Universities UK

Universities UK’s task is to support the work of universities and promote their interests. Universities UK undertakes the development of policy on behalf of their members and a wide range of decision makers and other stakeholders. It works to deliver its mission by speaking out for a thriving and diverse HE sector that provides essential information, bringing people together to share knowledge and good practice.

Universities UK is a membership organisation, their members are the executive heads (Vice-Chancellors or Principals) of UK universities and colleges of higher education. They provide representation by developing proposals, preparing research reports and analysis, and communicating the perspectives of the universities to government, business and community leaders. They also undertake research and policy development to enable UK universities to lead the national debate in UK higher education, one of their five current strategic priorities being research funding and governance.

The work of their Research Policy Committee is based on the UK’s international research performance remaining strong despite challenges from European neighbours and specialist research economies in Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions, arguing that UK’s research productivity and quality remaining second only to the US.
The Universities UK Research Policy Committee (RPC) is the main policy making forum in all matters relating to research, advising the organisation on its strategic direction in this area. UUK’s report on ‘The Future of Research’ is attached below. Current activities and priorities for the RPC include helping to shape the current research assessment and funding reforms taking place in the UK, enhancing good research governance, and understanding and informing the revolution in scholarly communications.