Note You are currently viewing a previous version of this narrative statement as published in previous iterations of the KEF (KEF1 and KEF2). View the latest version
Institutional Context
Summary
The University of Sunderland is a university with a regional, national and international focus. Whilst working internationally with 27 transnational education partners in 44 locations, we are deeply rooted in Sunderland and the north-east of England.
We raise aspirations by opening higher education to people from many different backgrounds and broaden the labour market through our graduates. Equally, we support local SMEs, apply our research in practical ways, create and exchange knowledge, and engage communities through our education and outreach programmes. This work maximises the regional impact of all that we do. In financial terms, this amounted to £476 million and 5,760 jobs in 2017/18. In short, our mission is to be a life-changing university.
Institutional context
The University of Sunderland’s Strategic Plan 2020-25 mission is to be Life-Changing, through transformative experiences for our students, career-focused and professions-facing teaching, and the positive difference we make to society.
We have a significant economic impact. In 2017-18 this amounted to:
£250 million GVA and 4,130 jobs in the City of Sunderland;
£476 million GVA and 5,760 jobs in the North East; and
£706 million GVA and 8,200 jobs across the UK.
This impact reflects our role as a significant regional anchor institution in a region which has undoubted economic challenges around productivity, employment, R&D, higher level skills and business birth rate. We have been rooted in the city of Sunderland since the establishment of Sunderland Technical College in 1901.
We attract around 85% of our student enrolments from the north-east, many of these from low participation neighbourhoods - Sunderland is one of the UK’s leading widening participation universities and The Times/Sunday Times University of the Year for Social Inclusion 2021. We are a founding member of the Sunderland Business Group, the Sunderland Culture Company and Sunderland Software City.
We have strategic partnerships with the NHS locally and regionally focused on research, innovation and workforce development in our Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellbeing, including the recently established Sunderland Medical School and the Helen McArdle Nursing and Care Research Institute.
Knowledge exchange is of fundamental importance to our mission and to our economic impact. We have long been active in this area with a particular focus on the following areas:
Skills, enterprise and entrepreneurship – we have a long history of providing tailored CPD programmes for local employers - we now have in excess of 500 degree apprentices studying with us. Despite low local and regional start-up rates, we have a vibrant graduate enterprise community, with support programmes and accelerator funds supported by European Regional Development funding, Santander and local trusts.
Local growth and regeneration – as a key partner in local and regional regeneration efforts, we deliver significant value and impact through our business support and innovation programmes securing significant grant funding from regional, national and European sources.
Public and community engagement – engagement with local communities is a natural part of our work, including through outreach education, participatory research and practice, and performance, exhibitions and community arts practice through Sunderland Culture.
Research partnerships – the emphasis of our research is on engagement with real world issues and practical applications.
Working with business – we undertake a range of engagements with business around innovation and skills. We have navigated the economic context and the relative lack of HQ functions in the region by securing public funding to support this work.
Working with the public and third sector – we have close connections and partnerships with the public and third sectors, with a particular focus on skills development.
IP and commercialisation – our partnership with other north-east universities through Northern Accelerator has enabled us to identify and support a range of propositions from within our academic portfolio.
For further information, please send queries to tim.pain@sunderland.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
The University of Sunderland is embedded in Sunderland and the wider north-east of England. With a large percentage of students recruited locally who stay in the area after graduation, and strong relationships with employers, regional engagement and partnership is a natural part of the way we work.
As The Times/Sunday Times University of the Year for Social Inclusion 2021, we reach out to local communities, schools and employers. We work hard with our partners in the city and region to support and lead regeneration efforts in the fields of health, manufacturing and culture.
Our mission is to have a transformational effect on our students, the labour market, and business growth and innovation – in short, to be a life-changing university.
Aspect 1: Strategy
The University of Sunderland is integral to our city and our region. Our Strategic Plan 2020-25 focuses on our Life-Changing mission, through transformative experiences for our students, the career-focused and professions-facing emphasis to our teaching, and the positive difference we make to society. All of these have a distinct local and regional impact.
