Photo: Warwick Media Library

Warwick contributes over £520 million to local economy

The University of Warwick’s contribution to the local area totalled more than £520 million in the academic year 2011-2012, a recent report by company SQW has found.

The Regional Impact Study for the University of Warwick was the first of its kind undertaken by the company, which provides research on economic and social development to a number of organisations.

SQW assessed the effect of the University on the West Midlands in real terms such as financial expenditure and job creation, and explained the results under five different ‘key’ categories: economic impact, innovation, education and training, global connections, and culture and community.

Many of the social and economic impacts are hard to quantify, so the report uses the opinions of local business people as evidence for most of the results.

The report cites the number of alumni living in the West Midlands, some 23,226 people, who contribute greatly to the skilled workforce in the area, particularly through medical students working in hospitals or General Practices.

Other positive results include the University of Warwick Science Park, globally important research, and the Connect to Kenilworth cycle route project to which the University provided £200,000.

Warwick Volunteers also received praise in the report as one of the “largest and most popular student volunteering schemes” in the UK, with 2,500 students registering each year and going on to directly help the community.

Warwick is also renowned as an international university and currently has students from 72 countries. The report argues that this contributes to the West Midlands more than just adding to a socially diverse region.

International students made up 40 percent of Warwick Volunteers, and the visiting friends and family further contribute to the local economy.

“[International students are] really important. You only have to look at One World Week to see how much international students bring to the university community,” agreed fourth-year English and French student Clare Quinlivan.

“[But] there’s the issue of whether they’ll use the education they’ve been given to invest into the workforce of the West Midlands,” Ms Quinlivan added.

Reports on the regional impact of the University of Birmingham have been compiled by Oxford Economics, which has also been responsible for a number of similar studies on universities nationwide.

As the Regional Impact Study on Warwick was researched by a different company, there are limits to how closely they can be compared despite using similar criteria.

What is important to note is that neither study grades the universities: just accumulates facts.

However, the data from the study on Birmingham, also in the West Midlands, does help explain the significance of Warwick’s results, particularly as both are leading universities with similar numbers of students.

Although the contribution of Warwick to the West Midlands was £520 million, Birmingham contributed £1,072 billion over the same time period, according to the Oxford Economics report.

The research department at the University of Birmingham was recently ranked fifth in the UK by the Complete University Guide and attracted £145.5 million in funding, whereas Warwick is ranked seventh nationally.

Yet overall Warwick stands seventeen places above Birmingham in the Complete University Guide, and this position draws in a high calibre of students to the region and attracts international acclaim.

Both universities have approximately 23,000 graduates living in the West Midlands contributing to the skilled workforce sector, yet despite having 5,000 more students than the Warwick, the number of jobs supported by Birmingham totalled 11,830 which is nearly 4,000 less than the figure for the University of Warwick.

The term ‘supported’ is used to indicate any job that was created directly or indirectly by the presence of the University, for example by student spending or increased demand on infrastructure.

“The University of Warwick is both globally and regionally focused… It is the extraordinary wealth of people all working, studying and thinking at the University of Warwick that is our biggest contribution to the region and to local communities,” said vice-chancellor Nigel Thrift in an article on the University website.

Comments (1)

  • Where are you getting the idea that Birmingham is ranked 5th nationally for research? Birmingham is ranked 23rd; Warwick is ranked 7th; UCL – instead of Birmingham – is 5th.

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