Practice area: | Education and Labour Markets |
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Client: | Universities Scotland |
Published: | 6 December, 2022 |
Keywords: | 2022 economics of education further education higher education Labour Market Economics Public Policy |
London Economics were commissioned by Universities Scotland to analyse the economic contribution associated with the research activity delivered by higher education institutions in Scotland on the UK economy.
In undertaking the estimation of the economic impact associated with the research activity delivered by Scottish higher education institutions, we estimate both the direct effects of this research (which is essentially captured by the research income accrued by Scottish universities, net of any public funding), as well as the productivity spillover effects from universities’ research activities to the rest of the UK economy.
Combining the direct economic impact of Scottish universities research (£364 million) with the estimated productivity spillovers associated with this research (£5,429 million), we estimated that the total economic impact associated with Scottish universities’ research activities in 2019-20 stood at approximately £5,794 million.
Comparing the £713 million of publicly funded research income received by Scottish universities in 2019-20 to the £5,794 million impact from research activities, this suggests that for each £1 million of publicly funded research income, Scottish universities’ research activities generated an estimated total of £8.1 million in economic impact across the UK.
The report containing the analysis is available here.