In a new series of blogs, we will be reviewing the current and historical work of City-REDI. In the next blog from this series, we look at the National Civic Impact Accelerator and its recent report on demonstrating the economic impacts of civic universities.
What are the 12 pillars of civic university economic impact?
The report identifies different ways universities can impact the economy. We term this the 12 pillars of civic university economic impact. These pillars are our answer to the question, “What would an ideal economic impact assessment look like?” Following the analysis of a sample of 40 economic impact assessments, we identified how universities and economic consultancies demonstrated their economic impacts. These were grouped into the 12 pillars.
Very few economic impact assessments included all 12 pillars. The most common pillars of impact, such as research & knowledge exchange, teaching & learning, employment, students and expenditure, are all seen as the “core” part of university operations and are easily quantifiable.
The report outlines how these pillars are “filled up” and include metrics on research income, contract research, graduate productivity, direct employment and university spend on goods and services.
The pillars on the cultural, health, environmental, social, partnership and estates impacts of universities are less well-defined. Whilst some impact assessments include monetised metrics on student volunteering, visits to university-owned museums, and attendance at conferences, this is not as common practice. Other impacts, such as the role of universities as a partner and collaborator are also less easy to monetise. Rather than considering a qualitative case study or contribution of how these parts of a university contributes to local economic development, these pillars are often missed out. However, it is these broader pillars that often underpin the wider research and teaching income of a university.
Equally, there is often a lack of a place-based impact, recognition of how a university contributes towards local economic strategies or addressing broader policy issues. An economic impact assessment that does not recognise a universities’ purpose and role in its place is underselling its purpose. Rather than be used as a promotional material, economic impact assessments should also be used to inform the civic impacts and strategies of the university.
How did the 12 pillars come about?
The University of Birmingham’s City-REDI and its previous WMREDI programme is a leading voice in the national civic university movement, focusing on how universities can support inclusive economic growth. Our work will focus on the economic impact of universities on place.
City-REDI are partners in the National Civic Impact Accelerator’s (NCIA) programme, funded by Research England, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), to create collaboration and policy and practice innovation involving universities, local government and business groups, and the community sector to drive place-based transformations.
The programme increases the connectivity, momentum, and effectiveness of the Higher Education sector’s civic activities for local societal, economic, and environmental benefit. This works towards the UK Government’s five priorities for higher education reform around:
- Playing a stronger role in expanding access and improving outcomes for disadvantaged students.
- Making a stronger contribution to economic growth.
- Playing a greater civic role in their communities.
- Raising the bar further on teaching standards.
- Sustained efficiency and reform.
The 12 pillars of economic impact comes from City-REDI’s work on the NCIA to improve universities’ contributions in addressing societal challenges and supporting the priorities of national, regional and local policy priorities.
Recommendations for civic universities’ roles in the economy
The report recommends the following actions for an improved civic and economic role of universities:
- Reframing civic economic impact assessments as dynamic, contextualised and evaluative pieces of work that provide an evidence base for the university civic mission and embedding these impact assessments within the university’s strategic framework and decision-making.
- Utilise the 12 Pillars of University Civic Economic Impact tool to map the civic and economic outputs. This needs to be an ongoing process and sufficient monitoring of the outputs needs to be developed in order to effectively measure impact.
- Use the Theory of Civic Change to develop a robust and university-specific rationale and objectives for university civic economic impact. They need to develop their SMART objectives in partnership with civic and economic partners to demonstrate their civic economic impact.
- Implementing civic economic impact assessments as part of an ongoing effort to improve universities’ civic roles. Universities should develop implementation plans with senior-level ownership and accountability to action the findings arising from economic impact assessments.
The 12 pillars of economic civic impact tool can be used by:
- National policymakers developing and implementing the forthcoming higher education strategy
- Local and regional policymakers to understand the contribution universities can make to local economic development and addressing policy priorities
- University leaders to evidence, measure and improve the civic impact and role of universities.
- Economics consultancies looking to improve their impact assessments and meet the demand of what universities expect from their reports.
This project is currently led by Johannes Read, Dr Sara Hassan, Alice Pugh, Professor Anne Green, Professor Bec Riley and Dr. Maryna Ramcharan.
This blog was written by Hannes Read, Policy and Data Analyst, City-REDI, University of Birmingham.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this analysis post are those of the author and not necessarily those of City-REDI or the University of Birmingham.