We have been rooted in the city of Sunderland since the establishment of Sunderland Technical College in 1901. We attract around 85% of our student enrolments from the north-east, many of these from low participation neighbourhoods - Sunderland is one of the UK’s leading widening participation Universities and The Times/Sunday Times University of the Year for Social Inclusion 2021.
We work hard through our strong regional employer partnerships to embed our graduates in the region - Centre for Cities found that 46% of the graduates working in Sunderland are University of Sunderland alumni. We have commissioned studies into our economic impact to understand how our activities support the communities and economy of Sunderland and the north-east. In 2017-18, this amounted to £476 million, securing 5,760 jobs. Our international operations contribute £71 million annually to north-east exports.
Our history as an anchor institution in Sunderland and our proven ability to create economic impact in the north-east have led to the university identifying the city and the region as our strategic areas of focus for the purposes of the Knowledge Exchange Framework. The university is therefore a natural partner in local growth and regeneration structures, including the Sunderland Economic Leadership Board, Sunderland Business Group, the North East Local Enterprise Partnership and Schools North East.
The University of Sunderland is a key partner in the North East Strategic Economic Plan, the Local Industrial Strategy, and the Sunderland City Plan. These plans are founded on a thorough analysis of local and regional need, to which the University has made key contributions and has led on specific strands of each of these plans. These include leading the development of Sunderland Culture, the prime vehicle for delivering a cultural strategy in Sunderland, and co-ordinating the development of the Centre for Sustainable Advanced Manufacturing, the flagship advanced manufacturing project for the North East LEP.
We have strategic partnerships with the NHS locally and regionally focused on applied research, innovation and workforce development across the health sector in our Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellbeing, including the recently established Sunderland Medical School and the Helen McArdle Nursing and Care Research Institute. We have strategic partnerships with the DfE regionally and nationally, predominantly focused on research, innovation and workforce development in Initial and Continuing Teacher Training and development.
Aspect 2: Activity
Our local growth and regeneration activities respond directly to regionally and locally identified priorities, focusing on the labour market, graduate employability and enterprise, and strategic sectors, in particular culture and creative industries, manufacturing and health.
The University makes a substantial contribution to the regional labour market, responding to the need to develop employment-relevant skills identified in the Sunderland City Plan, and developing the higher-level skills for productivity identified in the North East Strategic Economic Plan. We are the university of choice for local 18-year-olds, and over 60% of graduates remain in the north-east.
One of our major contributions to local growth and regeneration is the ongoing review of curricula to ensure our courses remain career-focused and professions-facing, and the prioritisation of research and practice with a local impact. We have adapted to our courses to ensure they are informed by employer needs, encouraging local students to progress to university (especially around STEM) and supporting our graduates to secure employment or start their own business within the region.
Our specialist provision supports three of the three largest sectors for north-east employment – health, manufacturing and education. We train the workforce of the future for three of five the North East LEP’s “areas of strategic importance” – Digital and Creative; Advanced Manufacturing and Health and Life Sciences.
With our regional University colleagues, we are a partner in the North East Raising Aspirations Partnership which works with schools, teachers and parents to encourage participation in higher education, especially amongst under-represented groups. The Partnership has worked on collaborative projects since 2011 and over the last five years, has developed the North East Uni Connect Programme (one of the largest Partnerships in England funded by the Office for Students) involving all universities, colleges and 106 schools.
We are also the university sponsor of two University Technical Colleges; North East Futures focused on Digital Technology and Health Sciences; and UTC South Durham focused on engineering and manufacturing. We are a partner in the Institute of Coding initiative and have trained over 650 learners in programming skills. Our Faculty of Education and Society works closely with the DfE, Social Work England and the College of Policing, playing a vital role in the supply of professional to the wider Education, Social care and Policing workforces. Our work in Initial Teacher Training informs government policy in this area.
