The University of Glasgow recently hosted the inaugural Universitas 21 Leadership Summit, bringing together leaders from across sectors and continents to discuss some of the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing higher education today. Among the many important conversations, one stood out for its urgency and candour: the question of social licence, and whether the ways in which universities judge their own success genuinely resonate with the communities they serve.

In countries that have experienced sharp political and social fracture, such as the US and the UK, tensions between universities and their local stakeholders have become particularly visible. But similar dynamics are evident elsewhere, including in Australia and Canada, where significant growth in international student numbers has intensified pressures on housing, infrastructure and public services.

Polling evidence presented at the summit by Jess Lister of Public First brought these issues into sharp relief. Social licence is shaped less by abstract claims of excellence and more by whether people can see tangible benefits flowing from their local university: whether their children can find good jobs after studying there; whether the institution contributes visibly to the local economy; whether it helps improve the place they live.

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