[T]he University of Cumbria is supporting #25andRising, a campaign launched last month by the Association for Modern Universities to highlight what modern universities, and their students, have achieved over the past 25 years, and what more they have to offer.
This evening (Tues 25 April) an event to be held in the State Rooms at Speaker’s House, hosted by the Speaker, The Rt Hon John Bercow MP, will give Parliamentarians the chance to meet with staff and students from modern universities.
A delegation from the University of Cumbria, including the university’s Pro-Vice Chancellor Sandra Booth and Farhat Ibrahim, principal lecturer primary education based at the university’s East India Dock Road campus, will join colleagues from across the country.
The reception will mark the 25th anniversary of the Further and Higher Education Acts 1992, legislation which provided higher education institutions which were already teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students the opportunity to apply for taught and research degree awarding powers and university title on the same basis as the universities which had already been established.
Twenty five years on, the UK’s modern universities are internationally recognised, highly successful and educate over one million undergraduate and postgraduate students each year. They comprise around half of the UK’s higher education sector, and have contributed significantly to its strengths, successes and reputation at home and abroad.
In addition to teaching, more than half of all modern university research is now judged as world-leading with over 60% judged to have outstanding impact in terms of its reach and significance.
Modern universities have led the development of degrees and apprenticeships to meet the needs of new and emerging industries and the graduate professions required by the UK in the 21st century. For instance: 77% of Social Work students; 72% of Nursing students; 68% of Medical Technology students; and more than a third of Engineering students study at a modern university.
“The passing of the Further and Higher Education Acts in 1992 transformed higher education in the UK in a deeply profound way, expanding opportunities for all,” Professor Dave Phoenix, Chair of MillionPlus and Vice-Chancellor of London South Bank University, said. “Today the graduates of modern universities make up 72% of all graduate start-ups still active after three years and the fabric of our society reaps untold benefits from the entrepreneurs, scientists, engineers, teachers, nurses, designers and computer programmers, among many others, who have studied at these institutions. Modern universities are vital civic hubs in their local communities, bringing expertise, connections, ingenuity, translational research and the jobs and students from home and overseas which provide a vital boost to local economies.”
Follow the campaign on the MillionPlus website and on Twitter, using the hashtag #25andRising
