University Alliance

University Alliance (UA) is an association of British universities formed in 2006 as the Alliance of Non-Aligned Universities, adopting its current name in 2007.

Its membership is made up of technical, research-oriented and professional 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 links with business and industry and applied research with real-world impact.

Alliance institutions educate almost a quarter of UK undergraduate students, including 25% of those on STEM courses and 41% of all part-time students. They deliver 39% of the UK's sandwich degrees with a year's experience in industry and maintain links with over 16,000 businesses, including 11,000 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 (43%) offered by Alliance universities 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 with further programmes, focused on energy and social policy. In 2018, with a €6.5million award from the European Commission, this programme was expanded to include international students, with the launch of the extended Doctoral Training Alliance, DTA3/COFUND. In 2017 it began a Teaching Excellence Alliance programme focused on professional development, sharing best practice and innovation in industry-engaged teaching and developing students' social capital.

Alliance universities employ over 20,000 research staff and account for more than a fifth of teams undertaking world-leading (4*) research in health, general engineering and art and design, according to the most recent Research Excellence Framework. In student enterprise, 40% of the UK's successful graduate start-ups – those surviving beyond three years – come from Alliance graduates and collectively graduate start-ups from Alliance universities employ more than 8,000 people and account for £172m in annual turnover.

University Alliance has an ongoing partnership with the Australian Technology Network group of universities, following a memorandum of understanding signed in 2013. In 2017 a delegation took place to strengthen links between the two groups. A pitchbook document promoting UK excellence in degree-level technical and professional education to international audiences was published by University Alliance in October 2017, developed in collaboration with the British Council, the Department for International Trade and the UK government's GREAT Britain campaign.

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, widening participation in HE and innovation. In February 2017, University Alliance 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. Following this, ministers announced funding for pilot projects to test new approaches to lifelong learning in the March 2017 Budget.

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 the creation of Research England within UKRI with knowledge exchange explicitly recognised within its remit have been adopted by the government as part of the Higher Education and Research Act. The organisation has also shaped the design and methodology of the next Research Excellence Framework, REF 2021, following a government-commissioned review by Lord Stern.