Demonstrating the public benefits of higher education (metric development micro-studies)

1. What is the purpose of developing the micro-studies?

The programme will work towards development of a broader range of metrics of HE interactions with business and the community (beyond those presently collected through the HE-Business and Community Interaction Survey (HEFCE 2009/23)). The programme aims to increase understanding at a detailed level of the benefits of HE, and hence to improve methods for measurement and description. It is not expected that we will arrive at an additional set of fully formed metrics through this exercise alone, but we would hope to make progress in that direction.

2. What do we mean by 'micro-studies'?

We are looking for small-scale studies at this stage, limited in scope, short in duration and modest in terms of funding levels. The aim of these micro-studies is to look at areas that have been relatively under-investigated and seek the best places for further research and evaluation. So we are looking to support at this stage a number of smaller studies, to cover the terrain.

3. What areas should micro-studies focus on?

We are asking for proposals in the areas of:

• social, community and culture (public/community/civic engagement)
• public policy
• student enterprise/social enterprise
• exchanges (people-based)
• measuring impacts
• other areas proposed by study teams on an exceptional basis.

Through the 'other' category we are allowing study teams to propose to us gap areas that we may have missed. We are particularly interested in the area of 'networks', 'catalysts' and 'public spaces¹' between HEIs and their business and community partners.

4. Should proposals focus on work to achieve quantitative or qualitative indicators?

Our primary interest is to achieve quantitative indicators, but we recognise that studies may need to focus on descriptions, definitions and analyses on a way toward isolating a potential quantitative metric(s).

5. How much funding is available and how many projects are expected to be funded?

We are proposing to allocate around £100,000 in total through this exercise, to be used across a wide range of small-scale studies (we anticipate between five and seven).

6. How long should proposals to us be?

Proposals should be no more than six sides of A4 (excluding annexes which should not exceed a further five sides of A4) and are intended to be small-scale (say, two to three months' duration).

7. Is there any further guidance available?

All guidance is included in HEFCE Circular letter 16/2009 and its annex.