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Our work on measuring UCL's impact in London.
Our findings
In spring 2022 the London Office commissioned Deltapoll to undertake qualitative and quantitative in-depth interviews with core partners in London, as well as with Londoners themselves, to understand perceptions of UCL in London.
Core themes of the research included:
- How stakeholders understand the university and what it offers to individuals, organisations and the community;
- What impact does UCL have in and around London;
- Awareness and understanding of UCL in London to Londoners.
In February 2022 interviews were conducted with ten core London Office partners, followed by fieldwork in March and April 2022 amongst 1,251 adults living in London.
The headline messages, including findings from other key pieces of research conducted by UCL including the London Economics Report, Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2022 findings, and Knowledge Exchange Framework (2022) findings, have been collated into ten impact messages which have been shared with our London partners and the UCL community.
London is an exceptional capital city; a population of nearly 9 million people with 270,000 of these people living in the London Borough of Camden alone, the home of UCL’s Bloomsbury campus. Furthermore, over 350,000 people reside in Newham, the home of UCL’s new campus, UCL East. London is a city of brilliance, enterprise and diversity, not just in terms of its communities, workforce and visitors but also in its health service, culture, heritage and economy.
It comes as no surprise that students and staff want to live, study and work in such an inspiring place and UCL contributes some 16,400 staff, 41,800 students and 150,000 London-based alumni to its foundations. These component parts enhance UCL’s Mission to be London’s Global University.
From Bloomsbury to Newham, UCL is well positioned to bring together, with is partners, its purpose, people and place in order to create impact and real change in London. UCL's impact in London campaign messages, as shared during our twitter campaign in November 2022, consolidate our findings from partners, local people, economic activity, research and knowledge exchange to demonstrate our value and place in the capital city:
- UCL was praised for being a university which goes to great lengths to understand and engage with the local community
- UCL's annual impact of £9.9bn across the UK economy is comparable to the trade boost delivered by the London Olympic and Paralympic games
- UCL uses global leadership and learnings with other countries to also benefit local environments
- UCL has an economic impact of £2.2bn in London and supports 11,640 jobs in the capital
- UCL's close collaboration with Camden Council supports the health, wealth and wellbeing of people who live in the Borough
- Over half of Londoners (56%) think that UCL makes a positive contribution to daily life in Bloomsbury
- UCL is a significant employer creating real opportunities for young people and local residents
- UCL's spending creates £3bn for the UK economy, of which £2bn is spent in London
- UCL's cultural impact is considered to be immense in London and at the forefront of learning and innovation
- UCL is number one in London for research power
