Abbreviation UA Legal status Association | Formation 2006 Region served United Kingdom | |
Type Association of United Kingdom-based universities Location 49 Whitehall
London SW1A 2BX | ||
University Alliance is an association of British universities which was formed in 2006 as the Alliance of Non-Aligned Universities, adopting its current name in 2007.
Contents
Its membership is made up of business-engaged universities with a mission to drive growth and innovation in Britain's cities and regions through research, teaching and enterprise activity, with a particular focus on professional and technical education and applied research.
Alliance institutions educate more than a quarter of students in the UK, including 27% of those on STEM courses and 41% of all part-time students. They deliver 40% of the UK’s sandwich degrees and maintain links with 19,000 businesses, including 13,000 SMEs. It is the only UK university association or grouping which is above benchmark on both access and retention of students. A large proportion of courses offered by Alliance universities (38%) are accredited by professional bodies.
In 2015, University Alliance launched the Doctoral Training Alliance, the UK's largest multi-partner doctoral training programme building on its members' research strengths and industry-focused ethos. The initial programme in applied biosciences for health was followed in 2016 with a second programme, focused on energy.
Alliance universities account for more than a quarter of the UK’s world-leading and internationally excellent (3* & 4*) research in general engineering, according to the most 2014 Research Excellence Framework.
Policy
In 2016 University Alliance published a series of reports on the leadership role of universities as 'anchor institutions' in their cities and regions, supporting health and wellbeing, life chances, skills and innovation. University Alliance has put forward proposals on lifelong learning, calling on the government to take steps to ensure people can benefit from educational opportunities at all stages of life.
Its policy work has also focused on the role of universities in supporting the UK’s industrial strategy and nurturing arts, culture and the creative economy. University Alliance's proposals for accelerated degrees and for knowledge exchange to be explicitly recognised within the remit of Research England within UKRI have been adopted by the government as part of the Higher Education and Research Bill.
Leadership
The association is headed by the Chair (Professor John Latham), Deputy Chair (Professor Julie Lydon) and the Treasurer (Professor Edward Peck) who are elected and serve in office for a period of three years. Operational running on a daily business is overseen by the Chief Executive (Maddalaine Ansell).