Knowledge Exchange at Guildhall
Knowledge exchange is the two-way transfer of ideas, research, expertise or skills between universities and the wider world. This might include industry and business, communities, the third sector, or policy-makers and government.
Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF)
HEIF supports knowledge exchange between higher education providers and the wider world that benefits society and the economy. It is managed by Research England and Office for Students, and supports and incentivises providers to work with business, public and third sector organisations, community bodies and the wider public, to exchange knowledge and increase the economic and societal benefit from their work. The funding is calculated on the basis of information we provide to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and Higher Education – Business and Community Interaction (HE-BCI) Record.
Some of the things we fund include:
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Projects that develop collaboration and exchange with the creative industries
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Entrepreneurialism in our staff and student body
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Pilots for new models and ways of working
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Support for creative businesses
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Research into our industry to better develop our programmes
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Better infrastructure and systems in the School for things like evaluation
Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) and Concordat
The KEF piloted in 2020 and was led by Research England. It provides a range of information on the knowledge exchange activities of Higher Education Institutions in England, including the School. The KEF aims to allow universities to better understand and improve their own performance in knowledge exchange, as well as provide businesses and other interested parties with more information to help them access knowledge and expertise within English providers of higher education. You can find further information on the KEF here.
Research England also launched something called the Knowledge Exchange Concordat, which sits alongside KEF to help improve knowledge exchange in the UK. The aim of the concordat is to give universities and their staff and students clarity of mission and to support their development, give partners an accurate representation of our approach to KE, and provide clear indicators of our approaches to performance improvement. It also aims to stress how collaboration between universities and partners in various aspects of KE can be beneficial to all participants.
The concordat sets out examples of good practices and approaches through 8 principles which focus on mission, policies, engagement, transparency and ethics, capacity building, continuous improvement and evaluation.
