The University of Salford has joined forces with the four other higher education institutions in Greater Manchester and mayor Andy Burnham to sign up to a Greater Manchester Civic University Agreement that will generate real-world impact in terms of social, economic and environmental change in our city-region. The Agreement was signed at a meeting of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority on Friday 24 September 2021.
Following polling with residents of Greater Manchester about what they valued from their universities and in consultation with political and civic leaders, the Agreement commits our universities to acting collectively around the following six priority areas:
- Education and skills
- Reducing inequalities
- Jobs and growth
- The digital economy
- Net zero
- The creative and cultural economy
The top priorities outlined by residents polled in the city-region were economic growth and reducing unemployment, improving health and wellbeing, addressing the climate crisis, and increasing job quality.
Our residents also recognise the role that universities can play in meeting these priorities, whether this is through job creation, widening participation or the training of professionals.
Key priorities in the Agreement include Innovation GM, which is the £7bn innovation blueprint for the city-region and supporting the growth of the digital economy through initiatives that our University is involved in, such as the AI Foundry (https://www.salford.ac.uk/working-with-business/ai-foundry) and the Cyber Foundry (https://www.salford.ac.uk/working-with-business/greater-manchester-cyber-foundry).
Further details can be found at: https://www.salford.ac.uk/news/first-ever-civic-university-agreement-greater-manchester-signed
Progress with the Agreement will be monitored and documented as part of our ongoing engagement activity within the newly established University-wide Engagement Forum and will feed into our Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) agenda in the coming years.
The Agreement can be downloaded here: