Tag: links

  • The Hickson review on university-investor links makes the case for commercialisation as a team sport

    The Hickson review on university-investor links makes the case for commercialisation as a team sport

    At the bottom of page fifteen of his new independent report commissioned by UKRI on university and investor links Tony Hickson Chief Business Officer, Cancer Research UK and Cancer Research Horizons, writes that:

    Innovation and economic growth is a team sport from end to end, involving individual researchers, institutions, investors, supporting infrastructures as well as agencies, government and philanthropy.

    A good idea without any funding or support will never make any impact. A bad idea with funding and support will fail. Accepting innovation and growth as a “team sport” means prioritising the growth of the ecosystem over yet another debate on equity, and it means shifting the collective behaviours of investors, businesses, universities, and researchers, rather than rehashing the forever debate on how to make academics more entrepreneurial (whatever that means.)

    One way or another

    On the face of it this is a report that follows the likes of McMillan, Dowling, Rees, and Tracey in wrestling with how to get good ideas out of universities and into the economy.  In the context of UKRI’s significant change of approach toward more explicitly supporting economic growth this review feels like it has been published at exactly the moment it has an audience willing to listen and able to act. It is a review which does not seek to just engage with the economy as it is but position the partnership between universities, governments and their agencies, and investors, as a force for shaping the economy itself.

    It is less a guide on how to do commercialisation more of a prospectus on how to build a more prosperous country with universities at its heart.

    The review is entirely explicit that this isn’t just about changing how universities work (albeit there are far reaching proposals on forcing universities to disclose IP policies, incentivising entrepreneurial activity, and new formula funding for proof-of-concept work) . Taking a good idea to a funded proposition depends on the effective interaction between the production of knowledge, the availability of capital, infrastructure (including business support), the availability of talent, and proper policy and regulation. It is how all the actors work together that can make the ecosystem successful.

    The analysis presented here is that parts of the ecosystem are working well. The UK government has been successful in continually funding high-quality research and producing the kind of stable investment environment through HEIF and other funds that businesses enjoy. The parts not working so well include the availability of specialist capital, regional distribution of research, the diversity of institutions and topics being funded, the lack of specialist support in some areas, and the lack of investor expertise or understanding in some fields.

    The better ecosystem is therefore about making all of the players within it coalesce around clear goals with clear incentives and better support. As respondents to the field work highlighted the UK is not large enough to try to succeed at everything nor is it small enough to coalesce assets around a few key areas. Clearer goals and more targeted support requires better relationships between universities and investors.

    Living in the real world

    As any frequent attendee of university-business collaboration events will tell you, universities are often called slow moving, bureaucratic, not entrepreneurial enough, or otherwise shielded from how the real world works. There is an analysis of university commercialisation that suggests that if universities acted more like businesses they would be better at attracting more investment. This analysis is unhelpful in placing the focus on one actor within a complex ecosystem and underplays the extent to which the stability of universities, and therefore the investment certainty they can bring, is actually their greatest contribution to the ecosystem.

    It turns out UK universities are already pretty good at commercial activity. The UK is second only to the US in terms of value generated from university spin-outs. The UK is a leader in the number of venture capital exits (against behind the US). And university spin-outs are showing growth in venture capital investment at later stages where later stage investment more broadly is growing at a slower rate.

    The university-investor relationship is also more complicated than is often assumed. For a start, there is no single approach to commercialisation and there is no single kind of investor. Commercialisation might include spin-outs but it also includes consultancy, licensing, partnerships, and start-ups. Venture capital may be the single most popular kind of funding (excluding grants) but the landscape includes family offices, government, private equity, university affiliated funds, and others.

    There is also a difference between universities being able to produce economic goods and those economic goods being deployed in the right places, at the right time, to the maximum impact. Hickson’s report highlights that proof of concept funding is hard to come by, specialist support for specific deep-tech sectors is limited, and the availability of capital for certain areas can be limited.

     

    Call me

    In his foreword Hickson writes that “There is no shortage of good ideas and the long-held myth that the UK excels at research but struggles with commercialising ideas out of academia is increasingly outdated.”

    Dispelling this myth requires more work to support access to finance (and the right kind of finance), improving university-investor relationships and mutual understanding, reframing how success is recognised within universities, and improving the shared the capacity of universities and investors to work together. The opportunity is for universities to not only seize the mantle of economic growth but to increase their own impact through research.

    There is a lot to like in the review but it is perhaps strongest in being clear that all actors have a role in university-investor supported economic growth. UKRI, as the commissioners of this work, has already committed to looking at unlocking pension capital, supporting sector-specific accelerators, more regionally focussed funding interventions, and working with partnerships to expand specialist training. The success of a proposal to shift the university-investor ecosystem depends on how the ecosystem responds. If UKRI can set out a ten year vision with new metrics for commercial activity, while strengthening the national innovation economy, and nudging capital markets to more closely align with university needs, then this review could come to be seen as a turning point for the whole sector.

