In this guest blog, Kevin Richardson, from the Local Academy, makes the case why universities should take an active role in developing and implementing local industrial strategies.
Universities can be forgiven for taking a glass half-empty stance when supporting the development of Local Industrial Strategies (LISs). However, embracing a wider and longer-term perspective may prove the better option.
Read moreUniversities and Local Industrial Strategies ‘Part one: glass half-empty?’
Kevin Richardson, Local Academy
Yorkshire Universities (YU) are very much on the front foot, working collaboratively with important local stakeholders, well in advance of the expected consultation on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The new strategic approach of YU is certainly helping members and their partners to prepare for important decisions ahead. Delivered in association with the Local Academy, those attending a recent workshop challenged each other to identify the five biggest challenges ahead;
Read moreYU on the front foot in thinking about future ‘growth’ funding
The UK2070 Commission is an independent inquiry into city and regional inequalities in the UK. Chaired by Lord Kerslake, it has been set up to conduct a review of the policy and spatial issues related to the UK’s long-term city and regional development. Read YU’s response in full here.
Professor Roger Lewis, YU Associate
Remaking British towns after Brexit: key actions for policy makers and planners, published by the Carnegie UK Trust is a timely contribution to discussions surrounding the opportunities and challenges facing the UK post-Brexit.
Read moreThe role of universities in remaking towns post-Brexit
Dr Peter O’Brien, Executive Director
Last week I was on the Gold Coast, in Australia, where I was speaking, as a guest of the Australian Regional Universities Network (RUN), at a conference hosted by Southern Cross University to discuss the role of universities in transforming local and regional economies.
The Higher Education Commission’s seventh inquiry is examining how Degree Apprenticeships (DAs) are being implemented. In 2015, the Government committed itself to overseeing the creation of three million new apprenticeships by 2020, and the development of DAs is seen as an important element of this policy. The reforms surrounding DAs, which combine workplace experiences with HE study, offer the opportunity for an apprentice to gain a full degree by the end of the apprenticeship.
Read moreResponse to the HE Commission Degree Apprenticeship inquiry
Dr. Peter O’Brien, Executive Director
As published in the NHS Confederation Local Growth Bulletin on 8 October 2018.
“The advent of the local industrial strategy is placing a renewed focus on ‘place’, encouraging universities and the NHS to work collaboratively to help stimulate sustainable forms of growth and public service transformation. Dr Peter O’Brien, executive director of Yorkshire Universities, explains why this partnership presents a golden opportunity.
Read more‘Beyond Eds and Meds’: Realising the value of place-based university-health partnerships
UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) is working with the Government to develop a plan for how best to meet the Government’s target for the UK to increase investment in research and development (R&D) to 2.4% of GDP by 2027, and by 3% in the future. UKRI is also examining “what constitutes reasonable balance” of R&D funding. Against this background, the Science and Technology Committee has launched an inquiry on the ‘balance and effectiveness of research and innovation spending’.
Read the consultation response YU submitted to the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee here.
Dr Peter O’Brien, Executive Director
On Tuesday, most children, including my two daughters, went back to school following the summer holidays. The same day, I was at Westminster, where a new term had started for parliamentarians about to embark upon one of the most crucial periods in the UK’s recent history, as the county leaves the European Union at the end of March 2019.
I was in London to attend a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, which had been called to discuss the balance of public investment made by central government in Yorkshire, compared to the rest of the country, and in particular London, and whether Yorkshire receives a ‘fair deal’ from the Treasury.
