The Impact of Number 10 North on Universities
We all know that most journeys look easier on the map than they are in real life, and the Impact of Number 10 North on Universities is likely to prove no exception. York to Manchester, for instance, is a pleasingly clean line when viewed from a polite distance, the sort of route that suggests movement, progress and arrival, provided one ignores the M62, the weather, the engineering works, the school holidays, the missed connections and the small matter of northern transport behaving like a philosophical test of human optimism.
That is the danger with big political ideas, too. On paper, the argument is beautifully simple: move more power north, create a stronger centre of decision-making in Manchester, give regional productivity the attention it has lacked for too long, and allow universities, businesses, investors and civic leaders greater public control to work closer to the machinery of government. It sounds practical, symbolic and overdue.
Symbolism is a stellar idea, but only when it changes behaviour. A new address for power may create attention, and attention is useful, but it will not by itself create an operating model. That is where vice-chancellors and senior university leaders need to be clear-eyed, because No. 10 North is coming, in one form or another, and the institutions that prepare early will have a better chance of shaping the agenda rather than merely reacting to it.
Why The Political Window Matters
A couple of weeks ago, at the York Festival of Ideas, I put a question to Lord Jim O’Neill about whether the North of England could ever take productivity seriously without placing the N8 universities much closer to the centre of the strategy. Not adjacent to it, not politely included in the innovation paragraph, and not wheeled out only when someone needs a reassuring photograph of clever people near a laboratory, but genuinely central to how the North thinks about growth.
That exchange led to a more focused conversation this week about the N8, the Northern Powerhouse and the broader challenge of turning the North’s considerable university assets into sustained economic momentum. The timing matters because No. 10 North no longer feels like a throwaway phrase from political advisors. While Andy Burnham sets Brand Manchester and regional power back into the national conversation, the old Northern Powerhouse question has returned in a more practical and urgent form.
The North does not lack ambition, civic identity or institutional quality. It has world-class universities, major city regions, industrial depth, research excellence, business clusters and large pools of talent. Yet the productivity gap remains stubborn, and the uncomfortable truth is that impressive ingredients do not automatically produce an impressive meal. The assets are visible, but the system connecting them is often weaker, slower and less deliberate than the scale of the opportunity demands.
That is why this matters for universities in the North. The real prize is not more ministerial visits, more roundtables or more speeches in which higher education is warmly praised as a driver of growth. We have all heard those speeches before, and many vice-chancellors could probably write them in their sleep. The more serious opportunity is that a northern centre of government might force a more practical conversation about what universities are expected to contribute to regional productivity, and what government, employers, investors and civic leaders must do in return.
The N8 Has Assets, But Assets Are Not A System
The N8 universities of Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield and York represent one of the most significant research and innovation assets in the country. They are not minor civic ornaments arranged around the northern economy. They are among its deepest reservoirs of knowledge, legitimacy, research capability, international connectivity, talent and long-term institutional presence.
That matters enormously, but it is also where the more uncomfortable question begins. A group of excellent universities is not automatically a productivity platform, because research excellence does not automatically become regional commercial growth, graduate talent does not automatically stay local, employer engagement does not automatically become employee retention, and civic purpose does not automatically turn into measurable social and economic impact.
The challenge, therefore, is not whether the North has the necessary ingredients. It plainly does. The challenge is whether those ingredients can be organised, incentivised and measured in ways that consistently produce higher productivity, stronger business growth, deeper investment, better graduate retention, more effective commercialisation and closer alignment between skills and economic opportunity.
That distinction matters because excellence is not the same as systemic performance. A university can be outstanding in research, teaching, reputation and student outcomes while still operating in a regional economy that struggles to convert those strengths into broad-based productivity gains. Equally, a group of universities can collaborate in really valuable ways without yet being a visible economic engine for the region.
This is not a criticism of the N8. It is a recognition of the size of the prize. The N8 should not be seen only as a research collaboration, important though that is. It could also become one of the foundations of a renewed Northern Powerhouse operating model, connecting research, investment, employers, skills, talent, commercialisation and place-based growth in a more deliberate way.
The awkward bit, because there is always an awkward bit, is that universities live in a world of coopetition. They can be partners in one context and competitors in another. They may collaborate on research while competing for international students, staff, rankings, funding, prestige and political attention. That is not a moral failing. It is the system doing what the system was designed to do.
So the test is not whether competition can be wished away. It cannot, and probably should not. The test is whether the operating model is strong enough to make cooperation valuable despite competition. Collaboration does not happen simply because intelligent people agree it would be a good idea. It happens when incentives, accountability and mutual benefit are strong enough to overcome institutional gravity.
What Vice-Chancellors Should Do. Now.
For vice-chancellors, the danger is assuming that a Manchester-based centre of government will either completely solve the problem or prove an extravagant irrelevance. The more likely outcome is more nuanced as these things often tend to be. Number 10 North will create a new arena in which regional contribution, productivity, graduate outcomes, innovation and civic impact become more visible, more political and more measurable.
That creates opportunity, but it also creates risk. The opportunity is greater influence, better partnerships, more investment, stronger graduate retention and a clearer role in national economic strategy. The risk is that universities are asked to carry more responsibility without receiving the authority, funding or policy alignment needed to make the model work.
This is why preparation matters. Universities should be asking themselves now what evidence they would put on the table if asked to show their contribution to regional productivity. They should know how many graduates remain in the regional economy, which sectors are being strengthened by their talent and expertise, where research is converting into commercial or civic value, how employer intelligence feeds back into courses and careers support, and how effectively they work with investors, mayors, local authorities and business groups.
That is not about reducing universities to training providers or local development agencies, which would be both crude and wrong. It is about recognising that the next phase of the Northern Powerhouse argument will not be won by warm words about partnership. It will be won by evidence, alignment and the ability to show how institutional excellence becomes regional performance.
Not every university will benefit equally, and this point should not be ducked. Some institutions may gain most from deeper civic partnerships, others from stronger investor connections, more visible influence over regional economic policy, better graduate retention or greater commercialisation. Unequal benefit is not a weakness in the model. It is simply the reality of serious partnership, where the collective offer must be strong enough for each institution to see why participation matters.
The universities with the most to gain may also need to be among the most proactive, because political windows rarely stay open long enough for everyone to complete a perfect internal consultation process. Those who move early may help define the agenda, while those who wait for certainty may discover that the agenda has already been written for them.
The sceptical question is fair: would No. 10 North genuinely rebalance economic power, or merely move some of the furniture around? That remains to be seen, and no sensible person should confuse geography with good governance. Yet the greater risk for universities is not that the idea fails to deliver everything promised. The greater risk is that it succeeds just enough to matter, while some institutions are still deciding whether to take it seriously or not.
The North does not need another slogan. It has enough talent, ambition and universities worth backing. What it needs now is a serious operating model capable of turning those assets into sustained productivity growth. If the next version of the Northern Powerhouse is to be built around innovation, skills, investment, and place-based growth, universities cannot be mere contributors. They have to be the architects designing-in Higher Education from the outset.
No.10 North is coming, and vice-chancellors should be ready. Like most journeys, it will look simple enough on the map, but the institutions that understand the operating context before everyone else will be the ones most likely to gain from early influence.
And a seat at the top table.
keith@salesmarvel.co.uk