The University’s graduate placement schemes have placed over 1100 graduates with local employers, including over 600 with SMEs. The latest £6.52 million Internships and Enterprise project supports SMEs with the cost of recruiting a graduate to work on a nine-month development project. Over 90% are employed at the end of the placement. This has multiple benefits for the graduate and the local economy, supporting the SME to grow or adapt its business model, retaining the graduate within the region, promoting higher levels skills and productivity improvements, and creating a new job. As part of our response to the COVID-19 crisis we have extended the placement period from 9 to 12 months to enable the SME to keep the graduate employed despite the financial crisis.
A complementary part of this project, the Enterprise Place incubator supports graduates and staff to start their own business, with a wide range of financial, practical and development support and an incubator space to give them the best chance possible to succeed. University and ERDF resources are complemented by contributions from Santander and local charitable trusts to provide support that results in around 30 business starts each year. Many of these businesses progress from the incubator to go on to take space in Hope Street Xchange and other regional workspaces and go on to employ graduates of their own. This incubator project is now being expanded with £1.58m Local Growth Fund and University Enterprise Zone support from Research England to create a Digital Incubator at our St Peter’s campus, supporting digital and media students during their course and post-graduation with specific expert support to start their own ventures.
The ‘Vibrancy’ theme of the Sunderland City Plan builds directly on our work with partners following the unsuccessful bid for City of Culture in 2021. The university’s leadership and investment in transformational, culture-led regeneration – including Sunderland Culture, its innovative culture company – was heralded as best practice in 2019 by the Cultural Cities enquiry
Sunderland Culture (now an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation) has brought together venues such as the National Glass Centre and Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art with activities such as the Tall Ships Race and Sunderland Riverside Festival to build the City’s profile and reputation, develop the creative industries, and engage communities and young people. These activities attracted over two million visitors in 2018-19.
Sunderland was the first UK university to be funded by Arts Council England (ACE) to lead a successful Creative People and Places project, designed to help people experience and be inspired by arts and culture. This project – the Cultural Spring – has worked with more than 40,000 people in and around the city.
This work has been supplemented by Creative Fuse, a £2.07m collaboration with the other regional universities with support from AHRC and ERDF to support local SMEs with creative and digital innovation solutions led by academics and graduate placements.
The University has historically rich links with manufacturing industry in the region. Discussions with the automotive industry in particular in 2017-18 led to the development of a series of propositions to support innovation and growth in manufacturing, focused in particular on the Centre for Sustainable Manufacturing (CeSAM).
CeSAM is a flagship project in the North East Strategic Economic Plan and focuses on providing facilities, expertise, innovation and technical support and skills development for manufacturing industry, particularly around digital manufacturing and Industry 4.0. Two main projects have emerged as a result of CeSAM to date – the Sustainable Advanced Manufacturing (SAM) project and Driving Digital Skills.
SAM started as a £5.1m ERDF and University funded project, proving cutting-edge kit, technical and research expertise and access to finance for manufacturing SMEs. The project has supported 130 companies to date and is playing a key role in helping local SMEs provide critical PPE to support the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic. The project has subsequently been approved follow-on funding of a further £3.1 million which will sustain it until 2023.
Driving Digital Skills is a £2.4m project focusing on digital skills, particularly for manufacturing industry. The project uses ESF to lever employer investment in upskilling their workforce. The project will support up to 2500 employees by 2021. The wider CeSAM proposals include all four north-east universities, Sunderland City Council and industry partners. A building has been provisionally identified and a funding package is being assembled to create an innovation facility for manufacturing industry in the region.
Our Faculty of Health Sciences and Wellbeing works closely with the NHS and plays a vital role in the labour market for the wider health sector. This has been crucial in supporting the NHS through COVID-19 and in training local people up for employment opportunities. The new Sunderland Medical School will add directly to this work, addressing local skills shortages in relation to GPs and other health specialisms. Our Helen McArdle Nursing and Care Research Institute is leading research on the organisation and delivery of care within the NHS and the voluntary, community and social enterprise sectors in the region. Themes include military health and wellbeing and interdisciplinary work on the health and care workforce.
