Previewing the autumn statement

George Osborne and Greg Clark outline its contents, writes Alison Goddard.

Manchester is to host an innovation hub for the discovery of new materials along the lines of London’s Francis Crick Institute, the chancellor of the exchequer has told the Financial Times. It reports that George Osborne will announce (£) £200 million in government funding for the institute, which will operate in collaboration with the universities of Cambridge, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford, Sheffield and Imperial College London. However the government will not provide operational funding.

Meanwhile Greg Clark, the universities, science and cities minister, has told HE that universities will play a huge role in promoting economic growth outside London and the south east. In an interview available only to subscribers to HE, Mr Clark outlines three ways in which he wants universities to boost job creation and says that research funding will continue to be based only on excellence.