What is a University?

I would like to dispel immediately any fears that I have been tempted to philosophise, at least on this occasion. My question is very direct, very concrete. In fact, concrete is exactly the word for it. I want to address the issue of what a University is physically. The matter of its estate. That I cannot ask the question in anything but this form, says something, of course, about the intimate relationship between the physical and intellectual spaces. If I used the word campus, with its classical reference to fields, for example, I might already have altered the discussion.

I recognise that there are many different types of university. Extension universities, such as the Open University in the UK, that operate largely through distance education, and institutions such as University of Phoenix in the US, that work out of rented commercial premises. But what of research-intensive universities? They divide into some rough groups. First, the 'ivy league', Harvard and Princeton et al, a group in which I include Oxford and Cambridge. Second, the large campus-based, principally state, universities, such as California Berkley or Wisconsin-Madison, equivalent perhaps to Warwick and York. Third, the urban universities such as Columbia, roughly similar to UCL and the LSE. This is not an exhaustive categorisation but covers the ground. Virtually all of the leading world institutions have great estates, each different, reflecting their history and situation. In fact, many of the institutions in Asia that are scaling the 'league tables' have newly developed estates that reflect their aspirations and growing achievements.

Of course, I appreciate that I should not confuse correlation with causation. Money dominates. It can buy academic talent, scientific facilities, and shiny buildings. I wish to argue however that the character of the estate and the decisions a university makes about it are, directly linked to the quality of the work produced there. To forestall arguments, I also wish to make clear that a great estate is necessary, but not sufficient, for academic achievement. I am not saying that there is a single or fixed view of what a great estate can and should be. A vibrant urban estate integrated into the fabric of a great city and contiguous with the national and civic institutions can support a great university as effectively as ivy-clad, cloistered, courts.

Why does this relationship exist? Scholarship and study are sensitive pursuits. They require a subtle mixture of collaboration and solitary work. The missions of teaching and research must be spatially woven together in ways that recognise the complex relationships between them. The disciplines have radical and diverging differences in the requirements for technical support but must necessarily have means and spaces to interact. The speed of change in the nature of the work that scholars and particularly, though not exclusively, those in science, engineering and medicine, undertake, necessitates fluidity, flexibility and change. These are the most demanding requirements that only great estates can meet.

Academics choose their career because of their dedication to the pursuit of their subject. They choose their place of work because of the opportunities it affords. To attract and retain talent - both academics and research students - the best universities must maintain an unremitting focus on the conditions for scholarly work. It is not accidental that space and who gets what office or lab is one of the most fraught issues in universities. It matters.

The shape of the estate is not only about its capability to support academic activity but also about what it symbolises. Great universities are important places in society. They are the locus for innovation, for challenge, for contemplation and for public discourse. Scholars matter in society, or at any rate, it matters that scholars matter. The maintenance of a great estate is a public duty, not simply for whatever historical or architectural merits it may have, but for the place of a university in society.

Universities with their cafes and quads, common rooms and libraries, labs and workshops, offices and halls are increasingly models for the creative workplace. University work is not like commercial work and the models of call centres and legal offices have little to recommend them. Universities are distinctive places and their estate should reflect that.