Modern universities must be utilised as vital actors in the government’s levelling up agenda, a new report from MillionPlus, the Association for Modern Universities, demonstrates. The report shows the expenditure of modern universities adds an economic benefit of £17bn across the UK, including supporting over 210,000 jobs in regions across the UK.
The report also shows modern universities play a key role in feeding local graduate labour markets, as over 68% of working graduates at MillionPlus universities, live, study and then find work in the same region after graduating, more than 20% higher than the same figure for the whole university sector. Modern universities work closely with employers to create a variety of pathways into higher education including 128,000 higher apprenticeship starts between 2017–2022.
