Ursula Kelly BA FRSA
Ursula Kelly is founding Director of Viewforth Consulting Ltd, a specialist consultancy focussed on higher education economic impact and policy, established in 2011.
She has over 25 years experience working in and with higher education institutions in the UK and internationally, including working in international student recruitment and information resources management and governance. She has extensive experience in policy advice and formulation including over 8 years in the Principal and Vice-Chancellor's Office at the University of Strathclyde, working directly to the Vice-Chancellor, as well as working with the Dearing Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education. She has led many high profile research and consultancy projects relating to aspects of tertiary education policy, higher education in the economy and information resources management and governance. Project clients have included major UK higher education sectoral organisations such as Universities UK and Jisc as well as numerous individual Universities and colleges, nationally and internationally. Working with Professor Iain McNicoll she has undertaken all of the major reports on the economic impact of higher education on the UK (CVCP 1997, Universities UK 2002, 2006, 2009, 2014) as well as studies of all parts of the UK (NI, Scotland, Wales and the nine English Regions.)
From 2007-2011 she was joint coordinator of an extensive Economic and Social Research Council and Higher Education Funding Councils' programme on the Impact of higher education institutions on regional economies, working with leading UK and international academic economists and researchers including Professor Peter McGregor, Professor Kim Swales (Strathclyde) and Professor Walter McMahon (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).
She has published many articles and reports on aspects of higher education, particularly intended for a generalist HE management audience such as: Who Pays and Who Gains?: Understanding the Graduate Premium and Rates of Return; Information Management and Governance in UK Higher Education Institutions: Bringing IT in from the cold; Through a Glass Darkly: Measuring the Social Value of Universities and the Value and benefits of text-mining. From 2009-2012 she was Senior Expert at the European Centre for the Strategic Management of Universities (ESMU). She has been a Senior Visiting Researcher in Dublin City University and was Visiting Scholar in the Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde (2011-2013.) She was elected FRSA in 2001.