This op-ed was originally published online by Yorkshire Post on 31 July 2024: https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/opinion/columnists/yorkshires-universities-have-the-potential-to-be-key-engines-of-economic-growth-dave-petley-4719066?r=7388
Professor Dave Petley, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull
The search for increased, sustainable, and inclusive growth and improved productivity represents a profound issue facing the UK. With additional powers and funding expected to be devolved to the region, collaboration between Mayors and public, private and community actors, including universities, will be vital.
The root causes of productivity underperformance are systemic and enduring. The contributing factors we can point to include, gaps in skills and training; poor management and leadership in business; under-investment in infrastructure; an unbalanced and uneven national economy; and the legacies of successive economic shocks.
Yorkshire Universities is a regional partnership with a clear mission to harness the diverse, but complementary, assets and capabilities of 12 universities for the benefit of local and regional economic growth and development. This provides a ready-made infrastructure and networks to improve skills; to drive innovation; and to extend enterprise and business growth. Our world-class research is also identifying practical solutions to tackle the complex challenges we face around sustainability, health and inequality.
A recent article published by The Yorkshire Post, written by Sarah Tulip, from The Productivity Institute, revealed that Yorkshire was anchored in the bottom three of regions for Gross Value Added per hour worked, low productivity reflected in the underperformance of our major cities, with a lack of investment as a key barrier. Yorkshire has the third-lowest percentage of the working-age population holding high-level qualifications, exacerbated by low investment in technology. The article called for an innovation-friendly approach, with businesses encouraged to adopt and embrace AI, and to invest in training to help their workers adopt such tools.
On the positive side, as Tulip notes, Yorkshire continues to reinvent itself.
The King’s Speech saw the publication of a flagship English Devolution Bill, which will deepen devolution. There is an opportunity to use devolution as a framework in which to drive growth. It can be the catalyst for more effective policy coordination because devolution creates new spaces for experimentation, and it gives rise to policies and interventions that are more effective when they are locally owned, and reflective of the places they are designed to support.
Universities in Yorkshire have major contributions to make within different areas of the Government’s programme. Health, as a case in hand, requires a system-wide approach, with inequalities addressed at source, and the root causes of ill-health addressed.
Ahead of this year’s Local and Mayoral elections, Yorkshire Universities published five asks of candidates standing to be elected as Mayors. We invited political leaders to support our intention to champion Yorkshire as the best place to invest, to live, to work, and to learn – and we called on them to bring our universities directly into the heart of their economic plans and strategies.
In my new role as chair of Yorkshire Universities, I will do my utmost to strengthen partnerships within and across Yorkshire, and to demonstrate that the region’s universities are key engines of growth and opportunity.
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull, Professor Dave Petley, is the incoming chair of Yorkshire Universities.
