Abstract

In the Nordic countries, a gradual restructuring from a Nordic-Keynesian welfare state towards a more international, Schumpeterian competition state model began in the 1980s and the early 1990s. This transformation affected socio-spatial discourses and ways of thinking about the responsibility of universities. Whereas the strategies of the Nordic-Keynesian welfare state regime aimed towards de-centralized socio-spatial formations based on regional political ideas emphasizing national integrity, the Schumpeterian competition state strategies put less stress on territorial and social equalization processes and focused, instead, on competitiveness, specialization, and a more centralized or urbanized state territory. This chapter aims to investigate the evolution of the meaning of socio-spatially responsible university in Finnish higher education policy from the late 1950s to the 2010s. Firstly, we describe how the idea of spatial responsibility of universities has been conceptualized during the Nordic-Keynesian welfare state era and the following Schumpeterian competition state period. Secondly, within the above-mentioned spatial and temporal framework, we analyse how changes in the socio-economic background of students and admission processes of university applicants have influenced the redefinition of a socio-spatially responsible university.