Latest Posts ⇢

Ambitions for the North: People and Place

The output from this work will be a non-statutory spatial framework for the North. RTPI would like it to be brief yet ambitious, well founded but transformative, strategic and influential. The goal is that it will play an important role in shaping progressive spatial planning which will support the building of prosperous, healthy and sustainable communities, and a more competitive Northern Powerhouse. RTPI recognises that this framework will need to work across a wide range of existing geographies and organisations with responsibilities for the spatial agenda in the North of England, and their work therefore needs to deliver something additional which is relevant from a pan-northern perspective.

Read the RTPI Call for Evidence in full and YU response to it.

Read more

Driving social mobility? Competitive collaboration in degree apprenticeship development

Guest blog by Claire Newhouse, Head of Apprenticeships and Skills, Leeds Trinity University

Degree apprenticeships present an opportunity for universities to contribute directly towards improving productivity by increasing the number of people in local and regional economies with higher-level skills.  They offer a new income stream for universities, but they also provide a means for diversifying HE entrants.  The dual role for apprenticeships, as a mechanism for boosting productivity and enhancing social mobility, is not without tension, although it can, at times, be taken for granted by government. 

Read more

The link between KEF, anchor institutions and the Industrial Strategy

Monika Antal, Executive Manager

Alongside the Research Excellence Framework (REF) that assesses research, and a Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) that measures teaching we are now gearing up for the Knowledge Excellence Framework (KEF), which as you would expect will examine knowledge excellence. Yesterday’s announcement regarding the KEF pilots, of which the University of Sheffield will be one of the first participants, presents a timely opportunity to examine the broader context surrounding the KEF, and its linkages with other initiatives.

Read more