The North West Universities Association NWUA www'nwua'ac'uk

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The North West Universities Association
(NWUA)www.nwua.ac.uk

• Keith Burnley, Executive Director, NWUA

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This presentation will cover

• The rationale and drivers for the formation of
  the association in 1999 within the context of
  regionalism in the United Kingdom
• The governance/management arrangements of the
  association and its initial remit
• The way in which the nature and activities of the
  association have developed since its inception
• The role of the EU and national policy
  initiatives and programmes in framing the work of
  the association
• The challenges and opportunities presented to
  collaborative working at a regional level rather
  than local, sub-regional, national, European or
  international

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Regionalism

• What is Regionalism?

• Based on the need to democratise and devolve
  central government functions to regions.
• Regions will be able to manage themselves more
  effectively to boost the economy and increase the
  standard of living.

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The Growth of English Regionalism

• The move to greater regionalisation of Government
  began in the 1980s.
• In 1994, Regional Government Offices established
  to provide a working network for English
  Regionalism to grow and develop.
• A Labour Government came to power in 1997. Their
  Election Manifesto stated that in time the
  party would introduce legislation to allow
  people, region by region, to decide in
  referendums whether they wanted Regional
  Government.

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• In 1999, Regional Development Agencies (RDAs)
  were established in each of the English regions

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RDAs established to combat the following 3
conditions

• Under achievement of Regional Economies in
  comparison with European Regions
• Disparity in the economic and social performance
  between English Regions
• Discrepancies in the amount of business creation
  and retention rates between English regions

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To combat these conditions, RDAs work with
partners in the public, private, voluntary and
academic sectors at regional and local levels in
order to enhance regeneration, investment, skills
development and enterprise

• NWUA is one of these partners

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But English Regional Governance has stalled

• Referendum on elected regional assembly in the NE
  defeated
• Unelected regional assemblies have been given
  some powers BUT
• City/Regions are becoming of increasing interest

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• The NWUA was formally launched in May 2000 to
  represent the 15 Higher Education Institutions
  (HEIs) of the North West of England
• The University of Bolton (10)
• University of Central Lancashire (6,7,8)
• University of Chester (19,20)
• Cumbria Institute of the Arts (1)
• Edge Hill University (9)
• Lancaster University (5)
• The University of Liverpool (17)
• Liverpool Hope University (18)
• Liverpool John Moores University (16)
• The University of Manchester (13)
• Manchester Metropolitan University (14,21)
• The Open University in the North West (12)
• University of Salford (15)
• St. Martins College (2,3,4)
• The Royal Northern College of Music (11)

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NWUA Remit

• Promote the Higher Education Sector within the
  North West
• Ensure that the views of the member institutions
  are taken into account when developing regional
  policy
• Strengthen the ability to lobby nationally and in
  Europe in support of the interests of NWUA member
  institutions
• Identify, support, and manage collaborative
  bidding projects
• Enhance communication links between the 15 member
  institutions

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NWUA Governance

• A Board comprising heads of member institutions
• A Strategy Group at Pro Vice Chancellor level
• An Executive Group to give operational guidance
  to the secretariat

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The growth of NWUA and the framework within which
it operates
Staff In 2000 there were 2 members of staff
working for the NWUA
there are now 19 members of staff with 28
planned for January 2007
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Networking and Policy

• The NWUA has advisory groups the following
  areas
• Research
• Learning and Teaching
• Widening Participation and Skills
• Enterprise
• Culture Media and Sport
• Health and Social Care
• The NWUA supports networks that assist its wider
  framework of activities.
• Business Liaison Officer
• Community Officers
• European Officers
• International Officers

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Regional Brokerage

• From 2002-6 NWUA administered the Knowledge North
  West (KNW) programme to provide a brokerage
  service between its 15 member institutions and
  regional business
• By August 2005 KNW had handled over 2,000
  broadcast and request enquiries, providing
  assistance to companies and organisations of all
  types and sizes, from within the North West
  region and beyond
• Higher Levels Skills Pathfinder

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European Programmes

• Objective 2 Knowledge Based Action Plan
• Objective 2 Regional Action Plan
• Coordination in Objective 1 and 3
• Regional Leonardo Programme

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Benefits presented to collaborative working at a
regional level across a diverse range of
institutions

• Acting as a single HE voice in the region
• Collaborative activity where this adds value to
  what could be achieved by institutions acting
  independently
• NWUA can call upon the academic resources of a
  diverse range of institutions
• Neutral administration of funding
• Sharing of good practice
• Raising the collective profile, regionally,
  nationally internationally

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Challenges presented to collaborative working at
a regional level across a diverse range of
institutions

• Being effective in liaising with, and
  representing the needs of 15 diverse member
  institutions
• Tendency to be reactive
• Regional partners or government agencies wishing
  to use NWUA in ways that might threaten
  institutional autonomy
• Visibility of NWUA within member institutions
  responses to requests
• Communication with members
• Operational complexity

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The added value from working at a regional level
rather than local, sub-regional, national,
European or international levels.

• Critical mass but manageable size
• Requirements of agencies - North West
  Development Agency EU
• Working within a common socio-economic context

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• North West
• Universities Association
• (NWUA)
• www.nwua.ac.uk