Examining universities’ social and cultural contributions to their communities, this evidence review discusses universities as ‘place-makers’, bridging divides, the impacts of student volunteering, and how universities are supporting local arts and culture.
This is one of four evidence reviews which explore the economic and social impact of universities on their places, produced as part of the National Civic Impact Accelerator programme.
civic higher education social value
Published: December 2024 | Document ID: 468
Published: 2024
Covering frameworks for ‘healthy universities’, partnerships with health networks, mental health support, and community health promotion, this review explores how universities can contribute to the health and wellbeing of their students, staff, and local communities.
This is one of four evidence reviews which explore the economic and soci…
Published: 2024
Exploring how universities can contribute to a just transition to net zero carbon emissions, this review outlines key areas for university climate impact: reducing emissions, sharing knowledge for sustainability, and supporting local initiatives.
This is one of four evidence reviews which explore the economic and social impact of universities …
Published: 2024
Delving into universities’ economic impact on their local areas, this review highlights universities as drivers of local employment and spending, the importance of supporting social mobility and graduate retention, how to foster innovation, and reviews alternative economic paradigms.
This is one of four evidence reviews which explore the ec…
Published: 2022
More than 6,300 assets are in community ownership in England today. This model plays an essential role in ensuring places are built on resilient entities and benefit those living locally. As well as improving service delivery and financial sustainability, community asset ownership has been found to reduce vacancy rates, enable ‘bottom-up’ r…
Published: 2022
This report considers the role of Higher Education Institutions in the climate action agenda. It explores how universities are responding to the ‘net zero’ challenge, how they are protecting and preparing places and communities from climate impacts, and how they might extend a ‘civic’ approach that works in partnership with other local …
Published: 2019
The report titled “Front and Centre, Putting Social Value at the Heart of Inclusive Growth” by Social Enterprise UK, has found that local councils are increasingly using procurement to drive higher economic growth. It calls on central government, local councils and other public bodies to do more to use social value and put it at the front a…
Published: 2017
A common feature across community businesses in different sectors is for their business model to be heavily reliant on and/or driven by Community Asset Transfers (CATs). A CAT is the transfer of the ownership and/or management of an asset from its public-sector owner (usually a local authority) to a community organisation for less than market v…
Published: 2017
The Power to Change Research Institute commissioned two independent researchers to undertake research to explore views of the Social Value Act among community businesses in early 2017. The Public Services (Social Value) Act came into force in January 2013. The Act requires commissioners of public services in England and Wales to consider the so…
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