Aspect 3: Results
The University’s local and regional impact was independently calculated as £476 million in the north-east for 2017-18, supporting 5,760 jobs. This was the second review of our economic impact by Biggar Economics and demonstrated an increase of 34% over 2012-13 figures.
Notably, this regional impact represented over 63% of our UK impact, reflecting the interdependence between the University and the region.
We monitor progress and commission evaluations of our programme activity, updating partners with results and promoting our activities externally as appropriate.
We have had a succession of projects which focus on graduate employability and enterprise development. The latest evaluation reported 89% retention of graduates placed into SMEs and 72% of SMEs reporting growth as a result of a graduate internship, including 68% creating additional jobs. Companies supported by our Enterprise Places reported turnover of £2.9 million in 2018-19.
Our Sustainable Advanced Manufacturing project aims to work with 331 companies, supporting the introduction of 91 new products and generating £3.9 million in matched funding.
Our cultural activity is thoroughly evaluated on an ongoing basis. An evaluation of the Cultural Spring activity by the Culture Cities Enquiry found that 18,906 people engaged in Cultural Spring’s activities, and for every £1 the Arts Council invested a further £1.05 was secured to support, enhance and expand delivery. Of those engaged, 77% reported improved wellbeing, 78% felt more connected, 77% were more active and 85% learned new skills.
We communicate these successes and learning points publicly, to our partners and internally to address issues for future projects. We have had discussions with Sunderland City Council around our economic impact and participate in a range of local partnerships to gather further feedback and promote our successes.
For further information, please send queries to Tim.pain@sunderland.ac.uk
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
The University of Sunderland’s mission is to be Life-Changing, and engagement with local communities is a fundamental part of this endeavour. Public and community engagement is central to our activities in education, research, innovation and practice as we seek to have a positive impact. We were pleased to have recognition of our work through the award of University of the Year for Social Inclusion 2021 from The Times/Sunday Times. Our leadership of the cultural agenda in Sunderland, through the establishment of Sunderland Culture and operation of facilities such as the National Glass Centre, is another example of our commitment to meaningful engagement with local communities.
Aspect 1: Strategy
At the heart of the University’s Strategic Plan 2020-25 is our Life-Changing mission. This involves us making a positive difference to society, through our teaching, research, innovation and practice. The Plan articulates two of our key values as being:
Collaborative – we work together as a community with our partners and build lasting relationships to achieve our shared ambitions, and
Inclusive – we celebrate our diverse culture, which welcomes and values everyone's contribution.
Our values are reflected in The Times/ Sunday Times award of University of the Year for Social Inclusion 2021, and in us signing up to the Civic University Commission Agreement statement, which translates into a series of strategic partnerships and approaches. Playing a key civic role is an intrinsic part of the University’s mission, and is reinforced by the public benefit statements in our annual accounts.
Our investment in resources and activities for community engagement and participation include the National Glass Centre (NGC) and Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, as well as our commitment to public lectures, performances, events and the opening of our campuses for occasions such as the Tall Ships Race and Riverside Festival.
The University led the development of Sunderland Cultural Partnership and its Strategy which, in turn, has led to engagement with the public and local communities across a whole range of activities. As a result, Sunderland was the first UK university to be funded by Arts Council England (ACE) to lead a successful Creative People and Places project – the Cultural Spring – which has worked with more than 40,000 people in and around the city.
The work of the Cultural Partnership led to the launch of an innovative non-profit culture company, Sunderland Culture. Established by the University in a partnership with Sunderland City Council and the business-led Music, Arts and Culture Trust (MAC), its ambition was to engage local communities in culture-led transformation. Sunderland Culture effectively co-ordinates a range of cultural venues and programming to engage and involve the public and has been heralded as best practice by the Cultural Cities Enquiry and Local Government Association.
