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Universities Scotland Is the Representative Body for the Principals and Directors of Scotland’S 19 Higher Education Institutions

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Universities Scotland Is the Representative Body for the Principals and Directors of Scotland’S 19 Higher Education Institutions Universities Scotland is the representative body for the Principals and Directors of Scotland’s 19 higher education institutions. In providing evidence we have sought to address the strategic issues highlighted in the Commission’s initial call. Our evidence provides high level reflection on the breadth of universities’ contribution to Scotland’s infrastructure and the diverse benefits flowing from that. We would be pleased to explore these issues further as the Commission progresses its work. The Commission’s adoption of a long term horizon is welcome. The planning and renewal of the university estate takes place over the long term. However, institutions will also act with agility to pursue emerging opportunities to secure external investment, in the face of strong competition across the UK and beyond. Our evidence below is largely focused on the 5 year horizon noted in the Call as that is consistent with most known opportunities for the leverage of resource and with the strategic planning cycles of institutions. This said, many institutions’ estates strategies, and the broader benefits flowing from them, have a longer horizon. Universities can only play this role if they are financially sustainable, able to generate surpluses to support planned investment and to provide capacity to act to seize opportunities. Objectives and illustration of drivers We support the overarching objectives set out by the Commission. We believe that it will be important to consider the opportunity to leverage investment from across the UK and beyond to secure these objectives and have illustrated below how universities are currently catalysing and driving such investment. The Commission has asked for views on the Scottish Government’s definition of infrastructure cited in the call for evidence. Whilst implied, the current wording might benefit from a specific reference to the leverage of investment into major university facilities, in particular to support innovation, company formation and growth. We also encourage the Commission to adopt a broad definition of ‘living conditions’, including the value of our cultural infrastructure. Universities are key here, either delivering directly or in partnership with cultural bodies or local authorities. For example, The Kelvin Hall in Glasgow was renovated and re-opened in 2016 through partnership between the University of Glasgow, Glasgow Life, Glasgow Museums and the National Library of Scotland. It should be noted that universities are also direct providers of museums and of arts venues and performance across Scotland1. 1 For example: https://www.rcs.ac.uk/box-office/ https://macrobertartscentre.org/ and https://byretheatre.com/ More broadly, we believe that consideration should be given to the role constant physical renewal plays in the magnetism of places2. Universities are an essential partner in that process, driving regional economic renewal. An important element of universities’ contribution to civic landscapes is the historic environment. Around 20% of the university estate in Scotland has listed status. Meanwhile, the sector plays a central role in creating civic landscapes and facilities. For example, the provision of the Aberdeen Sports Village3 is through a partnership between the University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen City Council and sportscotland. Impact of, and interaction between, drivers and infrastructure categories The university estate is key to the sector’s success. It is both a driver and manifestation of excellence in teaching, research and partnership with industry; the public; and third sectors. Investment in the university estate has a significant direct economic impact, with analysis4 showing a return of almost £5GVA for each £1 invested. The figure below, drawn from that analysis, summarises the process of diverse and substantial impact from investment in the university estate. Figure drawn from Biggar Economics report to The Russell Group 2 See https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/pdf/2015/03/magnet-cities.pdf 3 https://www.aberdeensportsvillage.com/ 4 https://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/media/5256/economic-impact-of-the-capital-investment-plans-of-the-russell-group- universities.pdf Universities Scotland is a Scottish charity, SC029163, regulated by the Scottish Charity Regulator (OCSR) Only if the estate is of a high quality can universities offer the best student experience and quality of education, both to Scottish domiciled learners and to the students from rUK and beyond that are attracted to study here with an economic impact of over £1bn per annum to the Scottish economy. Securing the best research and development facilities attracts and retains the world’s best researchers. A significant economic and cultural asset in their own right, those teams in turn attract investment to Scotland, both through funding and as a key element of Scotland’s FDI proposition. As a result Scotland is the most successful part of the UK for R&D-based FDI. Illustrations of such investments are: The Advanced Forming Research Centre5 (AFRC) at the University of Strathclyde was founded with an investment of and this has attracted further investment in facilities for example £16.5m to establish a major new advanced engineering facility FutureForge; Adjacent to the AFRC, the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland will be a >£60m investment complemented by an investment of £39m by Renfrewshire Council under the Glasgow City Region Deal. The £43m ARCHER6 supercomputing service at the University of Edinburgh supports the UK's status as a leader in computational science and engineering. In March 2019 an investment of £79m was announced to create ARCHER2, a new UK supercomputer; The leverage of £60m of Research Partnership Investment Fund investment which has been combined with industrial contributions7; and The £10.5m Flo Wave Ocean Energy Research Facility at the University of Edinburgh8. Further, mapping of Scotland’s science park and company incubator facilities shows how the university sector is the creator of the strong majority of this infrastructure9. As noted above, the relationship between drivers should be considered. The leverage of investment will contribute to the success of the university alongside the enhancement of FDI propositions and to the ‘magnetism of place’ more broadly, thereby helping to address Scotland’s demographic challenge. Capital investment is the physical element of the creation of ‘knowledge infrastructures’ which the Sustainable Growth Commission noted10: “largely arise due to positive agglomeration effects. As an example, many research institutes, and companies choose to locate in close proximity to research intensive universities in order to benefit from informal knowledge sharing as well as frequent face-to face contact with academics involved in research. It is for this reason that cities with universities also have large numbers of associated knowledge infrastructures such as research institutes and science parks, which can ultimately develop into knowledge clusters”. There are significant opportunities for Scotland to increase its leverage of investment. For example, Scotland secures a low proportion, estimated at 5%, of the circa £1.2bn annual UK Research and Innovation infrastructure spending. Scotland has the research excellence to make a case for such investment and should set a national ambitious target to do so, backed by Scottish Government and its agencies. 5 https://www.strath.ac.uk/research/advancedformingresearchcentre/ 6 http://www.archer.ac.uk/ 7 For example, see: https://re.ukri.org/research/uk-research-partnership-investment-fund/case-studies/the-discovery-centre- for-translational-and-interdisciplinary-research-ctir-university-of-dundee/ 8 https://www.flowavett.co.uk/ 9 See: https://www.thedatalab.com/_assets/images/news/Files/Scottish-Entrepreneurial-Ecosystem-Guide-V1_March-2018.pdf 10 Para A6.123 Universities Scotland is a Scottish charity, SC029163, regulated by the Scottish Charity Regulator (OCSR) Renewal and maintenance compared to new infrastructure The university estate is diverse. As noted above some 20% is listed and some 25% was constructed before 1939 and over 70% prior to 1980. As discussed in more detail below, this age profile means that the sector faces a growing backlog maintenance challenge alongside the need to evolve facilities to ensure quality and market competitiveness. As it renews its estate, the sector takes the opportunity to re-purpose buildings and to enhance energy efficiency. This can also involve the sector playing a central role in regenerating other buildings in the community. For instance: the renewal of the Guardbridge paper mill site by the University of St Andrews to create the Eden Campus Energy Centre, part of the University’s strategic drive to become the UK’s first energy carbon neutral university; the regeneration of the Old Infirmary site in Edinburgh to create the Edinburgh Futures Institute11; and the transformation of the former Western Infirmary site by the University of Glasgow12. The sector is also a key partner in the development of new facilities, often as part of the strategic development of local economic plans, including the development of brownfield sites. Such developments feature in City Deals across the country. Examples include the development of a site in Govan by the University of Glasgow and the development of an Edinburgh Innovation Park jointly between Queen Margaret University and East Lothian Council13. The current infrastructure stock, demand and need for investment
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