Modelled Impact of University and College Expenditure
We have unparalleled expertise and experience of undertaking modelled analyses of the expenditure impact of Universities and Colleges in the UK and Republic of Ireland, having worked on higher education impact for over 30 years. Our Chief Economist, Emeritus Professor Iain McNicoll, has an international reputation in economic modelling, particularly input-output analysis. He has designed and specified all of the economic models that we use. Every economic analysis is tailored to the needs of the individual client and involves modelling the impact of the individual client - we never use “off-the-peg” generic multipliers.
UK Institutions
We have our own in-house extended input-output modelling system for national and regional analysis of the impact of universities and colleges across the UK.
To meet the need for more fine-grained and local impact analysis (for example, by local Council or Parliamentary Constituency area) we have developed the Viewforth Gravity Modelling System (VGMS), which can be tailored to the specific geographic location of our client institution. This can encompass multi-campus impact.
Modelled analysis gives results in terms of impact on output and jobs generated across the given geographical areas, together with regional and national impact and contribution to regional and national GDP. At a local level impact results can include contribution to local household income.
Republic of Ireland Institutions
We also have developed a full input-output model of the Republic of Ireland, which we have used in a number of studies – also combined with in-depth gravity-modelling of more local areas.
Student and visitor expenditure
Modelled analysis can include impact of student and visitor expenditure, as well as producing student impact on a per-capita basis (for both international and domestic students.) Per-capita student impact can be important for policy and planning purposes.
Provision of user-friendly model for client in-house use
We always provide each client with their own, unique, set of multipliers that they can use for planning and updating. We can also develop a user-friendly model for client’s own use in updating institutional results or for internal policy and planning purposes (e.g. projecting impact of an increase/decrease in international or domestic students.)