Universities: The MIT of the west?

An engineering institute modelled on US success is already being trialled in the UK

Back in December, a government minister aired an audacious but controversial idea. Northern Powerhouse minister Jake Berry said the UK needed a new technology institute modelled on a successful example from the United States, and the notion of the ‘MIT of the north’ was born. 

The thinking was that the UK should copy the example of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, US, which is one of the world’s most dynamic universities and provides its region with a significant economic boost. The idea immediately hit headwinds, with policy experts and even the science minister at the time, Chris Skidmore, highlighting the many high-quality universities already belonging to the north of England. “Institutions and partnerships cannot be designed from scratch,” he said.