Broadening and improving how the impact of universities is assessed
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Understanding and acknowledging what universities contribute, both to individuals and society, matters. It shapes what we think is important, what we support, and the design of policy, funding and regulation.
Chapter summary
Universities deliver both private and public benefits. The latter are poorly understood and often overlooked by policy makers.
This chapter argues that universities and government should do a better and more consistent job of measuring the benefits which flow from higher education, research and innovation. Human, intellectual, physical, natural, social and cultural capital needs to be captured. We are not currently able to do this in a systematic way. Public policy decisions, including spending, should be based on a comprehensive understanding of the impact of higher education and research, including non-economic benefits.
Our recommendations
The government shouldmore rigorously and consistently measure the private and public benefits of universities – both economic and social.
Universities can support this effort by producing more consistent and comprehensive assessments of their own impact, assisted by Universities UK’s development of a robust and effective methodology to do so.
The evidence clearly suggests that the HE sector generates large and lasting benefits across a wide range of dimensions - economic and social, health and happiness, individual and civic, public and private.
A comprehensive assessment of these benefits should be the cornerstone of public policy choices around the higher education sector
Andy Haldane
Chief Executive of the RSA and former Chief Economist at the Bank of England
