Universities continue to be a vital part of the solution in tackling inequality

IN A YEAR OF POLITICAL TURMOIL AND ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY, OUR HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR HAS CONTINUED TO PLAY ITS PART IN FINDING THE POTENTIAL IN EVERY COMMUNITY, NURTURING IT TO PRODUCE GRADUATES WHO HAVE THE SKILLS THAT EMPLOYERS NEED AND FORGING LOCAL PARTNERSHIPS TO ENCOURAGE INVESTMENT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP ACROSS THEIR REGIONS.

Universities have continued to address the fallout from the pandemic and its impact on lost learning and mental wellbeing. That is now being inestimably exacerbated by a cost of living crisis, with the latest ONS figures showing that half of students in England are struggling with financial difficulties, a quarter have taken on additional debt and three in ten are skipping lectures and tutorials to save money. It’s no surprise that experts believe that many students will have a poorer overall university experience as a direct result of how much money they have. Into this challenging mix comes a suggestion from the Government that it may crackdown on the number of foreign students coming to this country unless they get a place at an elite university, a move that the Chief Executive of Universities UK, Vivienne Stern, has warned will cause ‘significant damage’ and hinder genuine levelling up. In the meantime, our partners in the Purpose Universities Coalition continue to work hard as anchor institutions in their communities, spreading opportunity and widening access to higher education and providing a better chance of more highly skilled, highly paid employment. Their best practice is invaluable in demonstrating the difference that purpose-led universities can make, from their outreach work downstream with schools and colleges to their collaboration with employers to their outstanding contributions to research and development.

The University of the West of England, for example, has a focus on targeted outreach to those young people who have little knowledge and no experience amongst their friends and family of going to university. Its Future Quest programme is based in the Bristol area and is an effective collaboration between higher education providers, schools, colleges, employers and local authorities who know their local communities well and work to advise and inform young people to consider university as an option. UWE’s #IAmFirstGen campaign shares their personal stories as a way of assuring them that others who look and sound like them, and come from similar backgrounds, have been successful in achieving that before them.

The Careers & Employability Service at the University of Chester made a similar decision to move away from the conventional covering letter and CV application recruitment process towards an anonymised recruitment scheme for Workplace Experiences, its collective of placements, internships and project scholarships. It allows students to convey what they can do and how they can develop rather than who they are and what they have done and this has resulted in a huge increase in under-represented students applying and being successful on the scheme. With a strong focus on ensuring that their graduates are job ready and attractive to employers, the University of West London has created an innovative new programme, Fresh Minds for Business, where students have the opportunity to work in partnership with business on specific problems. The students gain experience and confidence - and there has been a huge impact on their aspiration and achievement, particularly for those from a BAME background. Businesses, often local to UWL, gain new ideas that help improve their growth and competitiveness. The initiative also serves to build strong and lasting bonds between the education institution and local business community.

These institutions are part of the solution when it comes to ensuring that opportunity exists for everyone across the country. They’re particularly important in areas where there has historically been little chance of getting on for a lot of the people who live there. Their role will be even more important over the coming months as cost of living pressures increase and the Purpose Coalition is looking forward to continuing our work with them, shaping the levelling up agenda and supporting communities.

Raising Standards, Extending Opportunity is a bespoke advocacy and policy campaign designed to highlight to MPs, Ministers and Shadow Ministers the impact that universities have in their local areas in terms of school standards and economic growth, and campaigning on key policy objectives.

The ‘Raising Standards, Extending Opportunity’ campaign comes in response to the role universities can play in raising standards in their local area and their work pre sixth-form.

The second part of the campaign will focus on the vital role our universities play in driving local economic growth as anchor institutions, highlighting why they are a key part of communities across the UK. Our university members are doing great work in this area and Justine will be leading the campaign to raise awareness of this. The campaign will start with a kick off event in Parliament, and meetings with the OfS, sessions with MPs and a ‘Best in Class’ report are all planned over the coming months.