The University of Kent has been graded in the top 20% of its cluster group for its skills, enterprise and entrepreneurship development by the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF).
The Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF), which proposes a third pillar of university activity assessment alongside the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), also graded Kent in the top 40% for its local growth and regeneration focus.
The University was assessed across seven unique perspectives of knowledge exchange activity and compared with 20 other UK higher education institutions under an umbrella cluster.
The 2020 submission of KEF, led by Research England, has been run as a development year after being included as a Government policy in the Industrial Strategy White Paper in 2017.
Following this institutional-level exercise, the University will be: focusing on increasing the visibility of the support it can offer businesses in the region; collecting data that showcases the impact of its research and knowledge exchange work; and pursuing more collaborative opportunities with business, industry, and the public sector to develop research areas.
Carole Barron, Director of Knowledge Exchange and Innovation, said: ‘I am delighted the KEF results clearly demonstrate our commitment to local growth and regeneration through our commitment to developing meaningful research partnerships, delivering high quality professional development programmes, and commercialising our intellectual assets.’
Professor Shane Weller, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research & Innovation at the University of Kent, said: ‘It is very pleasing indeed to see the KEF results reflecting the University’s significant contribution to local growth and regeneration, as well as skills, enterprise and entrepreneurship, and public and community engagement. The University has performed very well in a strong cluster of HEIs. Alongside the University’s participation in the Knowledge Exchange Concordat, these results are particularly helpful in highlighting those areas in which we have the opportunity to develop further, including working with businesses, research partnerships, and commercialisation. The University is now well placed to build on the solid foundations that we have established in the important field of knowledge exchange.’