Million Plus

In a speech today (5 October) at a fringe event at the Conservative Party Conference, Professor Graham Baldwin, Vice-Chair of MillionPlus and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN), will urge the government to recognise and utilise modern universities as key contributors to the place agenda and vital to achieving their goal of levelling up the country.

The event, titled Degrees of Success: universities, levelling up and the new normal, hosted by ConservativeHome takes place today and will also stream live (further details in the Notes to Editors). In addition to Professor Baldwin, the panel also includes Michelle Donelan, Minister for Higher and Further Education, Sir David Melville and Professor Andy Westwood. The event will be chaired by ConservativeHome’s Charlotte Gill.

Modern universities, with the sense of place part of their core mission and close ties with local industry and leaders in vocational education, can play a pivotal role in the government’s levelling up agenda, Professor Baldwin will say:

“Our modern universities offer a variety of courses, often tied to the needs of their local areas. However, it is in our vocational and technical offerings that truly set us apart, and in our ability to innovate and work with business and industry to meet key local needs. Many of our students come to us from the local area too, and we pride ourselves on that fact, and on being a visible and active part of the community. In some parts of the country the local university has become the largest organisation within the town or city, integrated into the very fabric of community life.”

Citing his own university, Professor Baldwin will describe the role universities can play in boosting opportunity and growth in their communities:

“…the University of Central Lancashire… has founded and established two campuses in addition to its main campus in Preston, in areas previously in danger of being ‘left behind’ – namely Burnley and Westlakes, in West Cumbria. Here, academic provision is fine-tuned to meet economic and skills demands for those respective areas, working with our fellow civic pillars of local authorities, NHS health trusts, and providers of further education to create an offer of relevance and practical importance for the towns and wider regions they serve.

Professor Baldwin will cite several examples of MillionPlus universities working with local businesses to the benefit of students and industry, including a relationship between the University of Cumbria and Sellafield power station to provide specialist education, training and the qualifications necessary to deliver the projects for the vital nuclear industry in the region.

On restricting numbers entering higher education, Professor Baldwin will say:

“A country that limits access and aspiration is a country that is going backwards, When we focus on levelling up and doing as much as we can for as many as we can, we need to ensure we keep universities within that focus. We should remember that many of the things that the government say they want to see happening around the country are already taking place, if you know where to look for them.”

He will urge the government to protect the unit of resource for higher education to ensure that work such as this can continue and grow:

“If we want to keep committing to building our links with business in every region of the UK, if we want to develop the research capabilities that will have material impact and, most importantly, if we want to offer cutting edge courses and the best student experience anywhere in the world, then we do need the support that goes with that. This means both research funding, which remains too hyper-concentrated in this country, but also crucially it means maintaining the unit of resource that all students can expect to be invested in their university to give them every chance to thrive.”

Looking to the future beyond the Covid-19 pandemic, Professor Baldwin will describe how, with the right support, universities can continue to change lives for the better and further cement their place as the vital community hubs.

“I remain convinced that our universities, every single one of them, have an enormous role to play, with even more potential to unlock. Alongside a strong and healthy school and further education sector, we can give opportunities to individuals that can truly transform their lives. Through focusing on place, and on making sure all parts of the country are supported, these transformations and innovations will bring investment and new skills to the areas that need it most, and with the government supporting our institutions we can increase the amount we can offer and further cement our universities as the social, cultural and academic hubs of our towns, cities and regions.”

*****CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY*****

Degrees of Success – Universities, Levelling Up and the New Normal
Conservative Party Conference
Tuesday 5 October 2021

Thank you very much for coming to this event today to discuss a topic both close to my heart and also of serious importance to the country. I am Professor Graham Baldwin, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Central Lancashire and Vice-Chair of MillionPlus, the Association for Modern Universities.

MillionPlus has held events such as this at Conservative Party Conference for many years now, including our virtual experience last year, but I’m glad we are able to meet in person today and to continue the open and productive relationship we have with the Conservative Party as the issues around the future of higher education are being debated.

Before I address the topic at hand, I’d firstly like to thank the Minister for joining us today. MillionPlus has been fortunate to meet with her a number of times over the last 12 months, and I would like to say thank you for the honesty and support she has shown the sector during this extraordinary time. I’m also delighted to share a panel with both Sir David Melville and Professor Andy Westwood who bring a wealth of experience and insight in this area, and I very much look forward to hearing what they have to say and to our questions and discussion that follow, so thank you all.

Universities today are both global and local institutions, rooted in their communities but also open to the free exchange of ideas from every part of the world. We have a sector in the UK that is so incredibly diverse, and I see that as an enormous strength that we need to appreciate and cherish. We have world leading institutions across every field of expertise, and there is almost no country on earth that isn’t envious of both what we offer to our students but also what we offer to our regions and the country. From institutions with almost a thousand years of history to ones that have been set up in recent decades specifically to meet the needs of people in the here and now, we need to understand the breadth of what universities offer today for us to be able to think about how best to utilise them in the years ahead.

This diversity can mean that we, and government, have to think carefully about wider policy in our sector, as no two institutions are truly alike. This is perhaps especially the case for our modern universities. The way many people think of universities is quite often rooted in their own experiences of them and, I have to say, that can sometimes belie the fact that they haven’t visited a campus in quite a few years. Our modern universities offer a variety of courses, often tied to the needs of their local areas. However, it is in our vocational and technical offerings that truly set us apart, and in our ability to innovate and work with business and industry to meet key local needs. Many of our students come to us from the local area too, and we pride ourselves on that fact, and on being a visible and active part of the community. In some parts of the country the local university has become the largest institution within the town or city, integrated into the very fabric of community life. This is a link that, when we think about universities in general, we can sometimes overlook. The popular idea of 18-year-olds travelling across the country each September is valid of course, but it is by no means the overwhelming, or even the majority of students’ experience of higher education today.

