Alliance universities set to play a vital role in the UK’s recovery from the pandemic

The 12 universities that make up the University Alliance group, including the University of South Wales, will help power a national economic, social and cultural recovery from COVID-19, according to a new campaign launched today.

These universities will deliver the skills, ideas and innovations needed to generate the pillars of growth for an economic recovery that will see communities across the country thrive once again, the campaign, ‘Powering the UK’s Future’ will say.

The Alliance’s 12 universities train almost a quarter of the nation’s nurses, support almost 24,000 businesses with consultancy, facilities and research, and have been awarded more than £68m to spend on regenerating their local communities, alongside their own significant investments.

As the UK economy grapples with recession, today’s campaign highlights how Alliance universities will use their critical role within the NHS and public services, support for businesses, locally-rooted research and innovation, and partnership with industry to find solutions to the economic and social challenges we all face and support the government’s investment pillars of growth.

Already they are finding new treatments to tackle obesity, creating new training routes for police officers, supporting SMEs to develop new technologies, developing green innovations, redesigning a struggling high street, and working with TV companies to produce new programmes.

Recently, the University of South Wales has had 22 graduates working on films nominated for this year’s Oscars, student nurses working on the NHS front line, graduated the first cohort of police officers in England and Wales to complete a new graduate diploma in policing, and is the academic lead of a multi-million pound project to decarbonise industry in South Wales.

The campaign has been backed by major employers and industry partners, including the International Chamber of Commerce, along with support from numerous SMEs and local organisations who work with Alliance universities to deliver change for their communities.

Allison Dowzell, Managing Director of Screen Alliance Wales said: “Our partnership with the University of South Wales allows us to access talented graduates to work across the various departments and directly on productions at Wolf Studio Wales. We’ve taken on several graduates in Animation, Design and Computing to work on our latest productions and with the University’s support, we successfully launched a Screen Alliance Wales portal which promotes the wide range of skills, services and facilities available here in Wales. Fundamentally, this partnership is helping both USW and SAW to achieve our shared vision of growing and nurturing the creative talent we have in Wales and developing a sustainable workforce, now and for the future.”

Gareth Lloyd, Process Engineering Manager at TATA Steel said: “Over the last five years, we have built up our work with the University of South Wales and have a number of active PhD and research projects underway. We were initially looking to work with experts in hydrogen, but that has now progressed to working together on a wider range of project areas within USW’s Sustainable Environment Research Centre at the University, as well as with experts in data science. The University has helped us to expand our network of contacts, which has already seen us work with new suppliers and use novel equipment for our industry that is helping us to improve our ways of working.

“The interaction between universities and companies such as TATA Steel, gives us access to experts with more than 30 years of research experience in their field. But it is more than the research that we are working on together. We are both playing a part in making sure that students gain the knowledge and skills to open the door to their chosen career path.”

 University Alliance Chair and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Brighton, Professor Debra Humphris said: “Alliance universities are deeply rooted in their surrounding regions, with a heritage stretching back hundreds of years and a mission to support local people and communities that continues today. Alliance universities are helping to build the economy and workforce of the future with their leading research and close links with business, and are powering the public services we all rely on.

“This campaign highlights just some of the ways in which Alliance universities can draw on their practical strengths to support the national economic, social and cultural recovery effort in the months and years ahead. As the country looks to build back from this crisis, Alliance universities stand ready to support our communities and national renewal, and have the local connections, the expertise, the partnerships and the public support needed to power the country’s future.”

Professor Julie Lydon, Vice-Chancellor of the University of South Wales said: “Universities play such a critical role in the communities that we serve, from leading research and innovation helping to solve real world problems to equipping our students and graduates with the skills that our future workforce will need. We are and will be a part of the work to support our regions in rebuilding our economy and society, providing opportunities and solutions, as we work closely with partners to build a better tomorrow.”  

University Alliance CEO Vanessa Wilson said: “As a mission group we are committed to working together, to unlock potential in order to effect change, and this has never been more important for the UK than now. I am proud that through launching this campaign we are demonstrating our potential and readiness as a collective group of universities to power a national renewal and recovery which we all strive for as we look to rebuild from Covid-19 and beyond.

“The success of this role will be dependent on the Government’s policy approach and we look forward to working with them to harness the potential and power of our institutions and institutions like us to support their plan for national growth and renewal.”