Practice area: | Education and Labour Markets |
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Client: | University of Cambridge |
Published: | 20 March, 2023 |
Keywords: | economics of education further education higher education 2023 Labour Market Economics Public Policy |
London Economics was commissioned to assess the economic impact of the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, focusing on the 2020-21 academic year.
The analysis identified that the total economic impact on the UK economy associated with the University of Cambridge’s activities in 2020-21 was estimated at approximately £29.8 billion. Compared to the University of Cambridge’s total operational costs of approximately £2.543 billion in 2020-21, this corresponds to a benefit to cost ratio of 11.7:1.
In terms of the components of this impact:
- £23.1 billion – from the University’s research and knowledge exchange activities (including commercial companies spun out from, or closely associated with, the University and other commercial activity carried out at the University)
- £4.69 billion – from the impact generated by the spending of the University and its colleges
- £716 million – from the University’s educational exports
- £693 million – from the University’s teaching and learning activities
- £587 million – from the impact of tourism associated with the University
In addition, it was possible to estimate the impacts for knowledge exchange, expenditure, educational exports and tourism strands in terms of GVA and FTE employment. The analysis estimated that the University supports more than 86,000 jobs across the UK, including 52,000 in the East of England, and contributes over £13 billion in gross value added (GVA).
London Economics also carried out a comparison of the costs and benefits associated with almost 600 government regulatory impact assessments and found that very few government interventions bring higher economic benefits than investment in the University of Cambridge.
The Full Report is available here.