UK universities play an indispensable local role in advancing the government’s growth strategies, but their impact is currently stymied by short-term funding, a report says.
The Local Policy Innovation Partnership Hub, led by a team at the University of Birmingham, says universities “increasingly act as anchor institutions” for tackling inequality, and strengthening regional governance and economic activity.
This increasing role for higher education is credited in part to regional devolution, with the creation and expansion of combined authorities and the rise of directly elected mayors.
But long-term investment is necessary to ensure universities working on civic engagement can “significantly improve the local delivery of government missions”, says the report, published on 8 September.
At the moment, the funding environment remains “very unstable” and creates “vulnerability” in the system that was meant to be furthering the UK's research and innovation goals.
