For better sector PR, we must update popular views of university success

In recent years, we have got used to hearing UK vice-chancellors pushing back against negative press regarding universities. And while a change of government may herald a change in political tone, there remains much work to do to overturn hostility and scepticism from certain quarters.

Indeed, the public in general could hardly be characterised as keen for the government to spend its limited funds on our hard-pressed sector – especially amid spiralling crises elsewhere. Over a third of adults in England and Wales now have a higher education qualification, yet in recent polling, the public placed HE funding near the bottom of a list of spending priorities.

Clearly, as a sector, we must get better at more effectively articulating and evidencing our value. As part of that, we need to challenge outdated conceptions of what a successful university actually is.

There are a range of secondary school types – comprehensives, community schools, academies, university technical colleges, selective grammars, private – which differ significantly in terms of both value-added outcomes and economic and societal value. Yet there is little acknowledgment that higher education also contains a range of models.

Modern universities make up over half of the UK’s world-leading sector, educating more than a million students annually. Yet we account for far less than half of the media coverage universities receive – particularly positive coverage.

For instance, less one 1 per cent of experts invited to appear before parliamentary select committees are from modern universities, compared with 65 per cent from research-intensives (the remainder represent research councils, learned societies and international institutions). Without detracting from the value of that 65 per cent, improved representation and diversity of thought are key to progressive policy development.

We need the support of politicians and journalists to help shine a light on the vital work we do with our hyper-diverse cohorts of students, without which many a manifesto commitment around health and social care, economic growth and social mobility would simply not be deliverable.

In 2022, for instance, modern universities educated 70 per cent of nursing and midwifery students, 78 per cent of environmental and public health students, 69 per cent of nutritionists, 63 per cent of those studying subjects allied to medicine, and 62 per cent of medical technology students – proving just how dependent our struggling NHS is on these institutions. And with 70 per cent of modern universities’ research in allied health, dentistry, nursing and pharmacy rated world-leading or internationally excellent in the latest Research Excellence Framework, these institutions are playing a key role in health innovation, too.

The inclusivity of modern universities – and their ability to support access across all parts of society – must also be communicated as a triumph for social progress. For instance, 57 per cent of undergraduates at my institution, the University of East London (UEL), are the first in their families to attend university. Three-quarters of our UK students come from households with multiple indicators of deprivation, and we have the highest numbers of care-leavers of any university, yet our completion rate is the highest in the UK above our benchmark (based on students’ background).

The term “modern universities” could be considered a misnomer – UEL, for instance, has been pioneering futures for more than 125 years, tackling skills and innovation needs from the second industrial revolution to the dawn of the fifth, and many modern universities have analogous legacies. The term better describes the research-informed vocational education and impactful enterprise we specialise in.

All UEL students, for example, earn a careers-focused degree specifically designed with employers, addressing not only subject knowledge but also the emotional, social, physical, cultural and digital competencies required both to gain access to and then to flourish in an advanced, constantly changing economy.

Modern universities are also fuelling the start-up economy, acting as engines of growth embedded in their local areas by providing students, graduates and communities with access to the support needed to set up successful businesses. UEL is fourth in the UK for annual number of student start-ups and joint third for social enterprises, while graduate start-ups linked to modern universities are estimated to generate more than £830 million in annual turnover and to employ more than 20,000 people. At a time when economic growth is the only game in town politically, modern universities have a key role to play.

Might the public feel differently about the value of modern universities if they knew their child was benefiting from groundbreaking research disseminated to local schools to increase well-being and learning, as our Baby Development Lab is doing in partnership with Newham Learning? Or if we better spelled out how vital universities are to solving the public sector’s recruitment crisis? UEL, for example, is educating more than one in four childhood and youth workers in London, one in 10 social workers, one in 12 nurses and one in 20 teachers.

Yet failing to tackle the established hierarchical narrative of what a successful university looks like creates a problem of access to some workplaces, as employers absorb old proxies of talent. UEL has specific schemes to tackle this, such as our award-winning Diversity of Thought programme, which supports students globally to showcase their talents to some of the world’s most exciting employers.

While I encourage no university to hide its light under a bushel, I also hope that media and politicians take more notice of the breadth of our sector’s successes. As a new government takes office, it’s time to think again about what our economy and society need for a healthier, greener, fairer future.

Amanda Broderick is vice-chancellor and president of the University of East London.