In the international practice of higher education, a university has traditionally been considered as a center for education and science. A modern urban university, however, breaks through the boundaries of educational and scientific projects and pioneers the development of the learning, social, cultural, and intellectual environment of the city and its dwellers. In the view of the research-based and community-oriented mission of the university, there is a need to reinvent and further develop the communication strategies between the university and the urban residents. As one of the steps in this direction, the authors suggest communicating with the citizens through the promotion of university-developed scientific knowledge and research results among wider public. This will solve the challenges of making people interested in the fundamental and applied sciences, developing the human capital for the benefit of the regions, increasing the level of scientific literacy among citizens, creating conditions for the intellectual development of the youth, involving young people and representatives of other age groups in the research activities, and enhancing the prestige and social attractiveness of science. Pursuing these tasks, in this paper the authors study the practices and the formats of science promotion undertaken by the universities and suggest a model of a university-based center for public science.