A shift has occurred in the traditional type of centralised government control to a more multilevel type of governing referred to as governance. The change from government to governance can be illustrated with an emphasis on networks and social capital enhancement. In higher education this is enveloped through a larger emphasis on institutionalisation of collaboration between the higher education institutions (HEI) and the surrounding environment. In lieu of large block grants come financial incentives through semi-governmental agencies embracing collaboration projects between industry and HEI as well as municipalities.`

This licentiate thesis objective is to study the collaboration task’s practical implication on undergraduate education in terms of social capital enhancement and research and teaching links. This is reported in two articles that elaborate on social capital establishment through a policy program and whether policy programs focusing on research collaborations also have an effect on undergraduate education by improving research and teaching links. In general, the findings of this thesis indicate that semi-governmental policy programs have a positive effect on establishing new social capital between regional HEI, industry and municipalities, and that semi-governmentally financed research profiles also have a positive effect on undergraduate education by introducing a link to research outside and within the HEI.