Higher Education – The Higher Education – Business and Community Interaction Survey (HE-BCI) and other HESA data

The HE-BCI survey is the main source of information on knowledge exchange activities in UK universities and is collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). The 2013/14 HE-BCI survey is the 14th year of this mandatory survey of all UK Universities and provides a comprehensive profile of engagement activities. The survey focuses on ‘specific interactions with external partners, such as contract and collaborative research, consultancy, continuing professional development and intellectual property, rather than attempting to assess the entire contribution of higher education institutions as throughout their teaching and research activities’ .

Key metrics covered by the survey include:

• Value and number of research contracts by each university with small and larger firms. Same data for consultancy contracts, training contracts and facilities and equipment contracts.

• Data on the strategic objectives of universities and their commitment to the development of local business etc.

ERC have aggregated this data to LEP level. The data, therefore, has the potential to add to the range of contextual variables which can be used to understand business performance at the local level.