The impact of demographic change has been observed at the European level and is reflected upon in several European strategy papers (European Commission 2018; European Commission 2020). A main concern in these policy papers is access to services of general interest (SGI) in areas where population densities are in decline. The European Commission defines the terminology SGI as “services that public authorities of the Member States classify as being of general interest and therefore subject to specific public service obligations” (European Commission 2011: 3). Countries like Scotland and Sweden seem to be ahead with developing approaches for guaranteeing public services also in sparsely populated regions.

In this paper, we examine cases of services of general interest provision that seem to work in a rural depopulating context over time. The paper has a specific focus on the area of post-school education since this form of service of general interest plays a significant role in the liveability of a place. In some rural areas, it can even be a decisive factor for staying or moving away (Boström/Dalin 2018). Local opportunities for professional training generate know-how, increase a region’s innovative strength and allow new economic sectors to establish (Breznitz/Lawton Smith/Bagchi-Sen 2022); they are thus of importance for the local economy.

This paper presents one case study each from Sweden and Scotland, focusing on examples of post-school education. The first case study analyses the Swedish Akademi Norr, an institution which for over 20 years has been providing higher education in sparsely populated communities of northern Sweden. The second case study analyses the Scottish community-project GrowBiz, which offers educational opportunities for supporting micro-entrepreneurship in rural areas of Scotland.

Both examples show how local resources can be used to create better access to post-school education in sparsely populated areas. As such, they should be of interest for shrinking areas across Europe. Our interpretation is that the stability of these cases over time is due to the ability of local actors to co-locate local resources in a sensible way. The aim of the paper is thus to contribute with a structured understanding of how local actors co-locate local resources in order to provide services of general interest in a rural depopulating context over time. To allow a more systematic analysis of our data, we use an analytical framework originally developed to understand resources that are generated through informal planning practices in rural areas.

The paper is structured as follows: First, the paper provides an overview of the heterogeneous developments in rural areas and demonstrates the importance of post-school education against the background of shrinking populations. This is followed by an introduction to the concept of resources. Furthermore, the approach of the qualitative case study is presented and the two projects Akademi Norr and GrowBiz are introduced. The subsequent presentation of results is embedded in the analytical framework of the concept of resources and describes diverse approaches of the two case studies in detail. The concluding discussion embeds the results in the implementation scope and opportunities for rural areas.

The literature on shrinkage has grown considerably in recent decades. In a recent research overview, Syssner (2022) describes how the trends of globalisation, urbanisation and de-industrialisation have confronted parts of European peripheries with difficult circumstances. Shrinkage – in terms of population decline, ageing, and diminishing commercial and public services – form, as Syssner puts it, part of the lived experiences in great parts of the European peripheries.

Yet, the term shrinkage itself deserves further clarification as it is often connotated in a one-dimensional and solely negative way. Copus, Kahila, Dax et al. (2021: 288–292) argue that shrinkage, or rather demographic decline, has to be placed in a broader context of socio-economic change, relating to levels of economic activity, sectoral structures, governance capacity etc. In this respect, Syssner (2022: 100) calls for greater clarity, asking: “[W]hat is it that is shrinking, declining, or disappearing when scholars talk about shrinkage […]; where – in what localities or at what scale – can shrinkage be observed; and […] when did it all happen?” Furthermore, she suggests that research efforts are needed to understand how and for what reasons resources have been distributed in space. Research, it is argued, could also contribute by explicating the conditions for everyday life and work in shrinking, rural territories and demonstrating how shrinkage is dealt with by various policy actors.

This paper is explicitly linked to the call for studies on how the consequences of shrinkage are dealt with by policy actors at various scales and in various contexts. As pointed out by Bontje (2004), Martinez-Fernandez, Audirac, Fol et al. (2012), Wiechmann and Pallagst (2012), Sousa and Pinho (2015), Schatz (2017) and Syssner (2020), demographic decline has long been overlooked in local policy and planning. Several studies have explicated how local and regional policy actors have failed to develop comprehensive strategies or plans for how to cope with decline (Lang 2012; Wiechmann/Pallagst 2012; Bernt/Haase/Großmann et al. 2014; Hospers 2014; Schatz 2017; Syssner 2020).

