LSE leads in entrepreneurship, public engagement and professional development
The latest round of the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) has confirmed LSE as a leading university for public and community engagement, graduate start-ups and continuing professional development.
Now in its fifth year, the KEF is published annually by Research England and is designed to shine a light on how different English universities collaborate with businesses, communities, and public services.
In line with previous years, the latest framework underlines the School’s strengths in engaging the world with our research and knowledge. These strengths include our extensive public lecture programme and annual Festival; our significant output of blogs, films, articles and award-winning podcasts; the award-winning LSE Generate, supporting our student and alumni start-ups; the breadth of work of LSE Consulting; and our provision of online courses and life-long learning opportunities.
Commercialisation of research and wider partnerships also remain a top priority for LSE in line with our Research for the World strategy. Over the last year, we have developed a range global partnerships, including new research links with New York University, Georgetown University and Tsinghua University.
Over the last year, the LSE-led ASPECT network for SHAPE commercialisation has successfully grown to 38 member institutions, generating further income to support activity and provide a sustainable platform for future work.
Maximum impact
Welcoming the results, Professor Susana Mourato, LSE Vice President and Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research) said:
“We are delighted that the KEF continues to highlight LSE’s leadership in policy and community engagement, entrepreneurship and graduate start-ups, as well as consultancy and continuing professional development.
“Strengthening our non-academic partnerships is a priority for LSE and we were pleased to see an improvement in the KEF metrics in this area.
“We want to ensure our world-leading research can achieve maximum impact.”
The announcement of the KEF results comes soon after a series of high-profile successes for LSE in external rankings. Earlier this month LSE was named as the top university in the country by the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide. This outstanding recognition followed on from The Guardian and the Complete University Guide both placing LSE as the top university in London, and the Daily Mail University Guide naming the School as “University of the Year for Student Success.”