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Professor John Raftery, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Wolverhampton, has written for the Times Higher Education on the recaptured purpose of the university and the vital role it plays in levelling up the west midlands.

He writes: "England will always, and deservedly, have its dreaming spires, but we also need to uphold and honour the dreamers in places like Dudley and Walsall. The social value added by enabling them to flourish in higher education is greater than the valued added by a costly private school – or even a good state school – that gets its pupils into Oxbridge.

"What a university like Wolverhampton does is put the warm words of politics into real action. If you want to see 'levelling up' made flesh, come and meet our graduates. Despite the challenges of the recent past, we remain among the UK’s top 10 universities for social mobility – and we intend to stay there or move up."

Read the article in full here.