The University’s work with the armed forces and veterans has been recognised with a Gold award in the 2020 Employer Recognition Scheme. This reflects the work the University has done in providing access to programmes and tailoring provision for armed forces careers.
The applied nature of our research and practice in fields such as social sciences, health, the arts, and sports science means that community engagement is an essential strategic focus and driver of impact for the work of faculty and interdisciplinary research units such as the health and care workforce and adverse childhood experiences.
We see a core part of our civic role being to reach out to local communities through our education programmes. This includes our strategic role in developing and sponsoring two university technical colleges (UTCs) - North East Futures focused on digital technology and health Sciences; and UTC South Durham focused on engineering and manufacturing.
We are a founding partner in the Institute of Coding initiative, a £20 million national consortium of employers, educators, and outreach organisations, co-developing new provision to help a larger and more diverse group of learners into technology careers. We are a partner in the North East Raising Aspirations Partnership a collaboration between the universities in the north-east of England, working together to support young people to think about their futures and how higher education can help them reach their goals.
Our specialism in supporting care leavers is reflected in our membership of the National Network for the Education of Care Leavers (NNECL), representation on their National Strategy Group, and our direct contribution to the DfE HE Principles for Care Leavers.
This strategic activity is overseen by the University Executive and Senior Leadership Board, with many staff engaging at board-level with community organisations across the city and region, providing resources and expertise to support wider engagement. Examples include our Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive’s contribution to the North East LEP and the Academic Dean of Business, Law and Tourism’s work on Sunderland’s pandemic response.
Aspect 2: Support
The University dedicates significant academic time and funding to activities which engage the public and communities. Our focus on impact through the REF provides resource for our academic staff and supports connections with community groups and organisations. Interdisciplinary research networks such as RaCE and Sungen, which engage with the public as part of their work, are funded directly.
Through Sunderland Culture, the University directly supports the operation of the National Glass Centre and Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, and a series of programmes through the Cultural Spring and other initiatives. The engagement activities are as a direct result of University resources and leadership in the cultural agenda which afford staff the opportunity and platforms to directly engage with the public. In 2019/20, we invested in a dedicated academic post to undertake a multidisciplinary project, Collab, looking at how the arts can work with other disciplines to increase community impact
External engagement is a major part of the responsibilities of senior staff and many are members of boards and initiatives to engage with local communities (Sunderland Business Improvement District, 1719,).
Aspect 3: Activity
As detailed in its annual review, Sunderland Culture (founded and driven by the University) attracted over two million visitors to its venues and programmes in 2018/19. This includes large scale events including the Tall Ships Races, for which the University opened up its St Peter’s campus, and which included over 200 performances, and Pages of the Sea which engaged local people in commemorating the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day. In addition, local community events at Hetton Carnival and through Sunderland Stages, involved performances at venues across the city. Our work with children and young people has included cultural leadership programmes for young people, work with groups of young carers at the National Glass Centre and activities around the Leonardo da Vinci exhibition at Sunderland Museum.
Work with older people includes creative allotment projects in the former coalfields’ area and Creative Age groups at Washington Arts Centre. Further work has been undertaken to engage BME communities and people with additional needs. Much of this has been enhanced by Cultural Spring, which has delivered community arts participation projects across Sunderland and South Tyneside. Phase 2 was awarded £1m and has worked with 18,900 people across the area through workshops, pilot activities, commissions and events. Amongst a range of reported benefits, 99% of those involved said they would recommend the experience to others.
The University is a signatory to the Armed Forces Covenant in Sunderland. Our Helen McArdle Nursing and Care Research Institute, working with our Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries, has undertaken a project working with Veterans in Crisis Sunderland and the local clinical commissioning group, entitled Time for Tea. Time for Tea is a participatory research project exploring the use of the arts and glass making to support positive mental health amongst veterans.
