Universities in levelling up ecosystems

Despite the commitment of many universities to growing their local engagement and impact, their enormous potential for helping tackle the challenges of levelling up has been underplayed in national and local strategies. Can new thinking about the place-based ecosystems within which social and economic wellbeing is determined, and about the roles of universities within those ecosystems, help unlock this paradox?

Whoever emerges as our next Prime Minister this autumn, and especially after the 2024 General Election, the place-related inequalities and injustices underpinning calls for levelling up (or whatever new labels it may gain) will remain national imperatives. Yet, notwithstanding a 350-page White Paper, we still lack consensus on just what levelling up should mean in practice, still less how it can best be delivered. In particular, there has been insufficient recognition from national, regional or local policymakers of the potential importance of universities to levelling up developments.