No poverty 2024
Impact for Students
The University of Huddersfield is proud of its record in widening participation in higher education, enabling students, their families and communities to transform their lives. Further, the work of colleagues in developing sustainable communities and economies addresses the challenge of poverty regionally, nationally and internationally.
The University provides a £1,000 scholarship to approximately 1,000 of the least financially privileged of its new undergraduate students each year, potentially amounting to £1m of support. The scholarship is targeted at those with less than £25,000 pa household income. (According to the UK’s Office for National Statistics, median household disposable income in the UK was £34,500 in financial year ending 2023.)
The total sums allocated through the Huddersfield bursary for home students was £680,000.
As part of the Access and Participation process overseen by the Office for Students, the University sets and monitors targets for applicants and students in lower quintile of income (and more specifically of IMD), including on completion of their qualifications.
The University is also proud of its long-standing record in working with students from low and low-middle income countries. At present, the University is offering fee-reduction scholarships to many applicants to support participation from these countries resulting in high levels of participation relative to the UK HE sector as a whole, as indicated by the University’s market share, examples including:
- Liberia , 4%
- Niger , 4%
- Vietnam , 4%
- Egypt , 3%
- Pakistan , 3%
- Sudan , 2%
- Gambia , 2%
- Nigeria , 2%
- Senegal , 2%
- Rwanda , 2%
- Myanmar (Burma) , 1%
- Sri Lanka , 1%
- Angola , 1%
- Bangladesh , 1%
- India , 1%
Source: HESA Student Record 22/23, HESA Finance record 22/23*
© Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited, extracted 07/11/2024
Neither the Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited nor HESA Services Limited can accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived by third parties from HESA data or other information supplied by the Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited or HESA Services Limited through Heidi Plus.
Public and Business Engagement
The University’s 3M Buckley Innovation Centre is a centre for enterprise and innovation for businesses across the region, with a strong focus on SMEs. We help businesses to innovate, connect and grow through access to knowledge, support and technology, all contributing to regional economic growth and productivity. The Centre works with pioneering businesses to help develop ideas and solve issues; design and prototype new or improved products; facilitate high quality, high impact R&D; and support growth and success. The Centre promotes collaboration between the University and industry to create value, business growth and R&D opportunities.
Support for SMEs through the Huddersfield Business School was assessed as part of the Small Business Charter process in 2022. As a result, the University was the first to be awarded the Charter for five years and with compliance against all 31 of the Charter’s criteria.
The University has recorded significant increases in the numbers of businesses with which it engages – from 3974 in 2020/21, to 4173 in 2021/22, to 4423 in 2022/23, to 4468 in 2023/24.
The University's Clinical and Wellbeing Services help people in the local community to make informed and positive lifestyle choices to improve their health and wellbeing. Examples include the Mobile Clinic vehicle which brings clinical and wellbeing services to our communities, and the University's Podiatry Clinic.
Learning and Students
The University through its Enterprise Team helps student start-ups which support a low-carbon economy. Many (perhaps most) of those involved in University Enterprise programmes are considering the environment and sustainability as part of their idea, or approach. In addition, the University established a Maker Space in 2023, a collaborative workspace which supports inventors and creatives to come together, share ideas and work on their businesses in the creative, fashion and textiles industries, together with digital enterprises in the electronics field. The Maker Space along with the Enterprise Team has supported several textiles and fashion ventures who have a strong focus on sustainability and the circular economy, for example:
- A recent graduate has set up a circular economy business where they collect festival waste tents and turn them into clothing items to sell at festivals and online. This graduate was awarded £5000 from the University's Alan Lewis Seed Fund to enhance manufacturing and production and expand their reach to a broader audience, by having a greater presence at more festivals and events.
- A graduate has set up a circular economy business where they take unused, military surplus clothing and give it new life by refashioning and upcycling them into durable, high-quality, yet high-end, couture fashion. This graduate was awarded £3714 from the University's Alan Lewis Seed Fund to invest in manufacturing equipment and website development to aid sales growth and the development of a micro-manufacturing base in the local area.
The Enterprise Team contributes to curriculum development, for example, teaching about social enterprise in the School of Human and Health Sciences. They also promote enterprise and sustainability through the University's Global Professional Award. The team has recently secured funding from Enterprise Educators UK to run a project where it will facilitate wider briefing and dialogue about the climate and ecological context with sustainability and business stakeholders in and around the university.
Research
The University’s research and knowledge transfer activity contributes to the Goal of No Poverty. A notable example is the work of Professor Philip Brown who has undertaken research as part of the Refugee Integration Yorkshire and Humber project. The study calls for urgent action to review how policy and practice at all levels can be shaped to deliver better outcomes for refugees. It is aimed at those in government, the public sector, the voluntary and community sector and activists.