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  • Agent Advisory Groups set to strengthen UK-East Asia recruitment links

    Agent Advisory Groups set to strengthen UK-East Asia recruitment links

    Addressing the audience at the British Council’s East Asia Education Week 2025, held in Hong Kong, Xiang Weng, visa outreach officer for South China/ West China/ Hong Kong and Macau Visa, British Consulate – General Guangzhou, described a “new concept” which would see agent advisory groups set up to enhance collaboration.

    “One of our colleagues from Vietnam set up what we call our Agent Advisory Groups and tested the concept there. Now, we plan to expand it across the rest of East Asia,” said Weng.

    “By having these advisory groups, UKVI can build a much stronger connection with agents, gain valuable local intelligence, and share insights with our Home Office colleagues. This will help us introduce and improve our visa services across the region.”

    Though UKVI didn’t confirm plans to introduce agent advisory groups in the broader East Asian region to The PIE News, it noted that it continually works with overseas stakeholders, including the British Council, to support prospective students by addressing their questions about the UK visa system.

    Over the years, Vietnam has played a pioneering role in the UK’s efforts to increase transparency among agents in East Asia. 

    By having these advisory groups, the UKVI can build a much stronger connection with agents, gain valuable local intelligence, and share insights with our Home Office colleagues.

    Xiang Weng, British Consulate-General Guangzhou

    Just last year, over 130 education advisers in Vietnam earned the prestigious “I am a UK-certified counsellor” badge, as part of the Agent Quality Framework, showcasing their expertise and deep understanding of the UK as a study destination.

    According to Weng, the concept’s success in Vietnam can be emulated in the broader East Asian region. 

    Though visa approval remains high in East Asia, students still fall victims to common mistakes, she explained.

    “Some students forget to provide a TB (tuberculosis) certificate or evidence of finances which can impact their applications,” stated Weng. 

    “In countries like Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, China, and Hong Kong, when applying for a student visa, you only need to submit your passport and TB certificate. That’s it. You don’t even need to apply for IELTS or provide evidence of finances.”

    Though visas challenges have not proved to be a major barrier for UK universities accessing the East Asian student market, intra-regional mobility and price concerns are leading to fluctuations in demand for UK education, as reported by The PIE News. 

    According to Daniel Zheng, managing director, HOPE International Education, safety concerns and career prospects have also become key factors influencing student choices in East Asia, particularly in China.

    To tackle these challenges, UK universities are increasingly turning to in-house employability services and other affordability options for international students. 

    “In terms of affordability, many UK universities, including ours, have in-house employability service teams. Their role is to enhance students’ employability and expand their career opportunities after graduation,” stated Scarlett Peng-Zang, East Asia regional head, University of Nottingham. 

    “So I believe that there’s something everyone is working on regarding addressing the economic uncertainty. I found lots of UK universities offer alternative payment options to improve affordability. So is the same for Nottingham University.”

    As rankings of East Asian universities rise and the countries set mammoth targets for international students, agencies are also looking inward for recruitment opportunities, expanding beyond the UK. 

    “In the past six months, my colleagues and I have traveled to Singapore and Malaysia three times, visiting UK university campuses like Southampton and Nottingham, as well as boarding schools like Epsom College,” stated Zheng.

    “This indicates that there is significant interest – not just from us, but also from our partners and institutions – in the Malaysian market, particularly from China.”

    These changing trends come at a time when UK institutions are under pressure to measure the return on investment of their agents, according to Fraser Deas, director, client success, Grok Global. 

    “We are noticing that UK institutions are under pressure to measure the ROI of their agents. How can we work with them, along with in-country staff, to ensure that agencies provide evidence that these partnerships are going well? There’s important work to be done in that sense,” stated Deas. 

    “I think there is a genuinely good understanding in the sector of the difference between in-country staff and agents. The role of a third party should be to facilitate that relationship without interfering, but it remains very important.”

    Agents and universities having a direct relationship has also become important for UK-East Asia relations, with organisations like BUILA demonstrating how agents can be compliant with the UK National Code of Ethical Practice as the Agent Quality Framework comes in focus. 

    As per Dave Few, Associate Director, Jackstudy Abroad, while education agents are already performing well, there is a concern about maintaining quality as more agencies enter the market, particularly through aggregators.

    “In my unbiased perspective, I think agents are already doing a fantastic job. The key factor is the quality of information – ensuring that as the barrier for entry for new agencies lowers through aggregators, the quality remains consistent,” stated Few. 

    “Whether that means requiring a year of training from the very beginning or another measure, the priority should always be keeping the student at the heart of the conversation, not revenue.”

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