Read: The power of place-based organisations – driving social mobility in the regions
Newcastle and Northumbria Universities have joined forces to address the social and economic disparities that are prevalent in the North East of England. Their Vice-Chancellors, Professor Chris Day CBE and Professor Andy Long FREng, discuss the Collaborative Newcastle Universities Agreement (CNUA), and why they believe the role of universities as place-based drivers of social mobility and inclusive and sustainable economic growth in their cities and regions is more important than ever before.
What is the Collaborative Newcastle Universities Agreement, and why is it important?
Andy: The pandemic showed us what we can achieve when organisations pull together, drawing on our collective strength and expertise to take us through the crisis and build back stronger and fairer. The work we do in our place and the relationships we nurture with our partners – from the local authorities, the NHS, business and industry, to our fellow HE and FE providers, the voluntary sector and cultural and creative arts practice – is more relevant than ever before. The Collaborative Newcastle Universities Agreement recognises that, by working together, we can be greater than the sum of our parts, providing more and better benefits to our communities, not just to support economic and social recovery, but to build a sustainable and more inclusive future.
Chris: As civic universities, we have a duty to ensure that the work we do is of real benefit to society in our city, our region and beyond. Only by working with a wide range of partners can we really bring about positive and lasting change. The CNUA is not only about our commitment to closer collaboration, but also about the benefits it brings to our education, our research and our operations – and through that, to the positive contribution we make to people’s lives and to the economic growth and prosperity of the North East.
The North East has some of the UK’s lowest rates of school attainment and participation in higher education. What are you doing to address these issues?
Chris: The long-term entrenched socio-economic barriers to participation in higher education in our region are well-documented. For those growing up in the region, 33% attend university, compared to a national average of 37% and in stark contrast to participation rates in London which stand at nearly 50%.
It’s vital, therefore, that we offer a range of alternative supported entry routes that enable us to develop the potential of talented young people from all backgrounds. Newcastle University’s PARTNERS widening participation programme is one of our most well-established supported entry routes into higher education. It enables students who successfully complete the programme to receive a lower contextual offer. We have been running PARTNERS since 2000, since when it has enabled more than 9,000 students to study with us.
We also lead a number of national initiatives, in partnership with Northumbria and the region’s other universities. One initiative that has proved to be highly successful is the Care Leavers’ Covenant. This is a national inclusion programme under the North East Raising Aspiration Partnership (NERAP) which supports care leavers aged 16-25 in their transition towards independent living. Through the covenant, we are committed to bridging the gap in support for care experienced young people by providing consistent, high-quality support to care-experienced students and young carers throughout their educational journey.
Andy: At Northumbria we are committed to providing opportunities for young people to access university regardless of their background. We also have a range of access programmes, for example, our Evolve programme for Sixth Forms and Colleges offers sessions that focus on a range of transferable skills with the aim of encouraging students into Higher Education. NU Entry is our first supported entry route which was launched in 2013 to Year 12 students in local schools before expanding across England in 2016. We later added Destination Northumbria, aimed at students in Year 13, and Access NU for mature students. Eligibility to participate in the programmes is based on widening participation criteria, including low participation neighbourhood, Care Leaver status and children from military families. Successful students earn 8 or 16 points through participation in activity and assessment, and we accept these as equivalent to UCAS tariff points.
The North East Uni Connect programme is another example of the work we do in partnership. The scheme aims to foster a strong and sustainable collaboration with schools, aimed at enhancing attainment levels at Key Stages 3 and 4, and to maximise our opportunities to work with external partners in support of the regional education and skills agenda.
Foundation years are another good example of a route to higher education for students who might not otherwise access university. Every year over 1000 Northumbria’s students opt to take a foundation year, giving them both a full university experience and the skills they need to progress onto the first year of their chosen degree. This is often a route preferred by students who want to develop specific skills to enable them to pursue an entirely new direction of study, but it’s also an option for students who haven’t met the entry requirements for their course. The evidence shows that students who start university on a foundation year have excellent retention rates and very strong outcomes.
