Creating Prosperity: the role of higher education in ... - Universities UK

Creating Prosperity: the role of higher educationin driving the UK’s creative economy154.0Higher education’s contributionIntroduction4.1 In the course of our research we found much evidence and near universal agreement that highereducation has been critical to the growth of the creative economy in the UK. In particular:• It is the primary source of new talent for the creative industries and the UK has a global reputationfor the quality of its creative education.• Higher education research continues to inform the development of new ideas, practices andbusiness models within the creative economy, drawing expertise from social sciences, computingand engineering as well as creative arts and design.• University engagement with the creative economy is widespread – 81 per cent of Englishuniversities identified the creative and cultural industries as a target sector in their knowledgeexchange strategies, the highest of all sectors (PACEC, 2010) – and is far from the sole preserveof the specialist institutions in creative and performing arts and design.• The nature of higher education’s engagement with the creative economy has evolved in ways thatare well suited to the needs of the sector through informal, collaborative, network-based modelsof engagement, rather than science-based linear models of technology transfer. However, this hasmeant that these activities are not well captured by existing metrics, which tend to favour sciencerelatedactivities.• Higher education has a crucial role to play in developing the entrepreneurial capacity of thecreative industries and in stimulating enterprise activity, both through mainstream educationand through a wider variety of extra-curricular provision.q‘Higher education can play a crucial role in innovation in the creative industries by pioneering and deliveringcourses, opportunities and research that are truly connected to the changing nature of creativity. Areas such asweb-delivered media, interactive games and mobile technologies are areas where education, research and thewider content industries can do more positive work together.’Stuart Cosgrove, Director of Creative Diversity, Channel 44.2 The case study research found numerous examples of the different ways in which higher educationinstitutions are contributing to the growth of the UK’s creative economy. The evidence suggests sixoverlapping propositions that describe higher education’s contribution:• Higher education is a crucial source of new ideas and practices that drive innovation in thecreative economy.• Higher education is adapting new models of interaction with the creative economy.• Universities are regional hubs for innovation and the growth of creative clusters.• Higher education is the primary source of talent for the creative economy.• Employability and enterprise are areas of growing focus for higher education.• Higher education can be an important provider of CPD for the creative industries.4.0 Higher education’s contribution