A glocal gateway
Impact report - glocal gateway
Rooted in the local community
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Rooted in the local community
East London has long served as an historic global gateway, connecting continents, cultures, and commerce. From the banks of the Thames, the area has played a pivotal historic role facilitating global connection.
Since it was founded in 1898, the University of East London has played an important role in facilitating education, innovation, and cultural exchange. This original civic mission has shaped the identity and activity of UEL over the past 125 years.
UEL plays a role both as an anchor institution in East London, through strong partnerships in the local community. At the same time, it opens the door to students and partners from all corners of the world. This local to global approach celebrates the international outlook of East London and helps the UK to build strong partnerships around the world through education and research.
Foreword by Lord Jo Johnson
Universities are much more than education providers. While ensuring first-class pedagogy and pastoral support for their students rightly remains a core priority, Britain’s universities should be much more widely recognised for their critical importance as economic - both local and national - powerhouses, and engines of social mobility, as well as the research and development innovation for which the UK rightly has world renown.
This report helps elucidate how universities can and do help tackle some of the country’s – and world’s – most complex challenges. The University of East London’s prescience in 2018 has enabled it to lead the way in working with industry to tackle both the current UK skills gap, and identify those skills needed into the future. Through its unique approach to
industry collaboration, it is harnessing the drive and innovation of talented students from across the international social spectrum, equipping them with the skills and confidence to allow them to chart their own prosperous futures while giving employers a competitive edge.
An anchor institution in East London
In the last 3 years:
- 14,728 visitors attended UEL public lectures
- 6,641 people watched UEL music, dance and drama performances
- 7,125 people visited UEL's exhibitions and galleries
With its diverse and inclusive environment, UEL attracts students from around the world, fostering a vibrant community of international learners from over 160 different countries. Through its curriculum, UEL prepares its students to be global citizens, equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary to navigate an increasingly interconnected world. Through its education and research activity, it serves as a dynamic bridge connecting individuals and ideas from different corners of the world, fostering cross-cultural understanding and driving innovation on a global scale.
In order to play both a global and local role, UEL harnesses talent and builds partnerships in its local community and connects these to organisations and students from all over the world. These “glocal” communities create a ripple effect whereby UEL’s reach is felt far beyond the physical space of the institution.
Case studies
Clinics supporting the community
UEL students are supported by qualified professionals who are our staff, providing a free service to the community through our clinics. The Legal Advice Centre (LAC) – This is open 5 days a week through the year providing free advice covering every area of law. Students see a client, take instructions and do legal research under the supervision of a qualified solicitor who provides the advice to a client. The Centre works with local charities and supports local MPs where legal advice is needed by their constituents. Over the last
12 months, the LAC has provided support to over 150 clients and provided over 200 students with experience in practice. The LAC also runs a criminal justice project working on cases where there have been wrongful convictions, and an Immigration Advice Service in partnership with the Newham Renewal Programme.
The Tax and Accountancy Clinic (TAC) – This provides free accounting advice to those struggling to deal with their taxation requirements in relation to self-assessments, final accounts or general accounting queries. The service supports those who are unable to afford to pay for professional accounting services, and is run by students and supervised by UEL staff who are also qualified practising accountants.
The Business Advice Centre (BAC) – The BAC is staffed by experts in the field of business management and entrepreneurship, providing advice in every area of business from start-ups to established businesses facing financial difficulty. The advice is provided by UEL staff working with students on a project basis, and extends to supporting students with their own business endeavours.
UEL archive collections
UEL Archives is home to a large collection of donated material that is available for access to staff, students and members of the public. Amongst its collections are the British Olympic Association archive, containing material detailing the history of both British participation in the Olympic Games and the history and development of Olympianism as a movement. The Archive covers the period from 1906-2009, and notably includes records concerning the organisation of the 1908 and 1948 London Olympic Games.