Case Study: IntoUniversity Newcastle East
Since 2021, through the Collaborative Newcastle Universities Agreement, Northumbria and Newcastle Universities have been working in partnership with national charity IntoUniversity, which provides local learning centres to support young people from disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
The IntoUniversity Newcastle East Centre works with young people aged between 7-18, providing academic support, soft-skills development, and experience of the world of work to enable young people to achieve a university place or another chosen aspiration.
IntoUniversity staff provide sessions of structured academic study after school for children and young people from Year 5 to Year 13. The sessions raise attainment, encourage young people to become active, independent learners and help them to develop effective study skills.
Despite ongoing disruption from Covid-19, in the 2021/22 academic year, supported by students from both universities who volunteered as mentors, the centre exceeded all expectations, supporting over 800 young people during this challenging period. One of the IntoUniversity centre’s stand-out achievements is that the progression rate to Higher Education for Year 13 students who participated is significantly higher than both the national and regional average. Progression from the centre stands at 67%, as opposed to the local average of 12%, and a national average progression of 43%.
The universities are now working with IntoUniversity to identify potential areas for more centres in the city and region.
You mentioned the importance of universities providing skilled graduates to the regional workforce. How do you approach this in the North East?
Andy: We’re making a significant contribution to the skills pipeline in the North East with around 63% of our graduates staying in the region for employment after their degrees.
In addition, both universities provide a growing number of doctorally qualified graduates into the regional and national workforce. We lead Renewable Energy Northeast Universities (ReNU), a doctoral training partnership with Newcastle and Durham universities, backed by a strong portfolio of 36 partners including 27 companies (both SMEs and multinationals), non-profit organisations, local government and prestigious academic institutions around the world. ReNU trains and equips the next-generation of doctoral graduates with the skills required to drive UK innovation in renewable and sustainable distributed energy applications.
Degree apprenticeships are another important alternative route to attaining a full undergraduate or postgraduate degree qualification, offering learners the opportunity to combine university study with workplace learning. Currently Northumbria University has around 2,000 degree apprenticeship students. We work with a number of large regional employers on degree apprenticeships, including Northumbria and Durham Police forces, local NHS trusts, Ernst and Young and Balfour Beatty.
Chris: The face of UK industry is changing rapidly, not only in response to critical issues like net zero and the digital revolution, but also as a direct result of advances in technology and manufacturing, many of which are the result of our excellence in R&D and innovation. We urgently need to address the skills shortage by creating an environment where we can equip graduates with the skills they and employers need to build the workforce of the future.
One such initiative is the Institute of Electrification and Sustainable Advanced Manufacturing (IESAM), which we are delivering in partnership with the region’s HE and FE providers. IESAM has been established in response to the emergence of the North East as the centre of the UK’s electrification revolution. Through IESAM we are addressing industry needs by developing a flexible, high-quality power electronics, machines and drives (PEMD) skills pipeline
It’s clear that the CNUA has already achieved a great deal. What does the future hold, and how do you think a future government could benefit from the work you’re doing in the North East?
Chris: The more we do in collaboration, the more it becomes apparent that, in regions like the North East, with the particular set of challenges we face, universities can and must be part of the solution. We want to build on the opportunities of partnership working across and beyond our region to support social mobility and sustainable economic growth, and particularly those opportunities arising from the North East Devolution Deal, working in partnership with the North East Mayoral Combined Authority and others, including the other regional universities.
I think what we have shown in the North East is that we have developed an ecosystem that is primed and ready to help a future government deliver on levelling up, local growth and prosperity. Above all, the partnerships that our universities create are key to securing the future of the UK as a powerhouse of research and innovation across the whole spectrum of industries, from science and technology to healthcare and life sciences, data and digital to arts and humanities.
Andy: Our ambition is that this work should support future policy making, raising aspirations and enabling people to access opportunity and achieve their full potential.
The Collaborative Newcastle Universities Agreement has the potential to be an exemplar of how to connect education, skills and R&D with opportunities around commercialisation and inclusive and sustainable economic growth to drive the health, wealth and wellbeing of our city and region.