Even if depopulation is most prominent in sparsely populated rural areas, research on shrinkage and depopulation has until recently had a strong urban bias. Given that, several voices have called for more research attention to be paid to shrinking rural regions. Importantly, there is no uniform definition and delimitation of rural areas at hand. Rather, several typologies are offered at various national and international levels (Küpper/Milbert 2020: 82). This implies that we are dealing with a pronounced heterogeneity of ruralities, and in this sense, rural areas today can only be meaningfully addressed in the plural (Mose 2018).

Many European countries are facing severe challenges of demographic change and especially the shrinkage of rural areas complicates the living conditions of depopulating communities. A growing spatial polarisation between urban and rural areas can be identified (Lang/Haunstein 2017; Copus/Kahila/Dax et al. 2021). The regional differences in development are particularly evident in the ten new member states in central and eastern Europe. However, other countries in western, southern and northern Europe are also affected by conspicuous shrinkage processes evident at regional and local levels (Copus/Kahila/Dax et al. 2021).

Population projections to 2028 predict a widening of disparities between urban and rural areas in Scotland. Above-average population growth is predicted for urban areas in the east of the country and the Central Belt, while most rural areas in the Highlands and Lowlands, as well as the Western Isles and the Shetland Islands, will experience population declines.¹ Similarly, in Sweden, population disparities will also be exacerbated by 2040. As such, the most populated county, Stockholm County, is projected to increase the most, both in number and percentage of people. In contrast, in eight counties the population is expected to decrease with the largest decline being expected for the rural counties of Västernorrland and Norrbotten in the upper north (Statistiska centralbyran 2021).

There is no question that the projected developments will have far-reaching consequences for the maintenance of services of general interest. Maintaining and adapting these services is of crucial importance for the future development of rural areas. To name but a few, the services include local supply, transport, health and care, emergency response and post-school education (see Tent/Brad/Klöden et al. 2021).

Post-school education includes all educational activities that follow compulsory schooling. A distinction can be made between formal (e.g. obtaining institutionally supervised qualifications), non-formal (e.g. continuing education) and informal (e.g. individual interests such as music courses, cooking classes) educational opportunities; this is strongly linked to the concept of life-long learning (Dib 1988).

Post-school educational opportunities are important on both individual and societal levels. They contribute to social participation and have an impact on regional development (Peer/Penker 2016). The availability of educational opportunities is an important aspect of the regional quality of life, influencing the decision of young people in particular to leave or stay in a region, and having a positive impact on regional economic development (Postlep/Blume/Hülz 2020). In the short term, learner spending generates additional regional value added. In the long term, improved innovation and entrepreneurship can contribute to the creation of new businesses in the region (Breznitz/Lawton Smith/Bagchi-Sen 2022).

People from rural areas who seek vocational training, or seek to continue their education after school, often have to travel or migrate to urban areas. This means additional costs for learners, which can be a barrier to achieving higher education while at the same time pushing people in search of education to leave their home region. In rural regions already facing a shrinking and ageing population, the resulting loss of young people reinforces and accelerates this process. People who are educated outside their home regions do not always return or do not have knowledge and skills that match the working conditions and local requirements in rural areas (Gareis/Diller 2020).

Indeed, new educational concepts have sought to decentralise post-school learning opportunities and provide higher education and training in rural areas. Especially during and in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, face-to-face contact between learners and teachers was complemented by digital tools that enable distance learning independent of location. A well-established example, which functioned well even before the pandemic, is the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) in Scotland. This decentralised educational institution can demonstrate cumulative effects for regional development. First, it offers students in rural areas an alternative to having to leave home to pursue education (and also attracts students for specific ‘niche’ courses) (Rennie 2003). Second, retaining and attracting students in these rural areas provides more opportunities for social interaction and improved quality of life, including access to learning opportunities not normally available locally in person (Biggar Economics 2020).

