Opportunities, contradictions and attitudes: the evolution of university–business engagement since 1960

The culture and attitudes of any institution are shaped by history and this may affect absorptive capacity and adjustment to change or responses to challenge or opportunity. The article explores how responses to policy initiatives played out within individual universities and the implications this had for their business engagement. The patterns of business engagement are related to the histories of the individual universities, identifying those forces which helped to shape the ‘rules of the game’ and explaining the similarities and differences in experience.