Universities South West was invited to provide a written submission and give oral evidence at a hearing of the South West Regional Committee, held at the House of Commons on Tuesday 2nd February.
MPs on the South West Select Committee were conducting a short follow-up inquiry to their work on the impact of the economic downturn on the South West and the Government’s response which was published in July last year.
Below is the written evidence that was submitted on behalf of our members and will appear in the Committee's final report:
Universities South West
Universities South West is the regional higher education association for South West England. We represent a strong partnership of 13 universities and higher education institutions working together to influence and shape opportunity in a creative and dynamic region.
Summary
Universities in the South West are at the heart of regional partnerships spanning a huge breadth of activity – from supporting entrepreneurs and businesses in their innovation, research and development, and training needs; to providing information, advice, guidance and training to a range of individuals, from students and graduates, through to professional and executive jobseekers.
Universities South West and its members, have a strong record of successful partnership working with regional agencies, sub-regional bodies, the business sector and the working population in the South West. The higher education sector recognises and welcomes its responsibility to the economic and social health of the region and is working hard to ensure that the South West is equipped to compete in a national and global economy.
The role of universities in supporting the economy in the South West at a time of difficulty has been at the heart of regional actions for recovery – with Universities South West supporting the work of the Regional Economic Task Group.
Universities South West has also been working with partners to ensure effective European programmes (ERDF/ESF/FP8) of activity to support recovery.
Background
- Since the initial South West Regional Committee report on the ‘Impact of the economic downturn on the South West’, a number of member universities have reported an increase in demand for services from businesses and for careers support from students and graduates.
- During this period a few areas have been reported as showing a fall in demand, with members reporting:
· greater difficulty in finding placements for students;
· the lead time for developing / establishing a KTP is growing as businesses are more cautious with strategic investments in innovation;
· redundancies or reduced working hours, have had a knock-on effect in recruitment and training policies; and
· some businesses are tending to concentrate on core activity rather than investing in research and development.
- Following the original ECIF intervention at the height of the economic downturn (and by careful strategic re-purposing of existing HEI programmes and activities focused on employer engagement/graduate employment) the South West has experienced a gradual evolution from business support on a ‘crisis response basis’ to a more positive ‘future planning ethos’, which has been practically grounded on the ‘needs must’ mentality dominating the economic horizon.
- Increasingly, we are witnessing a closer alignment of ECIF and ECIF related activity with the emerging medium and long term regional economic strategies such as i-Nets, Creative Industries and the further broadening of Jobcentre Plus / University Careers activity. Many of these have gestated during the recession and are now becoming embedded in partnership interactions which, as they mature begin to sow the seedbed for regional activity based on the key features of the Government’s ‘Higher Ambitions’ paper published in November 2009.
- Member institutions are signalling a very strong increase in student applications this year which, combined with Government controls on the number of places, will generate pressure on youth unemployment.
1. Digital economy
1.1 The ERDF/SWRDA funded Knowledge Escalator programme in the South West has developed a proposal for the University College Falmouth to lead a ‘Flagship Initiative’ for ‘Digital Britain’. Although in the exploratory stage, the aim of this initiative is to identify the specific areas where universities in the region could:
· deploy new infrastructure cost effectively;
· enable a sustainable marketplace for IP;
· protect privacy and security of consumers;
· increase the effectiveness of public services; and
· create economic and social benefit from increasing volumes.
1.2 The University of Bath has expanded its Innovation Centre facilities in the City of Bath from 1 January 2010 to support business creation. The initiative has been particularly successful in nurturing business start-ups associated with the digital economy; examples include Mirifice broadcast technologies and The Key Revolution. Over the last five years ventures from the Innovation Centre have created 160 new jobs and brought £10m into the City’s economy.
2. Low carbon technologies
2.1 Universities South West, in partnership with the South West RDA, RegenSW, SW Manufacturing Advisory Service, E&U Skills AOC-SW and others, launched a £2.4m Low Carbon High Skills project in January this year. The initiative aims to deliver on the need to move towards a low carbon economy in the South West and to address the resulting demand for higher level skills for employees in the region in those sectors directly engaged in the low carbon economy.
Following the recent designation of the South West as a Low Carbon Economic Area (LCEA) in Marine Energy, the project will specifically target the area of Marine Energy; and a focused number of other low carbon sectors including:
· Marine Energy;
· Non-marine Renewables, e.g. micro-generation;
· Low Carbon Manufacturing;
· Civil Nuclear (New-build and Decommissioning); and
· Renewable Construction.
The project activities will encompass three phases:
· product development - identifying the skills demand signals from business;
· delivery of skills training - creating new skills provision to meet business demand; and
· 250 graduate Internships.