UEL has also been home to the Refugee Council Archive since 2002, a significant collection of materials that represent the movement and voices of displaced people post World War II. The archive serves students, academics, researchers, policy makers, agencies, and in particular refugees, for whom access to dedicated materials on forced migration is often difficult. In 2023, the UEL Archives successfully bid for an Archives Revealed Scoping Grant which will enable further development, discovery and preservation of the Refugee Council Archive. Archives Revealed is a partnership programme between The National Archives, The Pilgrim Trust, and the Wolfson Foundation, and is the only funding stream in the UK dedicated to cataloguing and unlocking archives. The award of this grant reinforces the national importance of the Refugee Council Archive and the positive reputational impact it has for the wider institution.
The UEL Archives has also been supporting a National Lottery Fund project looking at the exploring the lived experiences and histories of migrant women in Greenwich. The project was entitled The Colours of Greenwich and participants created a patchwork map of Greenwich documenting their own lived experiences, with an exhibition event hosted at UEL.
Stratford Youth Zone
In 2023, UEL launched a partnership with the London Borough of Newham to work on the Council’s flagship Stratford Youth Zone, injecting a £733,000-a-year investment to support creative and performing arts opportunities for young people in Newham.
The Youth Zone will offer a range of programmes and activities for young people with a focus on drama, music, dance and digital arts.
UEL will support young people in Newham through work experience, mentorship, internships and industry placements, and its arts students (numbering 2,000) will run education workshops in the zone.
The project will also draw on the insights and expertise of UEL staff, who have substantial experience as practitioners and cultural producers and are able to share their knowledge so students not only become experts in their chosen disciplines, but also understand how to succeed in and sustain a career in the creative industries.
This report quantifies the value that University of East London brings to Newham and its communities; and I am excited by all the possibilities that our partnership will unlock for more our residents including for our young people.
Our pioneering collaboration at Stratford Youth Zone will shine a light on the diversity of talent in our borough, offering an array of opportunities in the cultural and creative industries.
From training Newham’s health sector talent pipeline and working with us to tackle health inequalities that exacerbates racial inequity; the University is an anchor institution boosting our inclusive economy and community wealth building intentions.
As we celebrate 125 years of powerful impact and learning, I am looking forward to the ongoing collaboration between the University and Newham Council as we look to the future together with confidence.
Rokhsana Fiaz OBE
Mayor of Newham
Institute for Connected Communities
The Institute for Connected Communities, based at UEL, is an interdisciplinary cluster of world-leading academics from disciplines including health, criminology, psychology, law and sociology. Its role is to encourage research that responds to global issues, including improving health outcomes, tackling online harms, building community cohesion, addressing inequality and driving sustainability. The research spans local, regional, national and global geographies.
The Institute has 12 ongoing research projects, covering a diverse range of topics: from developing training in Hackney
for those working with elderly or frail residents; to promoting social inclusion for difficult-to-reach young people locally and internationally; to understanding youth pathways to cybercrime, and promoting child safety in the metaverse, with partners throughout the EU and in Australia
Powering economic growth across the UK
UEL has its roots in east London - but its wider impact is helping to drive economic growth and productivity across the UK. By attracting students to the area, bringing in visitors, employing staff, supporting local businesses, and procuring goods and services from a wider supply chain, UEL is contributing to both the local and national economy. Its research activity also attracts wider investment, including in emerging companies and social enterprises.
To better understand the extent of its economic activity, UEL commissioned Public First and London Economics to conduct an independent assessment of its economic impact. The overall economic impact of UEL based on data from the 2021/22 economic year.
Collaboration across the globe
The benefits of global engagement are reciprocal. They are of benefit not just to the countries with which universities engage, but to the UK campuses and their collective students and staff, and the local communities in their city and region.
UEL’s work with communities therefore not only has a positive impact in east London, but also abroad.
Researchers across UEL are working with governments, universities and NGOs in countries including India, Zambia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Brazil in order to contribute to evidence-based policymaking, research to close global inequalities and sharing their expertise with communities internationally.
Download the full report
UEL Impact Report
pdf, 14.16 MB