Creativity and innovation in the twenty-first-century university

A common claim about universities is that they are among the world's oldest institutions. The chapter discusses that innovation may entail deeper consideration as an important component that impacts the evolution of higher education in the twenty first century. It demonstrating how continuous change and variation in academic life has been present even as continuity has been valorised and also identifies three primary challenges that threaten to transform the traditional view of academic life. First, globalisation has made knowledge-intensive trade central to economic development in the twenty-first century. Second, national governments are fundamentally changing the nature and extent with which they have historically allocated funding to their universities. Third, the growing prevalence of competency based learning could clarify the relationship between institutions, credentials, students and employers. The chapter has the argument on a review of the literature on innovation and change, as well as primary literature about the nature of higher education. This chapter presents a critical review of the existing literature on working-class students and Western higher education, acknowledging the achievements that this research has brought as well as identifying pertinent critiques and lacunae. It focuses particularly upon literature arising from Anglo-Saxon countries and engages with four key themes that pervade the literature on higher education and the working classes: accessing university; spatial (im)mobility; the psychosocial experience of working-class students in Western higher education; and extra-credential experiences. The chapter demonstrates the considerable interest from scholars within the field of higher education that has led to a substantive body of literature of interest to academics and university widening participation and careers service personnel. This discussion briefly reviews the role of sociological theory in illuminating working-class students experiences of Western higher education. The chapter concludes by synthesising the key themes raised within this chapter whilst discussing in tandem, what past and present research implies for future research.