2.2 Bournemouth University is working closely with local government through the Multi Area Agreement (MAA) to develop a sub regional centre focusing on the Green Knowledge Economy (GKE). The BU GKE Centre is funded by HEIF 4 and complements BU's brokerage of the High Skills Low Carbon Project mentioned above.
2.3 The National Composites Centre which will be based at the University of Bristol (see Advanced Engineering 4.3 entry below) also supports the development of a Low Carbon economy.
2.4 The University of Bath is supporting businesses in the South West associated with low carbon technologies through its Low Carbon South West network. Low Carbon South West is an academic-to-business network which is seeking to support the development of an active community in this sector and establish effective links between companies and universities. Low Carbon South West makes it easier for companies, entrepreneurs, investors and researchers to meet and exchange ideas on low carbon innovation and business opportunities. The network currently has around 1,300 members.
3. Life sciences
3.1 The region has a considerable and often under-recognised expertise in this area. Plans are now well underway to roll out a new support organisation that will encompass not only biotechnology and life sciences but also medical technologies. This is part of a new programme of biomedical innovation networking called Biomedical iNET (Innovation Network). It is our hope that this will be up and running in spring 2010 and will incorporate a SW Biotech MediLink type support body (GWE Business West Ltd), the University of Bristol and the University of Exeter, NHS Innovations SW and is led by the University of the West of England (UWE).
3.2 A new government-funded partnership comprising universities, NHS organisations and industry has been launched this year to promote new developments in health, including maternity and newborn care.
Funded by the Department of Health, the University of Bristol, Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of the West of England, University of Exeter and University of Plymouth, together with regional health organisations, will form the ‘Health Innovation and Education Cluster South West’ (HIEC SW) partnership. Together, they will shape an integral part of the academic health alliance that is key to the region’s future by ensuring effective and timely implementation of new developments in healthcare.
HIEC SW’s vision is to promote uptake and diffusion of innovation into healthcare, to measure the improvement in quality of outcome achieved, and to ensure the development of a workforce that is actively engaged in innovation.
HIEC SW will focus initially on three key areas of work that are also priorities for the Strategic Health Authority, these are:
· Maternity and newborn care
· Planned care
· Prevention – avoiding needless emergency admissions to hospital
4. Advanced manufacturing
4.1 Universities in the region are working ever more closely with Business Link and the SW Manufacturing Advisory Service to provide assistance to manufacturing companies during the recession and have run a number of events to explore innovative solutions to help organisations from one of the hardest hit industrial sectors. Both the University of Exeter and the University of Plymouth have hosted events, the latest being ‘Innovation in Manufacturing’ held in September 2009, in partnership with the Plymouth Manufacturers Group, Enterprise Europe Network and Business Link. This event attracted over 120 delegates, representing 65 local manufacturing organisations and provided an opportunity for businesses to view university facilities, access advice and guidance from internal and external manufacturing experts, network and attend an innovation exhibition.
4.2 The Low Carbon High Skills project (detailed in 2.1 above) focuses on low carbon manufacturing and the identification of skills needed in the region.
4.3 Recently the Government confirmed that the UK's first National Composites Centre will be based in the South West, at the University of Bristol. It will be an independent open-access national Centre to help deliver world-class innovation in the design and rapid manufacture of composites and enable widespread industrial exploitation. The Centre will form an internationally leading hub linking activities across all sectors of the UK in research, education and training, technology transfer and incubation of new enterprises. It will act as a national resource and will develop strong links with other manufacturing centres and composite facilities across the UK.
The state-of-the-art Centre will be supported with £16m of public sector investment, comprising £12m from the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (the Strategic Investment Fund announced in the last budget) and £4m from the South West RDA (Regional Development Agency). Public sector investment will be supplemented with contributions from some of the world's leading engineering companies.
5. Creative industries
5.1 The Media School at Bournemouth University, through the Universities South West Creative Industries (CI) Group, is part of a regional creative industries i-Net submission to support innovation and take advantage of the opportunities offered by the new digital landscape. The CI i-Net business plan is geared to enable creative businesses in the region to realise new opportunity and future growth.
The Creative Industries i-Net will be delivered through a consortium led by South West Screen, and will position the sector in the South West to take a national and internationally significant lead in the new digital economy. Consortium members include theArts Council England SW / iShed / South West Creative Business Networks / HEIs / Media Academy network / SW Creative Clusters).
The iNet will:
· ensure that the region’s creative industries have a competitive advantage in the new global digital marketplace;
· drive innovation in digital technologies to create new models, products, applications and services; and
· generate new jobs and skills which future proof the sector for an ever evolving creative economy.
