One interesting case is Biogen-Idec (BIIB) which built a hugecampus at the intersection of Route 128 and Route 20 in the tony suburb of Weston while maintaining a research facility in Cambridge.
Before the huge marble and stone campus sprang up - with its vast courtyards and a nod to Arab aesthetic in the arched windows and geometric mosaics - it was largely sand dunes.
To be sure, the University of California (disclaimer: I attended the Berkeley campus) retains a huge reservoir of talent, with courses taught by 111 Nobel Laureates.
But he questioned whether the "classic model" of a traditional campus university would be able to respond to such a "huge appetite" for higher education.
Pat Ramsey spoke of the "huge disappointment" felt in Londonderry following the failure to expand the Magee campus of the University of Ulster in the city.