Nottingham’s two universities, together with Nottingham City Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, hospitals and Local Enterprise Partnership, have today launched the Universities for Nottingham Civic Agreement – the first of its kind in the country. 

This first Civic Agreement, which announces more than a dozen initiatives that will take place over the coming year, harnesses the collective will of the City and County’s biggest institutions to deliver meaningful change for the people and place of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. 

The development of the agreement was accelerated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and is focused on a number of measures, which will be delivered by the universities and the other signatories to help drive economic revival and protect jobs. For example, over the next three years, both universities will continue to work in collaboration with the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, both Councils and other partners to deliver SME and enterprise programmes, which will now be aligned to local COVID-19 recovery plans to support more than 2,000 businesses and create over 1,000 new jobs. 

Councillor David Mellen, Leader of Nottingham City Council, said: “This civic agreement recognises that the two universities play a valuable role in our city life, culturally, economically and socially. Students from across the country come to Nottingham and add to our vibrant and diverse communities, many of whom stay here and then contribute further to the city. The Universities for Nottingham initiative recognises the challenges we face in the city and that by coming together with the city council and other partners, we can all work together to improve the sustainability, health and economy of the city. I welcome this contribution to the city and look forward to making real strides for Nottingham people together.” 

You can see the full press release here.