5.2 NCGE, BIS, South West RDA and the SW Design Forum, Universities South West and its members have established a Creative Industries University Enterprise Network (CI-UEN) with pump priming support from NCGE/BIS and the Knowledge Escalator Project (SWRDA/ERDF). The CI-UEN’s first pilot initiative, led by the Arts University College Bournemouth, the University of Plymouth and Bath Spa University, aims to partner mentors from SME design businesses with students studying design. This will be one of five UENs nationally and the only one of its kind in the UK focused on the creative industries, establishing closer links between HEIs and the strong CI business sector in the region. NCGE will provide £20k to match the £20k Knowledge Escalator funding.
6. General
6.1 The Knowledge Escalator Project is a region-wide knowledge transfer / knowledge exchange initiative involving universities in the South West. It is part financed by the European Union’s ERDF Programme 2007-13 securing £2,224,000 of ERDF investment through the South West RDA (£1,833,000 under the Competitiveness and Employment programme and £501,000 under the Convergence Programme).
6.2 Bath Spa University has found the Knowledge Escalator’s funding for implementing an Industry Mentors Programme to be a significant mechanism for mitigating the fall in demand for certain business collaborations identified in the ‘Background’ section above. Within just ten months, not only have over 50 students engaged in six-month mentoring partnerships to improve their employability, but the scheme has also paved the way for graduate placements, collaborative projects with businesses and access to jobs for students. Perceived by business as a low-risk means of getting to know the University, the industry mentors programme is generating longer-term benefits for both sides.
6.3 The University of Gloucestershire has extended links with the county’s HEI’s and Business Link SW in promotion of Graduate Challenge, and in connection with the Regional Knowledge Escalator project. The University also delivers the BUG Business Planning Programme on which Business Link provides support, helping university staff, students and alumni with an interest in future self-employment or business creation.
6.4 This year the region has been awarded 820 subsidised internships, offered by the universities to businesses to take on unemployed recent graduates.
6.5 The University of the West of England (UWE) is offering a series of five free half day workshops as part of its solutions4recession scheme. The sessions have been designed to increase attendees' capabilities in specific areas and will be led by expert practitioners from Bristol Business School and UWE Careers: the topics are, New Thinking in Management, Uncovering your Strengths, Finance: a mystery or a foreign language, Marketing: dispelling myths and assumptions, Management as Intervention. They are continuing to develop their offer of support with: increased level of subsidy for courses; new workshops on “starting up your own business”; the launch of a range of services in Swindon; and an opportunity for businesses to utilise graduate internships.
6.6 At the end of October 2009 the South West RDA-funded Graduates for Business project came to a conclusion – and this has led to localised gaps in provision as staff have been lost from the region’s universities as a result of funding coming to an end. The project successfully delivered over 700 student and graduate placements in regional businesses. The project also supported the regional recruitment service www.gradsouthwest.com which is now financially sustained by HEIs and South West RDA. The service currently has over 41,000 registered student and graduate jobseekers, and c1,700 vacancies.
6.7 The University College Plymouth St Mark & St John (Marjon) is working with representatives of Jobcentre Plus to discuss the possibility of delivering professional and executive focused job search training. Marjon also hosted a Network South-West event on 4 September 2009 attended by c. 90 businesses with 10 business support exhibitors, who were working to the support businesses through the economic downturn.
6.8 Bath Spa University has strengthened its relationships with two major city-wide business support and networking organisations: Creative Bath and Federation of Small Businesses (Bath Branch). The recent collaboration with the FSB has included two successful speed-networking events designed exclusively to promote placements and internships as a mutually-beneficial way to support businesses whilst providing work based learning opportunities for university students. Further activities through this partnership, from sponsoring the FSB's 'Best Employer in Bath' award through to a shared presence at training events, seminars, careers and enterprise events, were further strengthened in late 2009 through the co-opting of both a Bath Spa University student and graduate to the FSB's Bath Branch Executive Committee.
6.9 The Rural Enterprise Gateway, run by the Royal Agricultural College and the University of Plymouth, aims to improve the economic performance and competitiveness of land based industries and rural businesses by giving people the skills and information needed to develop their businesses and find solutions to business problems in a rapidly changing economic, political and physical climate.
Through this scheme, the University of Plymouth and the Royal Agricultural College provide a high quality knowledge transfer service to rural businesses in the South West. In a rapidly changing business environment this helps rural businesses adapt to change, improve profitability and enhance sustainability.
7 Conclusion:
7.1 Universities are the leading protagonists in a great deal of constructive partnership working in the region and are playing an important part in the regional response to the economic downturn and initiatives for recovery.
7.2 Universities South West, its members and its partners are committed to providing businesses, students and employees within the region with a range of programmes, initiatives and opportunities that are easy to access and will have a positive impact on raising the aspirations and capabilities of a knowledge economy. Continued investment in such initiatives is, in our opinion, essential to achieving this goal.