Universities must make areas ‘sticky’ for graduates

To maximise the benefits of an industrial strategy, universities must do more to retain graduates to the local area, the Labour Party conference has heard.

Speaking at a roundtable organised by the UPP Foundation and the Higher Education Policy Institute, shadow chancellor for industrial strategy Chi Onwurah said that Labour’s national education service, which would include free life-long learning, underpins the party’s plans for an industrial strategy.

Onwurah said that looking at the local economic impact of universities and graduate choices should be an important part of policy. Labour has a vision of an economy where universities produce high skilled graduates working within local communities to support a high-skill, high-wage economy, she said.