Our impact
Our economic impact
A study carried out by London Economics measured the University’s impact on the UK economy in 2019-20.
The report found that we generate over £1.15 billion for the local economy, in terms of our direct spend with local firms, the money spent locally by our students, and the productivity and output growth we help generate in local businesses.
It also considered the impact of a range of our activities, including:
- the University’s research and knowledge exchange activities (£634m)
- the value of the University’s teaching and learning activities (£841m)
- the impact of the University’s educational exports (£1,048m)
- the impact generated by the spending of the University (£735m)
Headlines
In 2019-20 the University of Warwick’s overall economic impact on the UK was £3.3bn, an increase of 14% in real terms since 2016-17.
- Our benefit to cost ratio increased from 4.9:1 in 2016-17 to 5.8:1 in 2019-20*.
- Our overall economic impact in the West Midlands was over £1.15 bn**.
- We directly employed 6,555 staff and supported a further 9,530 jobs through our activities (72% of these jobs in the West Midlands).
- Our spending contributed £477m to our region and our international students contributed £675m.
- Our procurement contributed £80m to Coventry and Warwickshire***.
Stuart Croft,
Vice-Chancellor
“The University of Warwick continues to be a driving force for good in our region. We support local communities, enable regional businesses to thrive and grow, create educational opportunities which change lives, and make a difference to local people through our research and the sporting and cultural activities we run on our campus and beyond.
We generate over £1.15 billion for the local economy, in terms of our direct spend with local firms, the money spent locally by our students, and the productivity and output growth we help generate in local businesses.
Working with our partners we will do even more in the future to champion our region and to enable transformational change for Coventry, Warwickshire and the wider West Midlands"
A breakdown of our impact on the UK economy in 2019-20 (Source: London Economics)
Our impact on businesses
Case Study: Digital Innovation for Manufacturing
We helped manufacturing SMEs based in Coventry and Warwickshire, Greater Birmingham and Solihull and the Black Country benefit from the latest manufacturing technologies and thinking, including in digital manufacturing, business transformation, Net Zero and future mobility supply chains.
75% of the businesses experienced increases in productivity and 76% experienced a reduction in product development time to market.
Case study: Recycled Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer
We established the technical and commercial viability of recycled carbon fibre reinforced polymer in high-performance manufacturing industries, including automotive and aerospace.
A collaboration with West Midlands employer, and industrial partner, ELG Carbon Fibre led to development of the innovative lightweight Carbiso range of materials, now in use by companies across 26 countries.
Our impact on people
We are a major driver in our local economy but we also play a wider social and cultural role, positively impacting many different groups of people across communities who interact with our university.
Read some of our Stories (warwick.ac.uk)
*this means that for every £1 spent by the University on operational costs, we generated £5.80 across the UK economy.
**this is only the impact that can be geographically disaggregated
***this is included in the overall university expenditure and not an additional strand of impact
Our social impact
Did you know?
In 2019-20:
- 26% of our overall undergraduate intake in the 2019-20 cohort were from the West Midlands with 15% from Coventry and Warwickshire.
- 10,554 school-age children participated in Warwick Arts Centre creative learning activities.
- 122,000 people connected with our research through public lectures, exhibitions and other activities.
- 1000 students were involved in community-focused projects in Coventry, Leamington, Kenilworth and Warwick.
- 84% of the University’s waste was recycled .
- We had reduced our carbon emissions over previous 10 years by 13% despite significant growth.
- We added over 350 teachers to the schools' workforce, with 81% in local schools in our region.
- In 2020, 155 medical students who trained at Warwick Medical School started their foundation years as a doctor. 21% of them as a doctor in the local area.
- In 2020-21, despite COVID-19, we engaged with over 210 schools and reached 3,366 participants with our widening participation activities
Infographics
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