Things are getting tough for Universities an Colleges in the UK as the cuts begin to bite, and many are now looking around for other ways to generate revenue to help them sustain their institutions.
As someone who works with a number of Universities and Colleges helping them to identify and take advantage of international opportunities I have seen first hand over the years how good and bad UK institutions can be at this. The best, and they are not normally the best academically, are truly impressive. They operate with a private sector mentality, searching down and exploiting opportunities in a wide range of areas. The worst are to put it bluntly useless, they pay lip service to internationalisation, and are not really interested in winning work, but are more focused on being able to demonstrate that they have “tried”
I have to say that I really do believe that the UK academic sector has the ability to become a major international economic powerhouse for the UK economy, I don’t think that we realise what we have here. Our system, rightly or wrongly, is respected the world over, and our institutions have highly skilled people within them, who are able to offer a range of services, which are not obviously academic. For example we worked with a UK FE college who won a contract to help develop Student Support services for a Baltic University; we have just secured a contract for a UK university to advise on the implementation of QMS systems within a Lithuanian University.
We have secured consultancy contracts for our University and College clients with government (advising Ministers, helping to develop vocational Qualification guidelines, advising on transport, energy etc) and running of commercialisation incubators etc.
We have also won lots of work for our clients on consulting and working with private business, from delivering lean constancy, through to designing a fashion collection. So for those that are prepared to engage there are lots of opportunities.
However I would stress that all the opportunities I have talked about are from the Baltic States, three small countries in Europe. Most UK Universities and Colleges seem fixated on China and India or the Middle East. I have to ask why? It takes 2 hours to get to the Baltic, they are spending over 14 billion of EU money between them, yet they are largely ignored.
As we enter 2012 there are going to be plenty of opportunities for UK Universities and Colleges, listed below are a few we have identified:
Universities
§ Branch Campus: The Lithuanian Ministry of Education is looking for a UK university who would be interested in opening a branch campus in Lithuania, there will be considerable financial support for the right organisation.
§ Joint Faculty: there is also interest in both Latvia and Lithuania in the establishment of joint faculties with UK Universities in specific subject areas, again there if financial support for this initiative.
§ Joint Degrees: There is plenty of scope for the development of joint degrees and 2 plus 2. We have a number of Baltic institutions looking for partners.
§ Course Development: there is money available to Baltic institutions to support course development work (in effect educational consultancy)
§ Consultancy: We have been very successful in helping UK Universities win consultancy contracts in a range of areas with Universities, government, and non-governmental organisations.
§ EU Projects: there is an increasing appetite from Baltic Universities to develop EU transnational projects, and bring in UK partners
§ Business Training: There is a huge amount of money available to support training for business and employer engagement activities in both Latvia and Lithuania, we have successfully got a number of our University clients involved in this activity, and more money is to be released early next year.
§ Valleys: Lithuania is spending over 1 billion euro on the creation of five university commercialisation “valleys” and a number of these valleys are currently looking for partners with experience of commercialisation to help them develop their infrastructure.
Colleges
§ Business Training: There is a huge amount of money available to support training for business and employer engagement activities in both Latvia and Lithuania, we have successfully got a number of our college clients involved in this activity, and more money is to be released early next year. This is a major opportunity for UK colleges to work with the various trade associations to deliver training to members.
§ Course Development: there is money available to Baltic institutions to support course development work (in effect educational consultancy)
§ Consultancy: We have been very successful in helping UK colleges win consultancy contracts in a range of areas with Universities & Colleges, government, and non-governmental organisations. There is also a demand from private business to get consultancy in a range of areas.
§ EU Projects: there is an increasing appetite from Baltic Universities to develop EU transnational projects, and bring in UK partners
Lets hope that it is UK universities and colleges that take advantage of the opportunities!
If you would like to get more information about the topic please do not hesitate to contact anastasia@ccbaltic.eu