This blog was kindly contributed by Liz Shutt, now Programme Director for the new Insights North East initiative at Newcastle and Northumbria Universities. Until recently Liz was Director of Policy for both the University of Lincoln and the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership. The blog refers to work undertaken in this previous role.
The infrastructure of opportunity is a central proposition in There is Nothing for You Here, the 2021 memoir of Donald Trump’s former Russia adviser, Fiona Hill. In the book, Hill argues that such an infrastructure has diminished significantly over recent decades, and that education will play a vital role in rebuilding it.
The proposition leads me to consider the role of universities. They have largely been missing, or at least their role has been underplayed, in the UK Government’s levelling up plans. This is despite an increasing focus on civic universities over recent years within the higher education sector. The 2019 UPP Civic University report set out the many and varied ways in which universities interact with their place, and yet outside of the sector their role is still seen in quite narrow terms.
