Our Place
The University is at the heart of Sheffield and the South Yorkshire region, woven into the fabric and culture of the city and the surrounding area. From our roots in the region almost 200 years ago, we continue that civic tradition through our leadership role, both locally and nationally, and through our significant contribution to our region’s economy, workforce, infrastructure, health, culture and environment.
We add more than 400million to the city region economy on an annual basis, our 220m campus redevelopment will help shape significant parts of Sheffield city centre, and we have built two world-class research centres as part of a wider regeneration of the Attercliffe area.
As part of our commitment to our region, we have created a Civic University Agreement. This sets out an ambitious approach to our regional role and ensures that this is embedded into our institutional culture. It restates our commitment to focus on a series of specific priorities including the economy and jobs, education and skills, health and wellbeing, and community and regeneration.
At a national level, we successfully bid in 2020 to establish and lead the Civic University Network, of which more than 100 HEIs are now members. We were also awarded 3.7m by Research England in 2022 to establish and lead the National Civic Impact Accelerator.
Our progress and leadership in this area were recognised with the award for Outstanding Contribution to the Local Community at the 2022 Times Higher Education Awards, and our achievements include:
- Establishing South Yorkshire Futures, which is the largest and most ambitious university-led programme to raise educational attainment and aspiration within a specific region
- We are the national lead for the UK Civic University Network, driving thinking about universities and their role in place
- We lead the Sheffield Innovation Programme, one of the largest programmes of university-led support for small and medium sized enterprises in the country
- We educate more degree apprentices than any other university in the United Kingdom