Professional Affiliation

Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor, School of International Studies, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia

Expert Bio

Professor Dean Forbes is a Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor at Flinders University’s School of International Studies in Adelaide. He currently Chairs the Board of the Community for Global Communication Inc, and is on the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) Register of Experts. As Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International & Communities) and Vice-President at Flinders University from 2000-2013 he was responsible for leadership in the international activities of the University, managed by the International Office, and the community engagement program, including the Southern Knowledge Transfer Partnership Office, Flinders University Art Museum and City Gallery, and Flinders University at Victoria Square.

Wilson Center Project

"City and University Strategies for Competing in the Global Knowledge Economy"

Project Summary

Since the 1990s Lester Thurow, Robert Reich, and others, have argued the international competitiveness of countries increasingly depends on the capacity to enhance the knowledge intensive sectors of the economy. Growing numbers of cities and urban regions target knowledge industries, and at the same time seek to enhance the research, technology, intellectual property, education, and urban amenity features of the city. Universities are important to knowledge-based economies because of their focus on education and human resources development, contribution to innovation and technological change, and the cultural adaptation processes facilitated by campus communities. As the global economy becomes more integrated, cities and universities have become more globally competitive. They share an interest in becoming expanding nodes in the cultural circuit of capital and the global knowledge economy, and these interests, while not identical, intersect in significant ways. Cities and universities seek competitive advantages by establishing effective, but sometimes troubled, alliances. The project examines two case studies of American universities branch campuses in Singapore and Adelaide respectively, along with case studies of city-university engagement in Washington DC and New York.

Major Publications

• Work in Progress: City-University Strategies and Foreign-Branch Campuses: Competing in the Global Knowledge Economy
• Stephen Hamnett and Dean Forbes (eds) "Planning Asian Cities: Risks and Resilience", Routledge, London, 2011.
• Dean Forbes ‘China’s cities: Reflecting on the last 25 years’ in Sustainable Development in China", edited by Curtis Andressen and Mubarak A.R and Wang Xiaoyi, Routledge, London.
• Dean Forbes "‘Overview: Responses of Educational Institutions: Handling Student Growth and Identity’ in Making a Difference: Australian International Education", edited by Dorothy Davis and Bruce Mackintosh, UNSW Press, Sydney.