Thirty-five universities have joined a new Defence Universities Alliance intended to strengthen defence research, build specialist skills and improve links between academia, industry and the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defence has said.
The alliance was launched by Defence Minister Luke Pollard at the University of Manchester after the founding members were selected from almost 100 applicants. It forms part of a wider £182 million defence skills package and follows an £80 million MOD investment supporting 2,500 student places across 24 universities and colleges.
The MOD said the Defence Universities Alliance will connect universities more closely with the defence sector, with particular emphasis on areas including cyber security, robotics, artificial intelligence, aerospace engineering and advanced manufacturing. The department said the programme is intended to improve routes from university into defence employment while supporting research that can be developed for military use.
Pollard said: “As we prepare for warfighting readiness, working with universities, students and innovators boosts skills and helps keep our country safe. The Defence Universities Alliance will create meaningful connections between students, academia and defence, boosting research, skills and defence expertise across the UK to strengthen industry. Universities play a key role in innovating and supporting defence, and the DUA helps marshal those efforts.”
He added: “In this new era of threat our £182 million defence skills package is helping to create opportunities for students, apprentices and young people, making sure our historic £298 billion defence investment is an engine for growth across the UK, and building on the more than 272,000 industry jobs supported by MOD spending.”
The alliance brings together the MOD, UK Armed Forces, the Office of the Chief Scientific Advisor for National Security and the higher education sector. According to the department, research conducted through the partnership could contribute both to battlefield capabilities and to medical advances supporting serving personnel, veterans and their families.
Professor Tim Dafforn, Chief Scientific Advisor at the Ministry of Defence, said: “The Defence Universities Alliance represents a genuinely transformative step forward in how Defence partners with the UK’s world-leading academic sector. By bringing together our shared expertise, ambition and innovation, the Alliance will help us tackle some of the most complex challenges facing Defence at a strategic level.”
He added: “I am incredibly excited about the opportunities this creates. The DUA will fundamentally change the way Defence, universities and industry work together – strengthening our national security, creating strategic advantage and supporting growth to deliver better outcomes for the UK.”
The initiative also sits alongside five Defence Technical Excellence Colleges backed by £50 million, which are intended to increase skills in advanced manufacturing, engineering and technology.
Professor Duncan Ivison, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester, said: “The UK’s top universities have always played an important role in helping society respond to the challenges it faces. Today, that means working closely with government and industry to strengthen national security, develop new ideas and technologies, and deliver the skills needed in related industries.”
He continued: “The Defence Universities Alliance will deliver a more strategic approach to the contribution higher education makes. By working more closely together, we will better align with government and industry and create more opportunities for researchers and students, for the benefit of our region and the UK as a whole.”
The 35 founding members include Durham, Newcastle, Lancaster, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, York, Birmingham, Warwick, Oxford, Bristol, Exeter and Plymouth, alongside King’s College London, University College London and Cranfield University. Scotland is represented by the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Strathclyde, Wales by Cardiff and Swansea, and Northern Ireland by Queen’s University Belfast.
Vivienne Stern, Chief Executive of Universities UK, said: “The UK is changing rapidly and so is what the country needs from its universities. By equipping students with the skills needed for the defence sector jobs of tomorrow and carrying out cutting edge research, universities have an integral role in our national security.”
She added: “Universities are committed to backing the nation’s security, with almost 100 applying to be part of the DUA. The UK’s defence and university sectors have a proud history of working in partnership to strengthen Britain’s defence capability and keep communities safe. We look forward to the new opportunities that the DUA will bring for scaling up strategic partnerships to develop future talent, research and innovation.”
These will be universities that have very large Chinese student numbers?
My wife worked at Manchester University and I used to pick her up after work everyday
Chinese students were very evident and I had to keep an eye on them as their road safety etiquette was lacking
They had a habiy of stepping off the pavement in front of cars. A lot odf sharp braking and near misses
For such a bright lot I was surprised
You might remember a few years ago a Hongkong Chinese dissident protesting outside the nearby consulate who was in a fight with the consular officials who tried to grab him and drag him inside onto ‘Chinese territory’ Fortunately they did not succeed
Not Cambridge aha!