25 October 2016 - Brexit and next steps for the university sector

Secretariat 21 October 2016

The impact of universities on the UK economy

 

Universities are engines of growth and anchor institutions in towns, cities and regions across the UK economy. Universities play a central role in the UK economy – creating jobs, driving innovation, supporting business growth and are a major export industry.

British universities:

  •  Generate annual output of £73bn for the UK economy
  •  Contribute 2.8% of UK GDP
  •  Generate 757,268 full-time jobs via their economic output
  •  Generate around £11bn of export earnings for the UK

Universities support regional growth, by encouraging local entrepreneurship and business development, attracting investment and talent, and providing and creating jobs across the UK.

They are in an ideal position to take the lead on significant socio-economic issues at the local level, for example by helping to shape local economic strategies and by linking research and teaching priorities to local economic and social needs. Universi-ties’ close links with their regions means that they are well placed to support the government in its regional growth objectives.

The return on public investment in universities is high:

  •  Universities drive productivity gains through higher skills and innovation.
  •  Universities boost private sector R&D investment and innovation – a 10% increase in university research is estimated to increase private R&D investment by 7%.
  •  Businesses that collaborate with universities or public research institutes invest more in R&D and perform significantly better on a number of indicators, includ-ing process and product innovation, than similar firms that do not.
  •  Almost 2 million new high skilled jobs are expected to be created between 2014-24, with universities central to developing the graduates that a highly-skilled, knowledge-based, internationally-competitive economy needs.

In addition, students from all over the world wish to study at our world-renowned universities (many developing networks which underpin the UK’s diplomatic and commercial links), spending billions of pounds in all regions of the country, and the UK is an attractive destination for talent and a world leader in research productivity and impact.

This paper includes a number of areas that the sector, parliament and govern-ment might wish to focus on that could ensure that universities are best placed to maximise the UK's economic success and global influence outside of the EU.