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  1. The University of Hertfordshire’s holistic approach to research-led innovation and entrepreneurship

    April 12, 2024

    In our latest ‘Innovators’ blog, Yanina Aubrey-Gimenez writes about how the University of Hertfordshire is providing dedicated (and multi-faceted) support to businesses and entrepreneurs. “Starting and scaling up innovation can be an uphill battle for entrepreneurs. The journey is fraught with challenges – particularly in the beginning – and statistically, the odds are against even the most promising start-ups. Entrepreneurs face a daunting array…

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  2. Teesside’s Net Zero Ambitions

    March 1, 2024

    Alliance Universities are anchor institutions as well as innovators – benefitting regional economies through vital collaborative research. For instance, since opening in July 2023, Teesside University’s Net Zero Industry Innovation Centre (NZIIC) is playing a key role in the decarbonisation efforts of the Tees Valley and beyond. In the latest instalment of the ‘Innovators Blog’, The NZIIC’s Director Dr Gari Harris explains how the centre is helpi…

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  3. How Coventry University Group are driving ‘challenge-led innovation’

    February 23, 2024

    Alliance universities are defined by their ethos of continuous innovation and collaboration. In the latest instalment of UA’s ‘Innovators’ blog, Paul Fairburn explains how Coventry University are delivering ‘challenge-led innovation’, supporting businesses and commercialising research to benefit regional economic growth “The pace of technological change and the disruptive nature of technology is continuing to transform our world. There is no hidi…

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  4. How the Innocence Project London law clinic is redefining clinical legal education

    February 20, 2024

    Hands-on experience is a defining feature of teaching and learning at Alliance universities. In our latest instalment of the Innovators blog series, University of Greenwich’s Dr. Louise Hewitt writes about how the Innocence Project London provides vital experience and a critical perspective of the criminal justice system for her students. Deconstructing claims of innocence from convicted individuals is not a routine feature of degree programmes i…

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  5. Why degree apprenticeships deserve your attention

    February 5, 2024

    This article was originally published in HEPI. Degree apprenticeships. They’re Skills Minister Robert Halfon’s “two favourite words in the English language” and we’re at the beginning of a whole week dedicated to raising awareness and celebrating the many benefits of apprenticeships at all levels (yes this year’s National Apprenticeships Week does clash with World Nutella Day, but that aside…). Armchair Quarterback I’m sure we can all recall a ti…

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  6. Universities, the NHS, and health workforce transformation

    February 5, 2024

    This article was originally published in Wonkhe. Working alongside the NHS requires universities to constantly be adapting. The relationship between universities and the health and social care sector can be described as evolutionary. For decades, nurses were trained directly on wards, with schools of nursing traditionally hosted by individual hospitals. Training began to move towards higher education in the mid-1990s, but it took until 2009 for a…

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  7. Unpacking the TEF narratives: what does teaching excellence at an Alliance university look like?

    December 18, 2023

    The 2023 TEF submissions have been published but, as Jim Dickinson and David Kernohan observed on WonkHE, “there’s no way any human is going to read all of them”. I have however read the institutional narratives from the 14 English members of University Alliance (16 of the UK’s leading professional and technical universities) and have drawn out the key themes which characterise a TEF submission from an Alliance university. Considering Alliance un…

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  8. 2023 in review

    December 14, 2023

    It’s been another whirlwind year for the higher education sector – and a successful one for the Alliance. These are my reflections on a few of the stand-out moments from 2023. 1. ‘Must do better’: the House of Lord’s Industry and Regulators Committee reviews the OfS We kicked off the year by working with our fellow mission groups across the sector on a joint letter calling for an inquiry into the performance of the Office for Students. Though we …

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  9. ‘What now?’: how adaptations to assessment during COVID-19 can improve inclusivity

    December 6, 2023

    Pandemic learnings   As the public Covid-19 inquiry grinds painfully on, it is appropriate for us in the Higher Education sector to conduct a little reflection of our own.   There is much about lockdown life we all want to forget: the grim headlines, the concern for our loved ones and ourselves, the questionable Netflix binges and loo roll shortages. But despite the countless negative impacts of lockdown, something interesting happened in our uni…

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  10. Placed-based innovation at RGU Orkney

    November 29, 2023

    “Orkney is a unique archipelago of islands, regularly ranked as one of the best places to live in the UK. But its appeal is much greater than this. Orkney has an entrepreneurial and innovative culture which lends itself to testing new and varied ideas. As an island group, it offers variety through its mix of towns, rural mainland areas and outer islands, each with differing demographics, service requirements and landscape. Orkney is large enough …

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    Elsa Cox