Universities’ Roles in Regional Development and Evaluating Their Quality
2026-03-20 09:17
A new paper titled “Universities’ Roles in Regional Development and Evaluating Their Quality: A Systematic Literature Review” has been published online in Industry and Higher Education (Scopus Q1 journal).
This publication forms part of the Strengthening Regional Universities in Kazakhstan project funded by CARCEIT. The study addresses a critical gap in how universities’ contributions to regional development are assessed, arguing for a more holistic and multidimensional evaluation framework.
Drawing on a systematic review of the literature, the paper offers a comprehensive synthesis of existing research on universities’ regional roles. It identifies a strong emphasis on economic outcomes in current evaluation models and highlights the need to incorporate broader dimensions, including technological, social, cultural, and environmental contributions.
The findings call for more nuanced approaches to assessing university quality and impact—approaches that better reflect the complex and context-specific ways in which universities engage with and support their regions.
This research contributes to ongoing debates on higher education and regional development by proposing more inclusive and analytically robust frameworks for understanding university impact.