Universities and colleges are embedded in the economy and communities of the UK. These pages provides information about the nature and volume of interactions that HE providers have with businesses and wider communities.
From 2021/22, HE providers were not required to restate previous year's figures as part of their latest data submission. For more details of the restated methodology for each specific table or chart please see the corresponding footnote.
A significant error has come to light in the financial data submitted by University of St Mark and St John which could not be corrected in time for this release of HE Business and Community Interaction (HE-BCI) data. HESA has therefore taken the decision to suppress the erroneous data from the release. This affects financial data shown for University of St Mark and St John and HE sector totals, which are calculated excluding data for this HE provider. This data release will be revised once corrected data for University of St Mark and St John is available. A release date for the revised and corrected HE-BCI data will be announced as soon as this has been determined.
Overview
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Chart 2 - Income from business and community interactions
This table shows the number and value of contracts that HE providers have with companies to deliver consultancy, research, or facilities and equipment related services. Use the ‘Type of service’ drop-down to select which data to view. You can access the whole data set by selecting ‘Download source data’.
Table 2a - Business and community services by HE provider
The tables on this page include data about HE providers' engagements with non-academic businesses and organisations. We categorise these organisations into the following groups:
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) includes enterprises which employ fewer than 250 persons and which have an annual turnover not exceeding EUR 50 million, and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding EUR 43 million. SMEs include micro, small and medium enterprises and sole traders.
Other (non-SME) commercial businesses includes other commercial businesses which do not match the above definition of SMEs.
Non-commercial organisations includes organisations from which shareholders or trustees do not benefit financially.
Continuing Professional Development and Continuing Education
HE providers offer courses to upskill and develop workforces and to enhance the employability and professional skills of individuals. This table records income from these courses, as well as the number of learner days delivered.
Table 2b - Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Continuing Education (CE) courses for business and the community by HE provider
This table shows the value of contributions to publicly funded research from collaboration with non-academic organisations. The value of these collaborations can be in cash or ‘in kind’ (for example staff time, use of equipment, provision of data, etc.). Use the drop-down to filter by source of public funding.
Table 1 - Income from collaborative research involving public funding by HE provider
Collaborative Income is returned for research projects which have public sponsorship (grant in aid from a government or public body) to support research performed in collaboration with at least one other non-academic organisation (collaborator). Collaborative research with other HE providers is not included. 'Collaborative research' must involve:
Grant-in-aid from at least one public body, and
A material contribution (which may be cash or 'in kind' if specified in the collaborative agreement and auditable) from at least one external non-academic collaborator.
The term 'non-academic organisation (collaborator)' should be understood to refer to charities, public and not-for-profit organisations as well as commercial business.
The following sources of public funding are included:
UKRI Research Councils, Royal Society and British Academy includes all collaborative research income from research councils covered by the UK Research and Innovation, The Royal Society and The British Academy. The research councils are:
AHRC - Arts and Humanities Research Council
BBSRC - Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
EPSRC - Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
ESRC - Economic and Social Research Council
MRC - Medical Research Council
NERC - Natural Environment Research Council
STFC - Science and Technology Facilities Council plus other income from The Royal Society, British Academy and The Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Other UK Government departments includes income from other UK government departments and includes income from Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs).
EU Government includes all research income from all government bodies operating in the EU, which includes the European Commission but excludes bodies in the UK.
Other includes charities, public and not-for-profit organisations as well as commercial businesses.