Universities partnership ‘a blueprint’ for others

The Universities for North East England partnership could be a blueprint for the rest of the UK, an MP has told an event in Parliament.

Chris McDonald, Labour MP for Stockton North, said Universities for North East England (UNEE) was an ‘incredibly important alliance’, providing a single, unified voice for the region, and it had the ‘utmost support’ of himself and his Parliamentary colleagues.

Speaking at a UNEE event in Parliament on Monday 12 May, Mr McDonald said universities were facing ‘tough times’ and needed to consider their purpose and how to operate in the national interest.

They must be embedded in their ‘place’, he said, and commended each UNEE member: Durham for its energy research; Northumbria for its work on space technology; Newcastle for widening access to university; Sunderland for its medical research; and Teesside for its progress towards a medical school.

What is Universities for North East England?

A unified voice of higher education in North East England, advocating for evidence-based policy development, investment, and widening access and participation in higher education.

Last week, UNEE universities secured £8.9m for a five-year programme to strengthen collaboration between universities, businesses and others to drive growth and create jobs. They are also working with the North East Combined Authority on significant support for spin-out businesses.

More about the event in Parliament

Mr McDonald was hosting a UNEE reception that brought together politicians, policy makers, business leaders, universities and other partners.

Speaking at the event, Kim McGuinness, Mayor of North East England, said she was very grateful that the region’s universities had come together as UNEE, the collective had ‘massive potential’, and she was excited at what could be achieved.

‘Skills, growth, collaboration’

Also addressing the event was Baroness Elliott of Whitburn Bay, a Labour member of the House of Lords and former MP for Sunderland Central.

She identified three priorities: skills for the future; growing business and encouraging investment; and collaboration.

The five universities support more than 50,000 jobs, are educating 125,000 students – many of whom are the first in their family to attend university, have attracted £200m in research income, and over the next few years expect to train 11,000 nurses, 4,000 medics, and 8,000 teachers, she said.

Identifying ‘a moment of challenge and new possibilities’, Baroness Elliott said UNEE’s work was of national significance – ‘not only timely, but vital’; pledged the Government would work with UNEE; and called on business to back the partnership.

“At a time when politics can feel fragmented and institutions, stretched, UNEE offers a powerful example of working together for shared outcomes – not competing for prestige, but co-operating for progress,” she said.

Marco Amitrano, Alliance Senior Partner of the multinational professional services network PricewaterhouseCooopers and a Newcastle University graduate, highlighted the 1,100 new businesses spun out of UNEE universities since 2014, and called on Government and business to back the partnership.

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