Providing access to post-school education at the local level is a critical contribution to rural and regional development, supporting vibrant, diverse communities, improving regional infrastructure, and generating local employment and the associated expenditure that this creates (Postlep/Blume/Hülz 2020). This is a critical contribution in a region with higher age demographics (see Table 1) and numerous logistical challenges.

In this paper, we examine cases of post-school education in Scotland and Sweden that seem to work in a rural depopulating context over time. Our interpretation is that the long-term stability of these cases is due to the ability of local actors to co-locate local resources in a sensible way. In our endeavour to offer a structured understanding of how local resources are co-located by local actors, we draw on a resource-based view and utilise an analytical framework that has been previously employed for understanding how resources are used and generated through informal planning practices in rural areas. The framework allows us to develop a more structured understanding of how local actors co-locate local resources in order to provide services of general interest in a rural depopulating context over time.

In its broadest sense, a resource can be understood as “any asset that an organization might draw on to help it achieve its goals and perform well” (Bryson/Ackermann/Eden 2007: 704). The framework employed here, however, sorts resources into the broader categories of financial, material, human and organisational resources (Syssner/Meijer 2017). By following this analytical model, we seek to structure our analysis efficiently.

Financial resources could be “[c]ash, investments, and endowment” (Brown/Andersson/Jo 2016: 2892) derived through taxation, through profits, or – as often in rural development processes – through a diversity of external funding sources (Syssner/Meijer 2017: 463). A material resource, Syssner and Meijer (2017: 463) suggest, could comprise physical objects and facilities – in terms of land and raw material (Brown/Andersson/Jo 2016) or in terms of equipment, infrastructure and machines (Bathelt/Glückler 2005: 1547; Pee/Kankanhalli 2016: 189). In the category of human resources, Syssner and Meijer (2017: 463) include formal knowledge, skills and competencies, but also experiences and insights gained by those living and operating in an area (Pee/Kankanhalli 2016: 189). Organisational resources, to conclude, are understood “as those structures that can be employed by individuals to achieve their own goals” (Bathelt/Glückler 2005: 1555) and that enable planning and coordination (Pee/Kankanhalli 2016: 189), for example by the formation of mutual expectations and goals (Bathelt/Glückler 2005: 1555).

Our qualitative comparative case study approach, examining two models of decentralised post-school educational provision in Sweden and Scotland, demonstrates how local actors co-locate local resources in order to provide services of general interest over time. To allow a more structured understanding of the two cases – Akademi Norr and GrowBiz – the results are presented along four main resource types: human, financial, material and organisational resources.

6.4  Organisational resources

The way in which Akademi Norr is organised across administrative boundaries initially represented an innovative form of professional cooperation. This joint educational strategy arose from the vision of linking the strengths of several municipalities in order to achieve better results for the regional landscapes of tertiary education. Within this strategy, Akademi Norr provides the anchor point for all further cooperations with companies, universities and private education providers. Thereby, its project manager appears to be a leading force for broadening networks and establishing new partnerships with municipalities beyond the current associations. “He has created a much bigger cooperation between different organisations. He is communicating Akademi Norr in a different way than they did before. Both via their webpage and also just him meeting and talking to people” [IP-3].

Weekly meetings are held between the head and the team of Akademi Norr. Additionally, monthly, the staff of the learning centres may contribute their ideas and wishes, and every second month the steering group comes together for strategic planning. In this way, a transparent and clear vision of future developments may be built and shared by all participants. At the same time, each learning centre may define individual priorities according to local needs. This promotes a better congruence between educational supply and demand, while at the same time requiring greater organisational efforts when cross-community education projects are to be designed. Finally, the close exchange with universities allows newly enrolled students to be informed about the learning opportunities at Akademi Norr.

