The final report of the Higher Education efficiency review can play “an important role” in informing decisions at the next Spending Review, the universities minister Greg Clark MP told the Universities UK conference.
The review, being carried out by Universities UK and Sir Ian Diamond and the final report, which looks at areas such as asset sharing, estates and the HE workforce, is due out in February 2015.
In the 2015 spending review, the government would want to ensure that “the story is one of a sector delivering the highest value for students and in research”, Mr Clark said. He also echoed Professor Diamond’s aspirations for the sector to scale “the twin peaks of excellence and efficiency”.
In his speech, Mr Clark praised the work of the N8 group of northern universities that are collaborating to share a world-leading £3.25m High Performance Computing facility.
He noted that companies including EDF, National Grid, AXA and Johnson and Johnson are also now working with N8 academics to learn how this “impressive piece of kit” can help their businesses.
The Universities UK conference is being held at Leeds University from 9 – 11 September 2014.
