New study to reveal impact of universities | higher news | EducationGuardian.co.uk The value of higher education in the UK will come under scrutiny this week when a £3m, three-year study into the social and economic impact of British universities is launched at Strathclyde University.

The project will link researchers from 15 institutions to build a national picture of how universities affect life in regions throughout the UK.

It will cover nine research areas, from regional transformation to how universities engage with their local community, and whether students are catalysts for urban and regional growth.

This looks like an interesting study worth watching. UEA also gets a mention:

The universities of Cambridge, Bristol, Glasgow, Sheffield, Manchester, Wales, Cardiff, East Anglia, Newcastle, Southampton and Glamorgan are taking part, along with the Open University and the Institutes for Fiscal Studies and Employment Studies.

This is what ESRC has about it .