The Russell Group represents 24 leading UK universities which are committed to maintaining the very best research, an outstanding teaching and learning experience and unrivalled links with business and the public sector. Our research-intensive, world-class Russell Group universities are all universities play an important part unique institutions, each with its own in the intellectual life of the UK and history and ethos, but they share some have huge social, economic and distinguishing characteristics. cultural impacts locally, across the UK and around the globe. Russell Group universities: Welcome • Lead in pioneering, excellent • Are responsible for ground-breaking research and innovation inventions and discoveries • Produce excellent research on a • Compete on an international stage grand scale, across a broad range of to attract the brightest minds from disciplines, generating huge impact around the world to study, research through critical mass and quality and teach • Provide an outstanding student • Produce the most distinguished experience for both undergraduates contributors to society and postgraduates, where teaching • Provide the vast majority of medical is enhanced by world-class research research and education in the UK and facilities • Play a key role in their local • Work with major multinationals communities as well as SMEs and start-up companies to drive cutting-edge innovation 3 Our universities are found in all four Our universities offer a wide range nations and in every major city of of courses: each university offers on the UK. They are large, complex average more than 300 courses at organisations with an average undergraduate level. annual income of £560 million; for other UK universities the average is Russell Group universities collaborate £119 million. Their multiple income with the NHS to educate around streams include competitively- 80% of the UK’s medical graduates. won research funding, as well as Our universities play a leading role grants and contracts from the EU, in advancing our understanding of charities, industry, endowments illness and disease, and our research and investments. makes a direct contribution to improving patient outcomes. In 2012-13, each Russell Group university competitively won an Four of the top six universities in the average of £147 million in research world are Russell Group institutions. grants and contracts, including: Furthermore, 18 Russell Group universities feature in the top 100 • An average of £30 million in grants and all 24 are in the top 150, according and contracts from UK-based to the QS World University Rankings charities for 2014-15. • An average of £16 million in grants and contracts from the EU Russell Group universities operate • An average of £8 million in grants globally, attracting students with top and contracts from UK industry grades and academic staff from many different countries, but they also have Furthermore, Russell Group a strong role and influence within their universities attracted an average regional and local communities. of £7.5 million each in endowment and investment income. Russell Group universities The average number of The ratio of students to teach on average nearly staff employed is academic staff is around 24,000 6,200 8:1 students compared to an compared to a non-Russell at Russell Group universities average of 13,000 at non- Group average of 1,700 compared to 16:1 at non- Russell Group universities Russell Group universities in the UK 4 Building prosperity Russell Group universities are a prominent UK and international industry in their own right: • They have a total economic output • The average annual capital spend of over £32 billion per annum, of Russell Group universities is which represents 44% of the total £62.4 million; for other UK higher economic output for the whole UK education institutions the average university sector (of which Russell is £11.7 million. Group universities comprise just 15%). • Capital investment projects by • They support over 300,000 jobs Russell Group universities in the UK-wide. next five years are expected to • They are a major UK export industry, support more than 98,500 UK jobs, generating overseas earnings of including around 37,800 temporary over £4 billion per annum. jobs during the construction period, around 45,000 permanent operational jobs and almost 15,700 permanent jobs supported by the wider catalytic impact of the activity undertaken in the new facilities. 5 Leaders in pioneering research & innovation Russell Group universities are world The UK research base is highly leaders in research and innovation. productive and has a global reputation They not only produce excellent for excellence: with less than 1% of the Russell Group research on a grand scale, across world’s population and just 4% of the a broad range of disciplines, but world’s researchers, the UK earns 12% universities award they also have the critical mass of international citations and 16% 60% of all doctorates of excellent research to generate of the most cited papers – of which huge impact, link the UK into nearly three-quarters were produced in the UK. global knowledge networks, attract by Russell Group researchers. (source: SciVal) investment and exploit technological breakthroughs for economic success. Russell Group universities lead the They provide the vast majority of world in pioneering research across medical research and education in a range of disciplines, which benefits the UK. the economy, creates technological breakthroughs and improves quality of life. High concentrations of research excellence across The UK is second disciplines are a foundation for innovative, interdisciplinary research only to Switzerland collaborations that are key to solving in the world, and global challenges. ahead of the US, for the quality of its scientific research institutions. 6 The 24 Russell Group universities constitute 15% of higher education institutions in the UK, yet in 2012-13 they accounted for a much higher proportion of all competitively-won funding: 74% 77% 67% of UK universities’ research of all international grants of EU research grants grant and contract income and contracts to UK awarded to the UK (£3.5 billion) universities (£290 million) (over £400 million) 75% 82% 68% of total income from the of research funding of the total quality-related UK Research Councils from UK charities research funding allocated (over £1.1 billion) (over £800 million) by the UK Funding Councils (around £1.3 billion) 7 The UK leads Europe in winning grants from the European Research Council (ERC) – and Russell Group universities alone host a higher proportion of ERC grants than the whole of Germany or France. Proportion of ERC grants Russell Group hosted in different countries Other HEIs 25% 20% 5% 15% 10% 18% 14% 12% 5% 9% 7% 6% 5% 5% 0% UK Italy Israel Spain France Germany Switzerland Netherlands 8 While Russell Group universities make up 15% of UK higher education institutions, the proportion of research which is ‘world- leading’ at Russell Group universities is double that at other UK universities. Other HEIs Russell Group 9 Driving innovation Commercialising research Home to brilliant academics Russell Group universities have The brightest and the best minds from • Peter Higgs, Edinburgh, Physics a proven track record of turning across the globe have found a home 2013 “for the theoretical discovery world-leading research into at Russell Group universities, including of a mechanism that contributes to innovative products and services. nearly 200 Nobel Prize winning our understanding of the origin of academics. Most recently… mass of subatomic particles” In 2012-13: • Christopher A. Pissarides, LSE, • John O’Keefe, UCL, Physiology or • Our universities generated almost Economics 2010 “for analysis of Medicine 2014 “for discoveries of £55 million in intellectual property markets with search frictions” cells that constitute a positioning income, 63% of the total generated • Andre Geim and Konstantin system in the brain” by UK universities. Novoselov, Manchester, Physics Simon Donaldson of Imperial College • The estimated turnover from 2010 “for groundbreaking London won one of the inaugural companies spun out from Russell experiments regarding the two- Breakthrough Prizes in Mathematics Group universities was £425 million. dimensional material graphene” in 2014. • The 500 active spin-outs from • Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Russell Group universities accounted Cambridge, Chemistry 2009 for 62% of those which survived for “for studies of the structure three years or more. and function of the ribosome” • Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio, Academics at Russell Group institutions Bristol alumnus, Literature 2008 as are more likely to have taken out a “author of new departures, poetic patent, licensed their research to a adventure and sensual ecstasy, company or formed a spin-out than explorer of a humanity beyond academics at other UK institutions. and below the reigning civilization” 10 Enriching education and creating opportunities Russell Group universities provide World-class teachers an outstanding student experience Our students work with their field’s for both undergraduates and leading experts and often engage in postgraduates. Their combination research processes. This approach of teaching and research excellence provides particular strengths in creates an ideal learning environment postgraduate teaching and training, which attracts the most outstanding which is why 33% of all postgraduates students from the UK and