UK universities are undergoing a ¡°sea-change¡± in strategies to prioritise engagement and impact in their regions above ¡°competitive standing against peer institutions¡±, driving a shift towards growing recruitment and earnings through direct links with ¡°big local employers¡±, according to an annual survey of vice-chancellors.

PA Consulting¡¯s 11th?, shared exclusively with Times Higher Education, is based on more than 40 responses, via questionnaires, written commentary and in-depth telephone interviews.

¡°Universities are increasingly differentiating themselves and building their identities in terms of their social and economic engagement and impacts in their local region¡±, in ¡°a significant shift from previous findings¡±, write the survey report¡¯s authors, PA Consulting higher education specialists Mike Boxall and Ian Matthias.

Seventy per cent of vice-chancellors who responded put ¡°recruiting from under-represented and/or local student groups¡± as their first or second priority, with 45 per cent doing the same for ¡°supporting local or sectoral economic and workforce needs¡±. Figuring much lower as first or second priorities were ¡°expanding or consolidating international partnerships¡± (chosen by 23 per cent), ¡°recruiting only the academically most able students¡± (15 per cent) and ¡°leading in advanced and international research developments¡± (5 per cent).

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Meanwhile, vice-chancellors saw the chief ¡°major risks¡± as a reduction in tuition fee levels (chosen by 63 per cent), a decline in international student demand (35 per cent) and caps/constraints on student admissions (31 per cent).

Universities may have been nudged towards greater local and regional focus by the Conservative Westminster government¡¯s emphasis on ¡°levelling up¡± in the UK regions in the wake of the Brexit vote, combined with the influence of the UPP Foundation¡¯s 2019 Civic University Commission report, which has led many universities to strike civic university agreements with key local partners.

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Mr Boxall said the ¡°striking¡± proportion of vice-chancellors emphasising ¡°what we could term the ¡®levelling-up¡¯ agenda and social impact¡± included ¡°a fair number of Russell Group universities genuinely committing to what you might call more purposeful, impact-based strategies¡±.

Linked to that, he said the survey showed an increasing number of universities moving ¡°at least part of [their] focus from competing on the open Ucas recruitment markets to direct employment and recruitment links with big local employers, especially the NHS but also the police and big local industries ¨C meeting very specific local recruitment needs¡±.

One vice-chancellor described that as giving their university ¡°baked-in numbers¡± and certainty. That is a move to ¡°protect their business¡± when ¡°constraints on numbers and courses are a real worry for them¡±, Mr Boxall said.

Another vice-chancellor quoted in the report saw a synergy here between civic mission and financial viability: ¡°Do the right things [for the community] and the money will flow.¡±

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In terms of potential changes to the shape of the sector, 73 per cent of vice-chancellors said their institutions had no plans for mergers with other higher education providers ¨C but 27 per cent said they were actively considering such moves.

Mr Matthias said: ¡°In previous years there have always been forecasts of university closures, etc. The reality is we¡¯ve not seen that. What we will find is greater alignment, a few mergers, but much greater differentiation in the sector.¡±

Whether in ¡°mergers across HE but also integration with FE¡­we should expect to see some movement over the next couple of years¡± in terms of ¡°sector shape¡±, he continued. ¡°I feel the experience of universities going through Covid was that it untapped some potential to be agile, innovative and change quite quickly that they didn¡¯t think was possible before.¡±

john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com