Londoners believe universities benefit both students and society

Three of the top four main benefits universities offer to society, according to Londoners, 1 The Mile End Institute Friday, 10 November 2023 can be defined in economic terms; with 44 per cent of Londoners saying that universities improve the UK’s reputation for research and knowledge production; 37 per cent saying that universities contribute to the national and local economy; and 22 per cent sayi. [...] Of those Londoners who think this is the case: • 43 per cent believe the experience of studying at university makes individuals more socially liberal; • 24 per cent believe the experience of studying at university makes individuals more economically left-leaning; 2 The Mile End Institute Friday, 10 November 2023 • 24 per cent believe the experience of studying at university makes individuals more. [...] While most academic evidence suggests that the experience of studying at university, on average, moves individuals’ economic attitudes toward the right (see Scott, 2022 and Simon, 2022 for evidence of this in the British context), we see that a considerably larger proportion of Londoners think that the experience of studying at university shifts economic attitudes to the left (24 per cent) rather. [...] The figure below shows that although 33 per cent of Londoners support Sunak’s proposal (12 per cent strongly support and 21 per cent support), 33 per cent oppose it (14 per cent oppose and 19 per cent strongly oppose) while a further 34 per cent either don’t know how they feel about this policy, or neither support nor oppose it. [...] The age gap in support for this policy is also pronounced: just 28 per cent of the youngest Londoners (those aged 18-24) supporting the policy compared to 51 per cent of the oldest Londoners (those aged 65+).