According to an independent analysis that it recently commissioned, Manchester Metropolitan University delivers more value to Greater Manchester than both of the city¡¯s major football clubs ¨C Manchester United and Manchester City ¨C combined, at an .

Although universities often tout the impact they have on local economies, it is narratives like these, which bring the pure numbers to life, that Malcolm Press, vice-chancellor of Manchester Met and incoming president of Universities UK (UUK), believes will truly demonstrate the value of higher education to the public and the government at a time when funding is falling and the value of a degree is under increasing scrutiny.

¡°If we¡¯re evidence-based in what we¡¯re saying, and reasonable, I think the government will listen,¡± Press told 51³Ô¹Ï, as he begins his two-year UUK tenure this week.

Despite his positive stance, the ecologist is under no illusions about what might be coming as universities across the UK struggle with the falling value of tuition fees and government grants, as well as declining international student enrolments.

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¡°The government won¡¯t always be able to do everything we wanted it to do because everybody knows public finances are very constrained,¡± he said. ¡°There¡¯s no point, I think, in looking back to how things were, say, 10 or 15 years ago, when universities were probably in a stronger financial position than some of them are today. There¡¯s no point saying ¡®Can we turn the clock back? Can we put these things back to where they were?¡¯ Because the resources just aren¡¯t there.¡±

Instead, ¡°we have to¡­be very reasonable in what we ask for. And when we¡¯re asking for things, we have to show to the government that there is a quid pro quo.¡±

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Last year, as Labour entered office during St Andrews vice-chancellor Sally Mapstone¡¯s presidency, UUK published an ambitious blueprint calling on the government to increase funding for teaching and research, as well as to establish separate funds for higher education innovation, research innovation and research security.

However, over a year into Labour¡¯s term, there has been little indication as to how or whether the government intends to better support the sector, and Press evidently sees the writing on the wall. ?

Regarding England¡¯s post-16 White Paper ¨C consistently described by ministers as ¡°forthcoming¡± ¨C Press would like to see it ¡°talk about the importance of proportionate regulation¡± while ¡°driving out poor performance where it exists¡±. And, of course, he would like to see ¡°something on fees and funding¡±.

But he isn¡¯t raising his hopes too high. ¡°I think what¡¯s reasonable to expect is some sort of inflation-linked uplift to both the fee cap and to the cap [on the amount] that students can borrow for maintenance,¡± he said. And he would like ¡°at least flat cash¡± for research and innovation. But ¡°anything beyond that, in terms of an uplift, will be challenging¡±.

He recognises that such muted requests ¡°might not land terribly well with some of my vice-chancellor colleagues, but I think our asks have to be based on realism,¡± he said. ¡°[When] we can show we can drive more [economic] growth through delivering the skills and the innovation the country needs, that¡¯s the point to go back to government and say, ¡®Look, this is what we¡¯ve done. Back us so we can do more.¡¯¡±

Saving the sector, therefore, will largely be down to universities themselves. ¡°I think we need to take control of our evolution,¡± Press said. ¡°We need to shape ourselves before others shape us.¡±

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Chris Chambers/Alamy

Press has led Manchester Met since 2015, joining after a stint as pro vice-chancellor at the University of Birmingham. His institution appears to have largely avoided the financial challenges dogging many universities, generating a last year.

As the financial pressures have grown, Press has focused on driving efficiencies, including reducing the number of modules with 10 or fewer students from 1,392 five years ago to around 20 this September. And streamlining the wider sector will be one of Press¡¯ key priorities at UUK, building on work already being done by the umbrella group¡¯s transformation and efficiency task force.

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¡°We need to look inwards at ourselves and drive productivity at a time when public finances are constrained, but also look at what we can do by working in partnership with one another to deliver better value,¡± he said.

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However, while university leaders may publicly echo the importance of collaboration, there are some signs that institutional competition is on the rise. That is particularly true regarding student recruitment, with elite institutions growing their market share of domestic undergraduates by hoovering up applicants they may not have admitted previously, leaving lower-tariff institutions scrambling to fill their seats.

This trend isn¡¯t necessarily good for students, Press said. ¡°Some institutions tend to make decisions for financial reasons and that¡¯s fine, but you can¡¯t make decisions for financial reasons at the expense of quality,¡± he said. ¡°High-tariff institutions have that high tariff on the basis of their historical research dominance. And that¡­may not serve all students well.¡±

His point is that a university admitting students ¡°over a very broad range of tariffs¡± needs to ensure that they can ¡°deliver successful outcomes¡± for them. ¡°I¡¯m sure a number of high-profile institutions can do that, but I think it¡¯s incumbent upon all of them to show they can do that if they¡¯re going to broaden [their admissions],¡± he said.

Competition for students notwithstanding, collaboration is already happening among Greater Manchester¡¯s five higher education institutions. Manchester Met has a joint School of Architecture with the University of Manchester, and the five institutions together operate a student mental health hub. ¡°You can¡¯t exist in Manchester if you don¡¯t collaborate,¡± Press said.

But more is needed across the sector, he believes: ¡°I think we have to challenge ourselves as institutions to do things differently. Doing things together will require resource¡­How that resource should be generated¡­is a matter of debate.¡±

While UUK has repeatedly asked the government to create a transformation fund to help drive collaboration and efficiencies across universities, optimism that this will emerge appears to be shrinking. ¡°I find it hard to imagine that that will be a high priority for the government,¡± Press conceded.

And while the Scottish government has the University of Dundee after it posted a huge financial loss, he thinks that at a UK level, ministers ¡°will be looking to the sector to sort itself out. We have a marketised system¡­in the UK, whether we like it or not¡±. Hence, it was difficult for universities to lobby for ¡°the best of both worlds¡±, reaping the benefits of both wide institutional autonomy and central support.

To succeed in the market, Press continued, universities will need to better demonstrate their worth to the government, to the public, and to teenagers thinking about attending university.

¡°The previous administration sometimes took a position that undermined the value of universities and we weren¡¯t able to respond in an evidential way,¡± he said, no doubt referring to the Conservative government¡¯s repeated attacks on what it referred to as ¡°rip-off degrees¡± that did not offer good graduate returns.

¡°I think what we have to do is¡­hold a very firm line on the quality of what we do, in order that detractors from the sector have less of an opportunity to find things that paint a gloomier picture than the picture that I actually believe exists,¡± Press said.

¡°It¡¯s inevitably going to be a bumpy road, but we¡¯ve got to be positive and optimistic.¡±

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