Unleashing our universities’ potential to solve the UK’s challengesBritish universities are vital in helping to tackle the challenges facing the UK, but will need help from Government to do so effectively.Published6 October 2023•8 min readOur universities are, on most measures, among our most important national assets - training the UK’s workforce and developing the curiosity and creativity needed to adapt to a changing world. Without universities, there would be no doctors, nurses, lawyers, accountants, engineers, scientists, or creative industry professionals.We carry out genuinelyworld-leading researchthat translates into the innovation vital both for the UK’s economy and for our nation to tackle the huge challenges we face in the coming decades. Our universities generate over £20 billion in invisible exports and are anchor institutions in many of our towns and cities – just imagine Birmingham, Newcastle, or Liverpool without higher education institutions.Seventeen of the world’s top 100 universities, including theUniversity of Birmingham, are British and our Higher Education is envied and emulated around the globe. As international facilitators of change, we can help the UK Government and its global partners find solutions to international challenges such as climate change and antimicrobial resistance.... more money isn’t necessarily the answer to the challenges that universities are facing, but rather government support of the sector, both at home and abroad, together with the right legislative and funding framework that allows us to focus on the task at hand; providing for the public good.Professor Adam Tickell, Vice-Chancellor & Principal – University of BirminghamHowever, if our universities are to help the Government to tackle these challenges, there are some things we need from them to help us to help the country. For this year’s party conference season, the University of Birmingham has partnered with theHigher Education Policy Institute(HEPI) along with theUniversities of SussexandSheffield Hallam.Ahead of the next UK general election, expected to take place in 2024, HEPI asked me and two fellow Vice-Chancellors, representing very different types of university, to write essays on what we would like to see in the party manifestos relating to HE and research policy.This collection of three essaysmakes for very interesting reading.In my contribution, I argue that more money isn’t necessarily the answer to the challenges that universities are facing, but rather government support of the sector, both at home and abroad, together with the right legislative and funding framework that allows us to focus on the task at hand; providing for the public good.Specifically, I call on the next government to:Foster a conducive environment for universities to thrive, so they can help to tackle the pressing challenges facing the countryGrowth and productivity are low; public services need improvement; we have a chronic shortage of medical professiona