<i>'The ''civic university'' is due for a comeback - if it ever went away. Historically, of course, it formed the bedrock of higher education - the great Victorian foundations in the north and midlands of England, the land-grant universities in the United States. But more recently they (or, more accurately, their values) have been shouted down by the drumbeat discourse of ''world-class'' universities. This book offers an overdue correction, a celebration of civic and community engagement as a fundamental responsibility of the contemporary university.'</i>

- Sir Peter Scott, UCL Institute of Education, UK,

<i>'Universities need to rethink what it means to be a public university in the 21st century, in part because of the loss of public funding and function but also because they need to make themselves relevant to the global challenges that threaten the future of humankind. This reformulation of an old idea, the civic university, challenges us to ensure that through teaching, research and civic engagement, university managers, staff and students place universities at the centre of the local-regional-global nexus, working on all three levels in order to make a difference. The civic university is a value statement as much as a new way of organising higher education; it is about encouraging universities to have souls, to nurture a normative commitment to improve the lives of communities, regions and nations.'</i>

- John D Brewer, Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland,

<i>‘This book provides a welcome and highly relevant analysis of civic universities-academic institutions with particularly strong ties to their cities and regions in terms of research, teaching and civic engagement. These universities are especially relevant in the 21st century, and often forgotten by analysts and policy makers alike who are too busy chasing rankings. The conceptual framework as well as the case studies included in this book are equally valuable.’</i>

- Philip Altbach, Boston College, US,