Today’s popular university trends described in yesterday’s blog hint at the future of university towns when those ideas are seamlessly knitted.

The common theme is higher learning in the real world:  Students no longer have to live in concentration camp dormitories, but in affordable, community-oriented lofts.  They can choose to live in themed buildings that relate to their areas of study - all the better to network, study late with and collaborate on independent projects.  They can take

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The university town of tomorrow looks to combine the concepts of open universities*, the Stanford/MIT model of pre-graduation job placement, location in a vibrant neighborhood with quality nightlife, and the living/learning environment, such as the University of Maryland Hinman CEO program.

What would an open university in a community look like?  See tomorrow’s entry.

*Open universities in the U.S. are essentially distance-learning schools, but overseas they are much larger and focus on a

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Other than quality of life, providing great jobs upon graduation is a key reason a city won’t lose its university-generated talent.  The question is how?

The concept of learning communities involves integrating learning with the real world, and Stanford is a model for creating a business learning community.

Stanford’s Office of University Corporate Relations offers a corporate dream guide for its students - not only is there an ongoing research partnership with the hottest Fortune 500

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Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The presence of MIT and Harvard is really only telling half the story.  Places like Harvard Square and programs like the MIT Media Lab play a major factor in that ranking.

The bottom line is that the top engineering and biologist graduates from Harvard still want to date, party or at least meet interesting people.  That just doesn’t happen if the area around even the most prestigious school isn’t happening.

Harvard Square is a mecca for nightlife, entertainment and

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It doesn’t take rocket science to realize that the wealth of cities is often directly related to the wealth of talent graduating from its local universities, such as Silicon Valley and Stanford, or Cambridge/Boston and Harvard/MIT.

However, it doesn’t take much to realize it’s not a sure thing either, as students from Carnegie Mellon and Univ. of Penn. will attest there’s not much incentive to stay once they graduate.

Ask just about any student and there’s two things that will keep many of

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