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

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Creating Prosperity: the role of higher educationin driving the UK’s creative economy565.18 In addition to higher education’s fundamental role in developing next-generation talent, a numberof other trends are also evident:• There is increasing focus on multidisciplinary education, particularly at postgraduate level, a trendthat is consistent with the rise of multidisciplinary research initiatives (the two are frequentlycombined). This again undermines the false opposition between STEM subjects and the creativedisciplines and is highly consistent with the requirements of the creative industries as they becomeever more digital.• Universities are increasingly embedding opportunities for practical learning in industry settingswithin their courses as a way of enhancing the employability of graduates. This is not only wellreceived by industry, but also delivers practical benefits to participating organisations (for examplethrough live briefs or work placements).• There is evidence to suggest that the educational process in many creative disciplines – problemsolving, project-based, collaborative and experiential learning – helps to develop many of the skillsand attributes required for successful innovators and entrepreneurs.• There is also growing focus on entrepreneurship education, typically delivered through a standalonemodule and often with industry input.• Higher education plays an important role in providing CPD for industry professionals. Academicqualifications have appeal for individual practitioners and employers alike, and higher educationhas a strong brand on which to capitalise. The growing engagement with industry has brought withit a rise in CPD provision.• Universities are actively engaged in incubation and enterprise support activities to encourage andenable more graduate start-ups. On-campus incubators often combine enterprise support andadvice with physical space that can encourage collaborative working and interaction betweennew start businesses, academic expertise and more established companies.p Student working in the print room at the London Collegeof Communication, part of the University of the Arts London.Credit: Elaine Perks.5.0 Conclusions and recommendations
Creating Prosperity: the role of higher educationin driving the UK’s creative economy575.19 Again, while of obvious value to the creative economy, there are issues in seeking to deliver thesekinds of impacts:• There is a need to invest to maintain the high quality of creative education, which is currently underserious threat with the proposed removal of public funding as recommended in the Browne Review.Many creative disciplines are costly to teach due to specific requirements for equipment and space,and targeted funding has been provided on the basis of the public good that these subjects deliver.In a post-Browne environment, there is a need to take a broader view of the subjects that ‘deliversignificant social returns’ as well as contributing significantly to the UK’s economic growth andglobal competitiveness.• There is a persistent issue with different expectations and language used by industry and academiaaround skills issues. This perpetuates an image of a remote higher education sector serving itsown needs rather than those of industry, and of an over-demanding industry wanting high-qualitytraining for free. Neither picture is accurate, but there is a need to build a better understandingof these issues on both sides.• Although there has been substantial progress around employability, demand-side issuesremain a barrier. It can be hard to engage creative businesses in placement models and livebriefs, and there are challenges in ensuring a consistent quality of student experience fromthe educational perspective.• Similar issues are evident in relation to CPD – the challenges of engaging with the diverse companybase of the creative industries, many of which lack resources to engage in CPD, are considerable.• More work is needed to fully understand the extent and quality of entrepreneurship educationand support in areas relating to the creative economy, and there is currently a lack of consistentstandards in this area.• Much of higher education’s valuable work in these areas is dependent on external funding.Following the previous announcements on the closure of the RDAs, and the Spending Review,many of these sources of funding will come under increasing pressure, with consequent threatsto both higher education and the creative economy.Conclusions: The wider role of universities5.20 The research has also highlighted a range of other ways in which universities across the UK arecontributing to the growth of the creative economy. These include:• anchoring regional clusters through the attraction and retention of academic, graduate andbusiness talent• engaging significant industry players and facilitating connections with creative SMEs, creatingnew routes to major market opportunities• building international reputation and credibility in ways that both enhance the UK’s reputation butalso deliver direct benefit to regional creative businesses• supporting active networks and bringing together business, academic and public sector partners –the triple helix of innovation5.21 Many of these impacts are the result of the scale, credibility and international standing both ofindividual institutions and of the UK’s higher education system as a whole. Combined with the globalstanding of the UK’s creative economy, this must be a powerful force for growth.5.0 Conclusions and recommendations
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Creating Prosperity: the role of higher education in ... - Universities UK

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