The civic story is your strongest reputation asset, and the least told

I’ve lived and worked in the North East of England for most of my career, and I’ve seen what a university can mean to a region. Jobs, hospitals, start-ups, cultural life, regeneration and thousands of graduates who choose to stay. Newcastle University’s work with spinouts such as the National Innovation Centre for Data and the National Innovation Centre for Ageing helped bring more than £150M of external funding into the region.

Outside the institution, though, I found that very few people knew those stories. Local residents saw the campus, the students and occasionally the headlines. Few connected the university to the treatment they received in hospital, the company their son worked for or the regeneration of their high street.

Why it matters more now

Public confidence in universities has become more fragile. Debates about value for money, international students, free speech and institutional finances have made the sector a political topic in many countries. In that climate, the people who matter most to a university’s licence to operate are often local: MPs, councillors, business leaders, hospital trusts, schools and residents.

They’re also the audience most universities invest in least. Marketing budgets understandably flow towards student recruitment and international reputation. Civic communication tends to rely on an annual impact report that few people read.

The people who matter most to a university’s licence to operate are often local.

What I’ve learned from the other side of the table

My board roles have given me a different perspective. As a trustee of a community health charity and of Citizens Advice, and as a parish councillor, I’ve sat in rooms where universities were discussed by people outside the sector. The institutions that earned genuine goodwill weren’t the ones with the glossiest reports. They were the ones that turned up, listened and made it easy to work with them.

Telling the civic story well

Make it personal and local. Economic impact figures are important, but they don’t move people on their own. The nurse trained at the university, the local firm built on its research and the school whose pupils were mentored by students are far more powerful.

Brief the people who’ll be asked. Local MPs, council leaders and business groups are asked about universities regularly. Make sure they have the facts, the stories and a named contact, and that they hear from you before they hear about you.

Show up consistently. Civic reputation is built through presence: at local events, in local media, on local boards. Encourage senior leaders and academics to take those roles, and recognise them when they do.

Measure local perception. If civic reputation matters, track it. Even a simple annual survey of local residents and partners will show whether the story is landing.

Connect civic and global. The strongest universities tell one story, in which global excellence and local commitment strengthen each other. An international student choosing a university in a thriving, welcoming city is responding to both.

A question for leadership teams

Ask yourselves this: if your university faced a difficult news story tomorrow, who in your city would publicly speak up for you? If the list is short, the civic story deserves more attention than it’s getting. It may be the most important reputation investment you make this decade.

Jonathan Sabarre FCIM MBA is Principal Consultant at QS Quacquarelli Symonds, a keynote speaker and host of Marketing Greats in Higher Education. Get the weekly email or invite him to speak.