Read: LPC 23: The power of place-based organisations – driving social mobility in the regions
With a Labour leadership committed to shifting control from Westminster to local communities, place-based organisations will play a key role in ensuring that economic growth and social impact is shaped by - and improves the lives of - the people who live there.
At a Labour Party Conference event today in Liverpool, City collaboration: How can place-based organisations work together to boost growth, job and opportunities? delegates heard about an innovative collaboration between Newcastle and Northumbria Universities that demonstrates how local partnerships can benefit their local areas. It’s a new way of working which could be replicated by other universities and other regions.
The North East has some of the UK’s lowest rates of school attainment and participation in higher education, alongside high levels of economic inactivity, poverty and health inequalities. As part of their civic mission, Newcastle and Northumbria Universities developed a new model to address these issues and make a positive difference. In 2021 they formalised the Collaborative Newcastle Universities Agreement (CNUA) to help maximise their economic and social contribution to Newcastle and the wider region. As universities, and major employers, they already help to drive innovation through their world-class research, their students and the contribution they make to their local communities and the regional economy, including through extensive outreach work with schools and colleges. This new partnership brought together expertise from both institutions – and also allowed them to work with other key institutions in the public, private and voluntary sectors - to collaborate on projects that benefit the region, supporting economic and social recovery and building a sustainable and more inclusive future.
Today’s discussion focused on a recently launched report by Newcastle and Northumbria Universities and the Purpose Coalition, The Collaborative Newcastle Universities Agreement: Place-Based Action to Boost Social Mobility and Drive Inclusive Economic Growth across Newcastle and the North East of England. The speakers include Chair of the Purpose Coalition and former Education Secretary, Rt Hon Justine Greening, Professor Chris Day CBE, Vice-Chancellor,Newcastle University and Professor Andy Long, Vice-Chancellor, Northumbria University.
The report features real-life examples of the power of place-based partnership, in widening access and participation, in connecting innovation and skills and in driving entrepreneurship and business development. There are also recommendations on how the Universities can go even further, building on opportunities to embed partnerships and share best practice, maximising the opportunities of partnership working across the region to support social mobility, particularly in the context of the new North East Mayoral Combined Authority, and developing a national model to connect opportunities around commercialisation and economic growth with an inclusion agenda. In this instance these are targeted at the North East but could be taken up by a wider range of policymakers.
The Universities’ ambition is that this work can support future policy making, raising aspirations and enabling people to access opportunity and achieve their full potential.