This is an absolutely critical thing to keep in mind when we talk about levelling up and meeting regional needs, particularly in areas of the country that are being classified as ‘left behind’. When other sectors have scaled down or moved out, it has been the higher education sector in many parts of the country that has brought new life into these communities and expanded the horizons and opportunities for the people who live there. I will use an example from my own institution, the University of Central Lancashire, which has founded and established two campuses in addition to its main campus in Preston, in areas previously in danger of being ‘left behind’ – namely Burnley and Westlakes, in West Cumbria. Here, academic provision is fine-tuned to meet economic and skills demands for those respective areas, working with our fellow civic pillars of local authorities, NHS health trusts, and providers of further education to create an offer of relevance and practical importance for the towns and wider regions they serve. Students recruited in these areas could be just out of school or college, or mature learners looking to up-skill or re-skill, and the presence of these institutions in these exact locations has made a huge difference and prevented these communities from either losing these talented local people and their skills, or having them give up on education altogether through a lack of access. A country that limits access and aspiration is a country that is going backwards, When we focus on levelling up and doing as much as we can for as many as we can, we need to ensure we keep universities within that focus. We should remember that many of the things that the government say they want to see happening around the country are already taking place, they just need to look in the right place.

The students of course benefit from this, but so does industry. Modern universities focus on both research aims to tackle real-world problems to meet business need, as well as working in partnership with local industry for the benefit of students and business alike. To give you some examples from other MillionPlus members; at the University of Cumbia they have developed a collaborative commercial relationship with Sellafield to provide specialist education, training and the qualifications necessary to deliver the projects for the vital nuclear industry there. At the University of Sunderland there is a knowledge exchange programme built on their research to support product development and technological advancement for SMEs in the North East, amounting to over 6,000 hours of support given to manufacturers all over that region. We have similar projects again at the University of Central Lancashire, and we offer a free investor-led Investment Readiness Programme to help businesses better understand what is needed to secure equity investment, and so far we have managed to help 200 businesses, securing £4m of investment in the process. There are many more examples of this work up and down the UK, and although it may not be glamourous or headline grabbing, it is levelling up in action.

To do more of this vital work, all parts of the sector need recognition and support, which, we know, is understandably challenging at this turbulent time. I have tried my best not to mention Covid thus far, and there will no doubt be enough fringes on that already. However, we must of course appreciate that ideas around the ‘new normal’ present challenges for us all, from the framework that we and the government operate in, to our working patterns and future student expectations. That said, if we want to keep committing to building our links with business in every region of the UK, if we want to develop the research capabilities that will have material impacts and, most importantly, if we want to offer high quality, cutting edge courses and the best student experience anywhere in the world, then we do need the support that goes with that. This means both research funding, which remains too hyper-concentrated in this country, but also crucially, it means maintaining the unit of resource that all students can expect to be invested in their university experience to give them every chance to thrive. If this is reduced the damage will be significant and will be keenly felt across the country.

I have mentioned student experience there, and we can’t touch on ideas of the new normal without spending a moment on that key element of it. Away from everything else we do, our students are our focus, our priority, and the lifeblood of our institutions. The past 18 months have been incredibly challenging for everyone, and while I believe our universities managed to offer an incredible level of support and the very best offer that they could, it was of course a different experience for our students during the height of the pandemic. I am hopeful that we can look ahead with optimism on that front, and we want to be able to offer students the very best in-person and online experiences that we can.

While the circumstances were not at all desirable, we have learned new skills and techniques from the pandemic experience, and it’s sensible to assess and build on these where appropriate. For some students this experience has actually helped them better engage, and perhaps given us pause for thought on how we can offer the widest access to all types of student in the future. This access is critical for modern universities in particular, as we pride ourselves on our ability to offer opportunities to all students, many from areas with the lowest participation rates in higher education or from traditionally under-represented communities. The government, through the Office for Students, is right to maintain a focus on rigour and high quality, and we couldn’t agree more with needing to make sure every student has the experience they need and deserve. However, I would urge the government to also ensure that they do this carefully, as it is all too easy to equate quality of outcome to a simple metric like a graduate salary, and forget the many other factors that have such a bearing on what a graduate goes on to earn. Such a move risks limiting access and opportunity for individuals around the country, and this would run directly counter to all of our efforts to level up.

As we look to the future then, and guess how much of the new normal will or won’t look like the old normal, I remain convinced that our universities, every single one of them, have an enormous role to play, with even more potential to unlock. Alongside a strong and healthy school and further education sector, we can give opportunities to individuals that can truly transform their lives. Through focusing on place, and on making sure all parts of the country are supported, these transformations and innovations will bring investment and new skills to the areas that need it most, and with the government supporting our institutions we can increase the amount we can offer and further cement  our universities as the social, cultural and academic hubs of our towns, cities and regions.

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. For further information or to arrange an interview, please contact Dan Blows on 020 3927 2916 or email press@millionplus.ac.uk
2. The case studies cited in Professor Baldwin’s speech and others are taken from Innovate and generate: modern universities supporting local businesses which can be found here
3. Stream the fringe event here. A recording will be available through the same link after the event concludes
4. MillionPlus is the Association for Modern Universities in the UK, and the voice of 21st century higher education. We champion, promote and raise awareness of the essential role and impact of modern universities in the UK’s world-leading higher education sector. More information can be found at www.millionplus.ac.uk
5. What are modern universities? Modern universities are long established centres of higher education in their communities with roots that stretch back decades, if not centuries. Many gained university title following legislation agreed by parliament in 1992. They make up almost half of the UK university sector with over a million students studying at modern universities every year.
6. Modern universities: facts and stats 2021