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The current higher education system in the UK is in crisis and its role in society continues to be questioned. Within this disarray emerges opportunities to rethink what a university can be. In this monthly Director's Note, Christopher Newfield explores the idea of a social university, one that is truly open to its community.

This report examines the realities beneath the language of “levelling up”, competitiveness and renewal. It argues that UK freeports must be understood not simply as experimental economic tools, but as an increasingly common spatial strategy in which legal, political and institutional norms are selectively reworked.