Universities are crucial to sparking growth and opportunity, by bringing together student populations, research partners, local businesses, and employers to create vibrant communities, jobs, and opportunity across the UK. This series of briefings takes a look at how universities are generating growth and opportunity across the nine regions of England. Universities in the South East are located in key student cities such as Brighton and Hove, Oxford, Portsmouth, Reading, and Southampton. Recent analysis by London Economics estimated that universities in the South East alone contributed £16.9 billion in gross output and £9.8 billion in gross value added to the UK economy. This figure includes the economic activity generated by employing people, their purchasing of goods and services, and the local spending power of staff and students. In 2021-22, universities in the South East spent over £4.4 billion on staff. Staff spend a proportion of their income with local businesses and on local services which supports a thriving economy.