NWUPC

NWUPC welcomes the recent publication of Transformation and Efficiency: Towards a New Era of Collaboration, a new report from Universities UK (UUK) that calls for urgent, strategic transformation across the UK higher education sector. The report, produced by UUK’s Transformation and Efficiency Taskforce, presents a clear message: universities must respond collaboratively and decisively to ongoing financial pressures and sector-wide challenges.

The past decade has seen a steady decline in real-terms investment in higher education and research. Across all four nations of the UK, institutions are experiencing reduced cost-recovery for research and a significant erosion of the teaching unit of resource. These issues are compounded by rising operational costs, growing compliance obligations, and—particularly in England—a move toward a more competitive funding and student recruitment environment. As a result, many universities have initiated wide-ranging strategic change programmes. Yet, to remain sustainable in both the short and long term, further collective action is essential.

The UUK report highlights the crucial role of shared services, procurement, and digital transformation in achieving lasting efficiencies. Procurement consortia, including NWUPC and our partners in UKUPC, are specifically recognised for our role in supporting institutional resilience through strategic procurement solutions. The report calls on consortia to work closely with members to review the effectiveness of current framework agreements and collaborate with HEPA (Higher Education Procurement Association) to promote a renewed focus on national-level purchasing.

This comes at a pivotal moment. UUK recommends that institutions recommit to delivering a significantly higher proportion of their non-pay expenditure through established framework agreements—leveraging the scale, value, and governance they provide. This is an opportunity for NWUPC members to increase collaboration, mitigate financial risk, and optimise value for money across goods and services.

For NWUPC and the wider UKUPC network, the report reinforces our collective mission: to empower universities to achieve operational excellence through strategic procurement. Over the coming months, we will be working with our members, UKUPC partners, Jisc, BUFDG and HEPA to explore the report’s recommendations in greater depth. We will be reviewing how our frameworks and associated services can evolve to better meet sector needs, and how national purchasing can be more widely adopted without compromising on local flexibility.

Further information on how NWUPC will support the sector in responding to these challenges—and deliver against the actions identified in the report—will be shared in due course.

In the meantime, we encourage all members to read the full report, available via Universities UK:

• Towards a New Era of Collaboration – full report (PDF)
• Transformation and Efficiency overview

Together, we can drive meaningful and lasting change, unlock the full potential of collective action, and strengthen the sector’s ability not only to withstand current financial and operational pressures, but to thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape—ensuring that higher education continues to deliver excellence in teaching, research, and impact for years to come.