[CJ]

This week is Universities Week 2011 and we at TSR are getting involved.

Today's theme for Uni's week is about how universities contribute to the wider community, or perhaps what they should be doing both locally and nationally.

A new report shows that universities add at least £1.31 billion a year in value to UK society

We want to know from you:

What university do you go to and how does it contribute to the local community?

Alternatively, what could your Uni do for the community that it currently doesn't?

[E_Blackadder]

My old uni didn't do anything obvious in the local community.

I'm aware they did some advertising (like at the local team's football ground) and the odd bit of sponsorship but that was just marketing.

If they did do more we certainly never heard about it, so perhaps that was more the problem.

As to what the could have done, i don't honestly know. I think a facility share system with schools or something similar would have been good, perhaps having schools shown around university and getting a grasp of what could be ahead of them, to see the real side of uni that I never saw.
My uni was in the midlands.

[maveryck]

(Original post by E_Blackadder)
My old uni didn't do anything obvious in the local community.

I'm aware they did some advertising (like at the local team's football ground) and the odd bit of sponsorship but that was just marketing.

If they did do more we certainly never heard about it, so perhaps that was more the problem.

As to what the could have done, i don't honestly know. I think a facility share system with schools or something similar would have been good, perhaps having schools shown around university and getting a grasp of what could be ahead of them, to see the real side of uni that I never saw.
My uni was in the midlands.

I'm the same. If Bournemouth uni was doing anything in the local community I didn't know about it so maybe there was a lack of communication with students there.
However saying that I know that the SU had a volunteer arm that did quite a bit of fund raising for local charities and things like recycling initiatives to improve the local area, but this was student led rather than done by the uni itself.
I think it would be good if the uni had more involvement with local schools to give younger students information of the benefits of university, particularly those that have low levels of uni applications.
Maybe invite GCSE students to the uni to see what it's like and how it differs from being at school?

[spongepantssquarebob]

Students at my university contributed to local kebab and beer sales...

More seriously I'd have liked to have seen the opportunity to volunteer in the local community more either with vulnerable local people or local environmental projects like land management/cleaning up rivers and streams. That sort of thing. Basically a chance to get out and about in the fresh air and get some CV fodder too whilst doing some good.

[maveryck]

Did a bit of digging around and found that they do actually runner a summer school for year 11 students to 'raise learners aspirations to progress to university. It wasn't easy to find that out though, definitely better comms needed with students and would also be good to get alumni involved in these projects as they obviously benefited from both the uni and the community during their time at uni.

[ultimate mashup]

In Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University, owns a complex called Biocity (it was donated to Trent Uni by BASF) which is run in collaboration with the University of Nottingham and it contains laboratory space to help new businesses and helps to encourage high quality research and innovation. It is the UK's largest bioscience innovation and incubation centre. It provides many high paying jobs and is a valuble asset not only to Nottingham but to the whole region.

http://www.biocity.co.uk/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioCity_Nottingham

[Jack.O]

(Original post by CJ)
What university do you go to and how does it contribute to the local community?

De Montfort University:

• A big focus on widening participation, with 40.5 per cent of students coming from black and minority ethnic groups, 32 per cent coming from disadvantaged backgrounds and a quarter being mature students.
• Heavy collaboration with Leicester City Council to regenerate Leicester, creating several green public spaces so far as well as the redevelopment of a ring road to rescue a 15th century monument.
• Public debates: De Montfort hosted a debate amongst mayoral candidates in the election of Leicester's first elected mayor, as well as a city-wide debate exploring the role of universities as a public good.
• 'Knowledge Transfer Partnerships' with local businesses, encouraging the employment of DMU graduates to work on specific business projects: improving profits by £220,000 on average.
• Overall, the university boosts the Leicestershire economy by £255M each year, and has created more than 8000 jobs in the area.
• 160 organisations benefit from volunteers from DMU.
• More self-employed graduates than any other university in the East Midlands, and the joint-twelfth highest number nationally, boosting the number of businesses in the region.
• Community links through the De Montfort University Square Mile project, identifying deprived areas of Leicester and forging academic and professional partnerships with the aim of improving local communities, e.g. by offering legal and financial advice or developing community areas.

That's everything that comes to mind at the moment. I'd be more than happy to talk about this further though - feel free to PM.