The organisational core of GrowBiz lies in its strong bottom-up approach that involves the integration of local knowledge, and during the beginning of the organisation’s development the advisory community panel held monthly meetings. The voluntary board members meet six times per year. The board particularly monitors GrowBiz’ long-term strategy and does risk evaluation and management. The self-employed staff is responsible for issues of the daily business. Regular team meetings and the writing of monthly activity reports contribute to internal communication and to transparency. “There are always team meetings, there are always points to feedback and to improve something and I think that’s what kind of helps us innovate and adapt. […] We write monthly reports that go out to the whole team so everyone has an idea of what everyone’s been up to and what’s been achieved which I think is pretty useful” [IP-13].

Additionally, GrowBiz has access to a strong structural network. For example, the head of GrowBiz is also the chair of the LEADER Local Action Group in Perth and Kinross, which has enabled her to have up-to-date insights into the funding landscape. Furthermore, she is an ambassador for the rural economy within the Scottish government and thus also involved in political processes. Although at the time of its foundation GrowBiz focused primarily on the administrative area of Perth and Kinross, its operative scope has expanded to the national level since 2017. On the organisational level, this development needed to go along with the simultaneous expansion of distance learning services, which has challenged GrowBiz’ ambition of maintaining its local community spirit.

The co-location of resources in the two analysed projects is shown in Figure 2 in summary.

Figure 2  Resources in the two analysed projects

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This comparative case study on two post-school education projects in Scotland and Sweden has – in combination with our analytical framework – made it possible to provide a structured understanding of how local actors co-locate local resources in order to provide services of general interest in a rural depopulating context over time.

For both projects, the provision and long-term safeguarding of the human resources studied was of particular importance. Several aspects are at stake here. Central is the role of a professional project leader who identifies strongly with the project’s goals and is committed to its success. Such a leader seems almost indispensable for the management of future administrative processes. Equally important can be the commitment of volunteers, be it as idea generators, project initiators or supporters such as board members. Bottom-up approaches, in particular, rely heavily on the voluntary commitment of people who are willing to get involved and offer their time and knowledge, even over longer periods. In response, volunteers demand recognition and appreciation. Also worth mentioning is the significant role of local and regional politicians, e.g. mayors or local councillors of the participating municipalities, who can act as promoters and ambassadors of a project. The importance of charismatic “leaders” has been shown for many rural networks, although this also implies that there is a risk that they may become too dominant (Mose/Jacuniak-Suda/Fiedler 2014). The use of human resources in education projects is shown to be particularly worthwhile, as in turn new human resources are generated in terms of labour-market-oriented qualifications for rural regions (Hamm/Koschatzky 2020: 35). Through the coordination and facilitation work of Akademi Norr, a new network of municipal business offices, industry organisations and the regions of Västerbotten and Norrbotten has been established, which helps to define the future qualification needs of skilled workers and thus contributes to the establishment of future education programmes. Successfully attracting and retaining skilled workers is often a challenge in rural areas. Constant changes in labour market demands exacerbate this, while also pointing to the increasing importance of lifelong learning opportunities (Tent/Brad/Klöden et al. 2021). The opportunity to learn locally needed skills is seen as equally important (Jonda 2009). At the same time, the provision of higher education and vocational training is regarded as an important factor for regional economic prosperity (Batterbury/Hill 2005: 38–40; Arbo/Benneworth 2007: 15; Kwiek 2012: 78–79). By absorbing external knowledge and bringing it into the region, institutions such as universities can promote local innovation (Peer/Penker 2016). The siting of educational institutions in rural areas is therefore considered a decisive location factor for regional development (Hamm/Koschatzky 2020; Tent/Brad/Klöden et al. 2021).