In 2019/20, the University in partnership with the Institute of Coding (IoC) - a national programme set up by government to address the digital skills gap - delivered a series of short courses, taster sessions and events aimed at improving digital skills. A key objective is to increase the diversity of local audiences who will experience learning new digital skills. To date 1,290 people have enrolled in Sunderland IoC courses, from coding skills, to cyber security and from data science to 'digital bootcamps’. These courses have attracted a broad mix of gender, cultural backgrounds and ages. Most notable has been the high proportion of female participants (57%).
Individually, each university in the north-east of England delivers a wide range of programmes and activities to support higher education decision making. Jointly, through North East Raising Aspiration Partnership (NERAP), we coordinate a range of collaborative activities for students in late primary and secondary education and specific targeted support for underrepresented groups. The Partnership also delivers events for teachers, advisers, parents and carers to support young people across the region. Activity includes in-school sessions, on-campus visits, and specific activities for looked-after young people and young carers. In 2019-20, we had 85 students who declared that they were care-experienced, and a further 144 who were estranged. Our We Care team work with individual students to devise a personalised support plan, ensuring each student has the support required to reach their full potential.
Our research and practice includes:
Patient engagement in health research projects, for example in the development of oral health solutions
Engagement with children and professionals in research around school exclusion and special educational needs and disability (Martin-Denham and Donohue, 2020)
Active use of community researchers in 'cultural mapping' in Southwick, Sunderland, (Mitchell and Winter) with outcomes including the Being Human exhibition
Engagement with black and minority ethnic students to understand their lived experiences through the University’s race, class and ethnicity (RaCE) research network.
The Sunderland Law Clinic offers a free and professional service to local residents focusing on areas where people may find it difficult to find or afford other legal services. The Clinic provides an opportunity for students to gain valuable real-life experience and put theory into practice, whilst being overseen by an experienced solicitor, ensuring a consistently high standard of legal advice. In 20/19 the Clinic worked on 130 cases with a total notional commercial value of £96,366.
Aspect 4: Results and learning
We collect and submit regular data for the Higher Education Business and Community Interaction Survey as follows (for 2018/19):
Public and community lectures and participative seminars: 1,931 attendees;
Performances for and with communities: 532
Exhibitions: 53,055
Museum education: 1,122
“Other” – including public engagement, technology workshops, school outreach, sports coaching (22,315)
For Sunderland Culture, annual reviews are published, showing 2,026,000 visitors to programmes in 2018/19) and specific initiatives are the subject of further evaluations - the Cultural Spring evaluation completed in April 2020 identified 18,906 participants in activities and developed a 'theory of change' to provide a benchmark for evaluating future programmes.
Other examples of evaluation include the work on “Time for Tea” with Sunderland veterans and their families. This qualitative evaluation identified outcomes around ‘creating a sense of community’, ‘using arts to project military heritage’ and ‘feeling inspired to try something new’.
A wider range of public and community engagement activities are captured through our new articles on the University website, for example here. Many of these activities are individual staff and students supporting community ventures, in keeping with the University’s aim to make a difference to society and our core values of inclusivity, collaboration and inspiration.
Aspect 5: Acting on results
As public and community engagement is a fundamental part of the way we work at the University, it is continuously under review as part of our institutional planning process. Community engagement also features prominently in our research and practice and as such is reviewed through our research assessment exercises and through the processes of peer review inherent in this work.
The University’s academic work on participative practice focuses on best practice in community engagement and involvement. Such work has informed approaches to community engagement, leading directly to changes in approach.
The results of programme evaluations have been promoted and the findings built into practice. For example, on Cultural Spring, the report has been shared with our stakeholders and funders, and a summary infographic has been shared on the website. Recommendations from the evaluation report have been built into the objectives for the next phase of the project and its business plan. In addition, the project continues to work with the evaluators using the ‘theory of change' framework they developed.
In 2020/21, we will look at more specifically reviewing our work on public and community engagement within the action plans being developed as part of our strategic planning process.
For further information, please send queries to Tim.pain@sunderland.ac.uk