The campaign highlights the enormous contribution to the UK made by modern universities and their students. Today’s event will be held in the State Rooms at Speaker’s House, hosted by the Speaker, The Rt Hon John Bercow MP, and will give parliamentarians the chance to meet with modern university students and staff.

MillionPlus is the Association for Modern Universities in the UK, and the voice of 21st century higher education.

Modern universities such as Bedfordshire, represent more than half of the UK’s higher education sector, educating over a million students a year, delivering world-class teaching and research, broadening participation, transforming lives and delivering a highly skilled workforce for employers of many kinds.

These universities thrive at meeting the challenges posed in a rapidly changing world. They have a huge impact across the UK and do much of the hard work in developing key skills for the future jobs market. Therefore, if government wants:

• To boost productivity, innovation and technological advances in industry to meet tomorrow’s challenges

• To improve recruitment, retention and impact of the public service workforce in our NHS, schools, police forces and local communities

• To increase the aspiration and opportunities for people from all walks of life by ensuring flexible pathways into higher education, supporting them on their learning journey

…they need to #ThinkModern.

The campaign explores the work of these universities, focusing on six theme areas – Making Britain Work; Pathways, Partnerships and Productivity; Creative and Technological Skills for the 21st Century; Innovation and Research; Aspiration, Opportunity and Inclusion; and Entrepreneurial, Enterprising, Enriching.

Bill Rammell Vice Chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire said: “We are proud to be a modern university and to support the Think Modern campaign.

“At Bedfordshire we are focused on meeting the challenges of the modern world. Our research and knowledge exchange addresses the challenges faced by business, public services and communities at home and globally such as cyber harassment, while our academics are delivering the research insight that addresses significant social challenges, such as the ageing population.

“In addition we are busy training the next generation of social workers, nurses and teachers and are supporting business and public services to innovate.”

Follow the campaign on the MillionPlus website and on Twitter, using the hashtag #ThinkModern