Leading NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul today welcomed a new partnership initiative between three leading universities in the West Midlands region of England, saying it will have a global impact.
"I whole heartedly welcome this new partnership and the impact it can have on the West Midlands and on a global stage," Lord Paul, in his capacity as Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton, said.
The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) is a new initiative between Wolverhampton university, Birmingham City University and Coventry University.
"It is vital that universities are not only seats of learning, knowledge and innovation but are also at the forefront of economic regeneration and providing the necessary skills for industry," Lord Paul said.
The WMCA is planned as a resource with which to meet objectives in the region around skills, employment opportunities and productivity - including the creation of over 500,000 jobs by 2030 and a targeted rate of growth to match that of the London economy.
The WMCU will also tackle a significant shortage of lower and higher end skills - particularly in the health and advanced manufacturing sectors - in a renewed effort to address the high level of unemployment (9.3 per cent) across the region's seven metropolitan authorities.
Professor Geoff Layer, vice-chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton, said: "Our ambition through our collaboration is to build on existing assets across all three universities focusing on product leadership and priority industries for the region including health care, construction, digital and creative and professional services.
"At the moment no single university can offer a geographically comprehensive range of services available in one place, and it's our aim to provide our customers with a seamless journey whilst at the same time providing value for money and economies of scale which benefit our partners."
Today's announcement came ahead of the official launch of the WMCA next month as a signal of how higher education institutions can contribute to increasing productivity, wealth creation, and job opportunities across the West Midlands.
Professor Cliff Allan, vice-chancellor of Birmingham City University, said: "The launch of West Midlands Combined Universities is about making sure higher education across our region can meet the ambitious demands of the devolution agenda.
Professor John Latham, vice-chancellor of Coventry University, added: "By launching this ambitious initiative in collaboration with our neighbouring universities Birmingham City and Wolverhampton, we're creating a partnership which spans the combined authority area and is ideally placed to reaffirm the role that higher education plays in shoring up the industries which are vital to our region.
The partnership brings together the institutions' applied research and training expertise to develop skills and foster innovation across the region.
