Universities and the Swansea economy

Mike Hedges – MS for Swansea East

Swansea has two Universities, Swansea University and University of Wales Trinity St David (UTSD).

Swansea University was established in 1920, and the title  Swansea University was formally adopted on 1 September 2007 when the former members of the University of Wales became universities in their own right.

The annual income of the institution for 2022–23 was £412.3 million of which £67.1 million was from research grants and contracts. In the 2022/23 academic year Swansea University had approximately 20,000 students and employed over 3800 staff.

UWTSD took over the campuses of Swansea Metropolitan University, formerly West Glamorgan Institute  and Swansea Institute, upon the merger of the two institutions. In 2018 the University opened a new £350 million campus at the SA1 Swansea Waterfront which played a major role in the regeneration of the Swansea docks area. In 2022/23 it was reported to have 13417 full time students and 3305 part time students with 1500 staff.

Growing the Universities should increase the local skills base and also produce economic benefits from students and staff as well the benefits of university research and spin off companies.

In Britain we have Cambridge University Science Park formed initially by Trinity College Cambridge following a request that Universities worked closer with Industry, which employs over 6500 people in over one hundred companies.

In Manchester Alderley Park purchased by Manchester Science parks offers exceptional bioscience facilities for research and development in life sciences.

In Sheffield, the transfer of technology from the universities is claimed to be creating cutting edge enterprises across the city. The University of Sheffield supports the growth of technology transfer in the Sheffield City region through an innovation centre and Sheffield bio incubator.

Mannheim, Swansea’s twin city has a centre for entrepreneurship and innovation run by the University which provides a founder and incubation platform for students, young entrepreneurs, and investors.

The largest research park in Denmark is INCUBA science park in Aarhus was created by an amalgamation of “Innovation Network Centre for University and Businesses of Aarhus” and the primary goals of the institution are to strengthen cooperation between research institutions and companies with consultancy; and raising capital for projects focusing on IT and biomedical research.

Swansea has had its successes including CYDEN which designs and manufactures intense pulsed light hair removal products. Veeqo which is a cloud-based app that streamlines order and Inventory management.

CanSense offers an affordable and scalable blood test for early detection of bowel cancer. Power & Water is a water treatment technology company specialising in liquid chemical-free wastewater treatment processes for effluent and wastewater.

London Economics analysed the impact of Welsh universities’ teaching, research, and innovation activities on the UK economy, focusing on the 2021-22 academic year. The figures show that the Welsh higher education sector’s teaching, research, and innovation activities had a net economic impact of £7.25 billion.

When combined with previous London Economics analysis of the direct spending by the sector and the economic benefit of international students, the total impact across Welsh higher education was £10.97 billion.

Students are very important to the Swansea economy; they create employment at the Universities and support the Swansea economy with their spending locally. They are important to the vitality of the city and if they leave Swansea they leave as ambassadors for our city.

Swansea retailers say the city’s students are proving to be a valuable support system for their businesses, and they welcomed the developments in the City Centre to accommodate the influx of young people.

Swansea’s annual Student Shopping Event, organised by Swansea Business Improvement District and the Quadrant Shopping Centre, saw more than 6,000 young people visit the City Centre to take advantage of special deals and discounts laid on by the businesses.

As someone from the generation that had it fees paid and received a means tested grant, it concerns me the low amount students have to live on and I am told by students that whilst most student accommodation is of a high quality, there is unfortunately some poor quality housing.

I put forward the following five point plan.

• Swansea University works with UWTSD, the Welsh Government, Council, and major local companies to develop a centre for innovation and entrepreneurship plus a science park.
• That the development should concentrate on Life sciences, ICT especially artificial intelligence, and green energy.
• That the centre for entrepreneurship and innovation is provided in Felindre on the old tinplate site.
• That the importance of the Universities and students to the Swansea economy is recognised
• That the Universities work to ensure that all student accommodation is of acceptable standard.