With investment, universities can drive growth - Vice-Chancellor

It is Nobel prize-giving season and last week alumni of Cambridge University were awarded four of them for their brilliant work. In a leading article last week, The Times pointed out that if it were a country, Cambridge’s total of 125 would place it third for Nobel laureates behind only the UK and the US. This is a tribute to outstanding work which changes lives.

As an American who took over the role of vice-chancellor a little over a year ago, I am struck by how often the value of world-class research universities — to our economy, and to society and our daily lives — is underestimated here in Britain. Two of the top five in the world are British and in higher education terms this country punches well above its weight. This week we will announce a huge new investment in transformative research focused on a common foe: cancer. It will bring global benefits.

Our world-class, research-intensive universities are national assets. They can be genuine drivers of economic growth. Cambridge research contributes a staggering £30 billion to the UK economy each year. By contrast, no single US university plays such a national role.

And yet some UK research universities are in a precarious financial state. They are vital to their local and regional communities, as well as to Britain as a whole. They need more than just recognition if they are to drive future sustainable growth: they need investment, yes, but also support to innovate so they can continue to break new research frontiers and to serve their communities.

In Cambridge, we plan to launch an innovation hub that attracts and hosts the best researchers from around the world, plus entrepreneurs, funders and philanthropists. Under one roof, ideas will be driven forward, before they are spun out. The US and France have successfully pointed the way in these hothouses for innovation, in Boston and Paris. The UK must catch up — and fast.

With the budget looming, even — or perhaps especially — in tough times, the government must see our research universities as key allies and partners in its mission to drive economic growth. They are one of the main advantages this country enjoys in the global race for economic success.

At the start of a new academic year, thousands of students and researchers have arrived in Cambridge and at other British universities. We should invest in our world-class institutions and their contributions to tackling society’s greatest challenges so that in the decades to come we will have more Nobel laureates to celebrate.

This article first appeared in The Times on 14 October 2024.