In today’s rapidly changing world, universities cannot deliver their mission in isolation. The most meaningful progress happens when we work with others, pooling expertise, resources, and ambition to create shared impact. Partnerships matter in higher education and especially for a civic, anchor-institution university like UWE Bristol because they are not just 'nice to have', they are core to how a modern university delivers its mission, sustains its relevance, and creates impact. People often ask me - 'what is a partnership?' and it's a great question. Frequently my immediate thoughts take me to my own professional discipline of healthcare, where you simply cannot achieve positive outcomes without some form of partnership. Words such as collaboration and connectivity can be used, however a partnership ultimately relies on curating positive, long-lasting relationships, where mutual benefits and outcomes for those involved can be achieved. Partnerships need time to shape and sometimes we have to learn from our ways of working and this learning becomes crucial and forms the foundations in terms of how we approach future partnerships. Many types of partnerships exist across higher education, through the traditional approach of academic validation / quality agreements, anchor partnership agreements, to the broader societal partnerships with communities and charity organisations. Part of my role is to ensure the wider value chain associated with any partnership is understood and the potential maximised across those who could be positively impacted. Yes, partnerships and relationships across higher and tertiary education can be complex and sometimes unclear, but this should also be seen as an opportunity to create new models and ways of working. Our relationships with employers, further education colleges, VCSE organisations, industry, local / combined authorities all matter. Spending time with colleagues across different organisations, regardless of size or scale also matters, to understand their challenges, whether it be workforce upskilling, implementing innovation and continuous improvement as business as usual, through to simply having a connection point with an established civic facing University such as UWE Bristol. Partnerships matter and reflect the scale, strategic importance, and depth of collaboration with external organisations. Partnerships create opportunities to shape future curricula and how we as an organisation interface with our partners. This approach shapes how we look to deliver on civic and regional missions, enhance learning and skills pipelines, accelerate research, innovation and impact, extend reach, reputation and influence, enabling shared resources and mutual investment. Ultimately, effective partnerships and engagement helps to create the conditions to future-proof against higher education sector challenges. #partnershipsmatter #Highereducationimpact #partnershipvalue #Innovationthroughpartnerships
Jenny Jenkin
5mo
Really interesting post, and I couldn't agree more. Many of my most rewarding career moments have been through partnerships of various forms. And a further common thread has been shared 'power' - for want of a better term. Partnerships with a power imbalance rarely fulfil their potential despite good intent.
Lou Hardinge
5mo
Working in isolation rarely has the same impact as working together Marc Griffiths Appreciate your thoughts on this .
Really thoughtful post Marc. I completely agree that partnerships are not an add-on but the foundation of how universities can deliver relevance and impact. At London Social Ventures, we are seeing exactly what you describe play out in practice in relation to our work on supporting social ventures coming out of universities. No single university can create the conditions for social ventures to thrive across the city, but by pooling strengths across the many universities we are working with and connecting with civic partners, funders and industry, we are beginning to build the kind of collaborative infrastructure that individual institutions cannot deliver alone. At the same time, it takes real time and effort to build this from the ground up. Developing trust, aligning priorities and creating the right spaces for collaboration do not happen quickly. We have learnt that almost as much value comes from the process of building these partnerships as from the outcomes themselves. Your reflections resonate strongly with our experience that partnership is not just about agreements or structures but about creating spaces where universities and external partners can jointly shape solutions.