Equally important is the provision of funding. The analyses of the projects studied show that mixed funding approaches seem to be a common and recommendable practice. Municipalities (as the geographical location of the projects) are usually not in a position to provide funding on a large scale, but rural development programmes at government level can often offer suitable funding opportunities. In addition, European programmes such as LEADER can provide additional funding, even if it is limited in duration. Particular attention should also be paid to new sources of funding, including private sponsorship from companies expressing interest in a particular project. As the GrowBiz project has shown, sponsors themselves were able to benefit from the project’s activities. In the case of Akademi Norr, companies expressly participate with the aim of acquiring new skilled workers. Furthermore, extracurricular education seems to be an area of activity that is recognised and valued because it also benefits the local economy. This is illustrated by the way in which the use of funding can in turn release new financial resources in rural regions. A study on the efficiency of the decentralised University of the Highlands and Islands shows these effects for the Scottish context, revealing that 3,100 staff members and over 38,000 students generate over £ 560 million in gross value added (in 2019) for the region and support over local 6,200 jobs (Biggar Economics 2020: 63). According to calculations, around 86 % of the university’s gross value added remains in the Highlands and Islands, resulting in a multiplier effect of around £ 4 for every £ 1 received (Biggar Economics 2020: 65). Kratz and Lenz (2015) showed in their study in the German context that the value added by universities in rural regions is significantly stronger than in metropolitan regions. Smaller educational initiatives, such as the GrowBiz and Akademi Norr projects studied in this paper, can also have an impact on regional development. The importance of GrowBiz for regional development is also reflected in the proportion of small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas. This is three times higher in rural areas (36 %) than in the rest of Scotland (13 %) (Scottish Government 2021: 51). In a study by Steiner and Atterton (2014), the contribution of these rural businesses to the resilience of rural communities was also demonstrated. This is also reflected in the close links with the local LEADER region in the case of GrowBiz and the cooperation with Region 10 (regional development association of ten of the 13 municipalities represented; see also IP 6 in Table 1) in the case of the Swedish Akademi Norr.

The use of material resources plays a subordinate role. The provision of infrastructure, such as premises, may be relevant, but experience, especially after the Corona pandemic, has shown that more and more employees are willing to (also) work from home offices, which is especially important in rural regions with long distances and a wide geographical distribution of people. Decentralised, but at the same time digitally and personally networked, rural educational institutions (e.g. the UHI; Mose 2022: 47–48) or the generally advanced use of digital methods in education (Rennie/Greller/Mackay 2002; Rennie 2003) represent exemplary approaches to overcoming traditional educational barriers in peripheral regions.

In terms of organisational resources, cross-border cooperation is crucial for projects with a decentralised character. It will most likely provide a greater pool of experiences and ideas to be shared, and forms of cooperative action will result in greater political visibility and strength. In addition, joint strategies in post-school education can offer the possibility to combine different (financial) resources that would otherwise remain separate and not be taken into account. With the gradual expansion of a project’s geographical catchment area, the possibilities for distance learning must also be expanded. This, however, also requires the thorough exploitation of the possibilities opened up by digitalisation. The provision of digital access is of central importance both for internal project communication and for the expansion of educational cooperation (Dauser/Fischer/Lorenz et al. 2021).

In summary, the two examples from Sweden and Scotland offer valuable insights into how to identify, develop and safeguard various resources that are crucial for successful project initiatives. In terms of transferability, most of the findings seem applicable to the situation in peripheral and less densely populated rural areas with shrinking populations all across Europe.

