Academics from the Fraser of Allander Institute (FAI) in the Department of Economics gave a workshop on higher education policy for Scottish civil servants on February 10. Participants included members of the Scottish Government's team responsible for the recent Green Paper on Higher Education as well as senior staff from the Scottish Funding Council. The goal of the workshop was to discuss the results from the Overall Impacts of Higher Education Institutions on Regions research project and their implications for the issues raised in the Green Paper.
Strathclyde participants included professors Peter McGregor and Kim Swales, as well as Dr Katerina Lisenkova and Kristinn Hermannsson. They presented and discussed a wide range of topics both relating to demand side (expenditure) and supply side impacts of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). These included: the balanced expenditure impacts of Scottish HEIs; institutional heterogeneity and sensitivity to funding changes; impacts of increasing skills in the labour force and productivity spillovers.
The workshop was organised by Ursula Kelly, a former Strathclyder now working as an independent consultant, and Ann Millar of the Scottish Funding Council in conjunction with the Fraser of Allander Institute and the Scottish Government. As part of the follow-up to the workshop, Professor McGregor was also invited to provide a private briefing on the wider impacts of Higher Education, including social and non-market private benefits.
The Fraser of Allander Institute and the Department of Economics have developed a range of models and databases on the links between higher education and the economy through their 3-year ESRC and funding council backed research project, which came to an end last November. Researchers are continuing to engage in a range of knowledge exchange activities to enhance the impact of the work. Details of research outputs from the project can be found on the website of the Impact of HEIs on Regional Economies Initiative: http://www.impact-hei.ac.uk/
For details of the Green Paper see the Scottish Government's website.