The new Government at Westminster is placing emphasis on economic growth, devolution and local empowerment. A new paper from the Higher Education Policy Institute (www.hepi.ac.uk) and the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, Stronger Together: Challenges of devolved regional economic development (HEPI Report 178) by Alistair Lomax, considers the role that groups of universities might play in delivering this.
The paper considers the role of university collaborative groupings and how they interact with other groups, such as pan-regional partnerships and private sector boards.
Some universities are organised into coherent groupings that, largely speaking, have a remit that runs deeper than any regional economic development agenda and these are seen by others as pivotal to the science and technology agenda.
As well as characterising what is happening in England, the paper looks at models from other countries that might hold lessons.
The report has three recommendations:
- The new Government, in its formulation of a new industrial strategy, should plan for at least five years and look towards an impact over 50 years, promoting the strength in applied R&D and innovation alongside local and regional capabilities. Due prominence should be given to the ingenuity and strength of the university sector, using every lever and mechanism (fiscal incentives, enterprise zones, matched funding, alignment of funding agencies and the like) to encourage greater collaboration and partnership.
- University leadership should embrace the full impact they can have on other regional partners through their convening power both within region and internationally, performing a prominent and vocal role in trade missions and acting as champions.
- Universities should build much deeper linkages with other regional partners, with a particular effort towards engagement with those who hold the greatest devolved powers, such as some of the new mayors.
Access the report
