03 February 2016 
Matt Sisson, Projects and Membership Manager
In January we reported on the trend in Higher Education over the last few years for the increased focus on university interaction with business. The most recent annual results of HEFCE’s HE – Business and Community Interaction Survey (HE-BCI) showed a 5% increase (approx. £770million) in the amount invested in the sector by large businesses between 2012-13 and 13-14, a 10% increase in the volume of interactions between universities and the wider economy, and that universities brought in almost £50 million from the sale of equity in spin-off companies. In addition, as HEFCE’s announcement on the latest round of UKRPIF highlighted, funding is increasingly allocated on the ability of recipients to attract or match with additional funding from the business sector.
In a related but more concerning development, a recent conference on researcher development in London addressed the issue of PhD students sponsored by businesses, and found that retention was a significant issue. The Times Higher reports that Chris Firth, chief scientist at the UK arm of Thales, said at the conference that Thales were only able to keep about 10% of their 50 supported PhD students, and that the picture was similar in other firms as Rolls-Royce “get about 25 per cent retained in roles and 25 per cent stay in academia,” with the rest “off to other places, often the City”. He added that “It is becoming a challenge because our boards are saying: ‘Why are we investing in them?”.
