Million Plus

MillionPlus, the Association for Modern Universities, has today (23 November) responded to the Chancellor Philip Hammond’s Autumn Statement.

Pam Tatlow, Chief Executive of MillionPlus, said:

“Today’s Autumn Statement has confirmed that there will be an increase in research and development investment and additional resource for Innovate UK. This is a very welcome step forward from the government. 

“UKRI will not be established until 2018 and some of the focus of the new investment has been pre-determined. For Ministers to succeed in their ambition to address the imbalances in regional growth, the industrial strategy should be supported by a new stream of funding to promote translational research and harness the expertise of universities which have close links with SMEs and their local economies.

“It is, however, disappointing that the Chancellor has missed the opportunity to provide capital investment in teaching infrastructure. The forecast increases in RPI confirm that there will be further inflationary pressures for universities and it is important that higher costs do not result in students always being the ones who pick up the extra tab.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

1. MillionPlus is the Association for Modern Universities. More information can be found at www.millionplus.ac.uk
2. Modern universities: key facts
3. You can read the MillionPlus submission to the Autumn Statement, Universities, enterprise, exports and innovation, here
4. For further information or to arrange an interview, please contact Dan Blows on 020 7717 1658 or email press@millionplus.ac.uk