Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate his Department has made of the value of the higher education sector to the economy.

Higher education is an important source of productivity growth. It equips individuals with the skills and abilities they need to succeed in the workforce, and helps drive innovation by strengthening the economy’s knowledge base, as well as enriching our cultural and intellectual life. The BIS research paper The relationship between graduates and economic growth across countries (2013) provides an estimate of the sector’s contribution, and is available online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/229492/bis-13-858-relationship-between-graduates-and-economic-growth-across-countries.pdf