The findings of our research are of both scientific and political interest since there is general agreement – in research as well as among local and regional development actors – that educational institutions are important for regional development. Several voices stress that these institutions contribute to economic development through training and qualification opportunities (Highlands and Islands Enterprise 2018), and that educational opportunities as well as job prospects are the main motives for (young) adults to leave rural areas and move to urban centres (Boström/Dalin 2018). A 2018 report on young people in the Highlands and Islands showed that more young people want to stay in the region and find improved educational and job conditions. An expert (IP-7) also reported that a lot of young people want to stay in the northern municipalities of Sweden. While young Scots are more positive about the image of the Highlands and Islands (Highlands and Islands Enterprise 2018), young Swedes still feel pressured to justify their decision to stay (Hjort 2023). In other studies, people beyond the age of 30 who are willing to settle in rural regions are referred to as being dependent on further education and retraining offers in order to be able to open up new professional perspectives locally (e.g. IP‑4 and IP-13). Moreover, it is widely acknowledged that institutions such as universities and colleges bring new knowledge to a region and, together with local businesses, can stimulate new innovations (Peer/Penker 2016). Still, post-school education has been highly centralised in many European countries over the past decades, often resulting in highly unequal access to education. In contrast, the decentralised models for post-school education analysed here offer interesting insights into establishing new ways to maintain crucial infrastructure for services of general interest. Against this backdrop, the experiences from Akademi Norr and GrowBiz on how local resources can be co-created by local actors over time to safeguard educational services in a rural depopulating context is of great interest. Our results indicate that the use of human resources in the field of coordination and strategic planning can lead to a breaking down of traditional structures. For the maintenance and redesign of post-school educational opportunities in rural regions, it is therefore advisable to invest some of the limited financial resources in human resources, as this can bring about strong changes towards a more efficient design of organisational structural resources.

The analytical framework employed has helped provide a more structured understanding of how local actors co-locate local resources in order to provide services of general interest. Yet, it should be noted that the framework provided by Syssner and Meijer (2017) stresses that resources must be understood as being relational, contextual and situational. In short, this implies that whether something is regarded a resource – may it be in human, financial, material or organisational terms – is due to the context and the situation. It also implies that resources emerge in relations between actors and in response to specific needs. Accordingly, neither Akademi Norr nor GrowBiz provide a one-size-fits-all solution for how to provide services of general interest in depopulating rural areas. Still, the cases provide valuable examples on how educational institutions can emerge and survive in settings with limited resources.

Given the shrinking societies in Europe, new strategies are needed to maintain services of general interest. Post-school educational opportunities play a central role in this. They train skilled workers locally, offer entrepreneurs personnel prospects for the future and, finally, also contribute to the innovative regional development of the entire region.

Interestingly, it turns out that human resources are particularly important. Ironically, this resource is often rare in sparsely populated regions, however, the projects also show the significance of the strong networking of the project leaders and the close cooperation of the actors. Also striking is the strong identification with the task and the high intrinsic motivation of those involved. It is therefore evident that communication and networking among education actors in particular must be promoted. A high level of appreciation for voluntary commitment must be ensured as the number of inhabitants decreases. A great opportunity for sparsely populated regions is also the increasing decentralisation of the world of work. Thus, the two examples of GrowBiz and Akademi Norr demonstrate that educational personnel can live nationwide and still provide high quality education locally. In conclusion, when establishing education projects, the financial resources available should be invested much more in the promotion of personnel and networking opportunities than in the infrastructure of buildings.

Against the background of shrinking rural regions, the findings from the two case studies are also relevant for the German context. Many communities in structurally weak areas remote from agglomerations have lost up to a fifth of their inhabitants in just over a quarter of a century. Statistical forecasts on the development of the workforce assume that the spatial concentration process affecting the labour force will continue until 2040 under the influence of demographic change (Maretzke/Hoymann/Schlömer et al. 2021).

The case studies analysed here provided valuable information on the implementation of educational projects in settings with limited resources. Subsequent research projects could therefore look in detail at their transferability to Germany (and likewise other countries) to increase understanding further. In this context, it will be of crucial importance to record the available resources in rural communities in Germany and to analyse their distribution based on the foreign case studies, before finally linking them efficiently with each other.

The establishment of education providers can ultimately lead to a turning point in the local quality of life and open up new perspectives for rural areas. Against the backdrop of the demographic forecasts, many regions across Europe will have to use the limited resources in a well-considered way and adopt new approaches to maintaining services of general interest.