Memorandum submitted by The Russell Group
1. The Russell Group is pleased to provide
this evidence to the Select Committee's Inquiry into the Future
Sustainability of the Higher Education Sector. The Russell Group
consists of the Universities of Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge,
Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Imperial, King's College London,
LSE, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford,
Queen's University Belfast, Sheffield, Southampton, University
College London and Warwick. This evidence concentrates upon the
important contributions Russell Group Universities make to UK
international competitiveness through our teaching and research
and our provision for high level skills; the importance we place
on fair access; and our valuable work with industry and commence.
2. As the UK's leading research-intensive
Universities, the members of the Russell Group have the quality
and strengths to compete successfully in the global market place
for research, skills, expertise and training. To continue to do
so, they need to be able to maintain and to develop teaching and
research capabilities and facilities of considerable scale and
complexity. Further national investment is needed to maintain
these at a level capable of competing with increasingly aggressive
international competition. The benefits to the UK are in return
very considerable.
3. ECONOMIC INNOVATION
AND COMPETITIVENESS.
Government has recognised in its Science and
Innovation Investment Framework for 2004-14 that for the UK economy
to prosper, the country must be able to withstand increasing global
competition and must do so on the basis of high technology and
intellectual strength, attracting the highest-skilled people and
the companies which have the potential to innovate and to turn
innovation into commercial opportunity. This in turn requires
leading-edge research and training.
The acquisition of skills is essential throughout
all levels of the workforce in a 21st century economy. However,
in order to sustain an internationally-competitive economy, it
is high-level and leading-edge skills which come to the fore,
perhaps more especially in science, engineering and technology.
Russell Group Universities train this country's brightest undergraduates
and postgraduates from both home and abroad. Economic innovation
also needs cutting-edge R & D, and Russell Group Universities
provide over 60% by value of university R & D funded by both
the public and private sectors. They are at the forefront of business
spin off and IPR licensing. They also house most of the country's
best Schools of Business and Management, responsible for the training
of the entrepreneurial talent of the future.
4. THE HEALTH
OF THE
NATION
Russell Group Universities lie at the heart
of medical education and training. Three-quarters of the nation's
doctors and dentists are trained in Russell Group institutions.
Basic medical research conducted in Russell Group Universities
is at the forefront of advances in medicine, and through close
collaboration with the NHS and the pharmaceutical industry they
can provide the means to apply these to the clinical setting through
rigorous clinical trials undertaken to the highest international
standards.
5. BENEFITING
SOCIETY
Russell Group Universities are major international
institutions which nevertheless have a strong national and regional
role and influence. They are to be found in all the major cities
of the United Kingdom. Through their work on widening participation
and continuing education they play a major role in raising aspirations
and awareness and in transmitting the values of a common culture
across all segments of society. Through their libraries, museums
and galleries they provide vital elements in the cultural life
of our nation and its regions. Similarly, through their research
and teaching in the humanities and the social sciences, Russell
Group Universities help to raise the quality of life and to solve
major economic social and cultural problems. They play an essential
role in training professionals to serve society—such as
architects, health professionals, civil servants, lawyers, town
planners, teachers and social workers—and are very often
one of the larger employers of staff in their cities and regions,
employment which is diverse but still heavily concentrated on
professional and high value roles.
6. FAIR ACCESS
Russell Group Universities are committed to
attracting the best students with the best potential, whatever
their background or circumstances. To this end, Russell Group
Universities are engaged in a wide-range of out-reach activities,
which seek to raise aspiration and to encourage application for
admission from across the social spectrum. Some of this work directly
benefits Russell Group institutions; some of it serves to encourage
individuals to apply to universities of their choice outwith the
Russell Group.
As part of this commitment to access, Russell
Group Universities have introduced very generous bursary schemes,
considerably enhancing their existing provisions, to help to ensure
fair access within the new fees regime. The Russell Group regards
the maintenance of fair access as a pre-requisite of any further
adjustments to that regime.
7. INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
The strategic importance of meaningful ties
across international boundaries is increasing. As major non-governmental
institutions, Russell Group Universities are at the forefront
of important international HE alliances, have a rich diversity
of contacts with overseas governments and institutions, and train
the most able of the international students coming to the United
Kingdom. The long-term benefits of such relations are highly valued
both diplomatically and economically. Russell Group Universities
are also of sufficient scale to be able to support those minority
subjects which are of such strategic importance to the nation.
For example, approximately 90% of provision in language related
subjects identified under the HEFCE Minority Subjects initiative
is to be found in Russell Group institutions.
December 2006
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