Millions of hours of unpaid?extracurricular work undertaken by university staff is going ¡°under the radar¡±, according to a new report that highlights the hidden multibillion-pound value of public engagement and knowledge exchange in UK institutions.

In a series of online surveys, a sample of 1,093 university staff from three different universities were asked to estimate the average amount of time, if any, that they spent in a typical year on a range of voluntary, unpaid activities relating to their job.

Taken across the whole higher education staff population, pro-bono work to an estimated value of ?3.2 billion took place in the year 2015-16 alone, according to a resulting?,?An Elephant in the Room, published by Viewforth Consulting.

This equates to 40 million hours spent on activities including public presentations, participation in science events, charity and social enterprise work ¨C or 24,493 full-time jobs, researchers concluded.

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The figures come at a time when university staff are reported to be facing an uphill struggle to achieve a good work-life balance, with increasing workloads not matching up to salary expectations.

A major global?survey?of university staff undertaken by?³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ?between October and November last year reveals that about two-fifths of all university staff believe that their working hours have increased in the past three years, with many having considered leaving the higher education sector as a result.

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Speaking to?THE?about the new report, Viewforth director Ursula Kelly said that the findings were not a reflection on staff terms and conditions, however, and rather should be seen as a celebration of the goodwill seen in university staff across the country.

¡°People are not being compelled to do these activities,¡± she said. ¡°A lot of universities themselves say this is part of their mission, that this is about the public good.¡±

Nonetheless, without staff members¡¯ willingness to volunteer after hours, universities would not be able to function in the same way, she acknowledged.

¡°There are [also] so many things that staff do on a voluntary basis for the government, for instance acting as advisers on consultation panels. They don¡¯t get paid for any of this by the government either, but it is relied upon.¡±

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Part of the issue, Ms Kelly said, was that ¡°people seem to have a wish to use their expertise for the public good¡±. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t actually be about ¡®how can we pay people for all of this¡¯ because people are doing this due to their own feeling.¡±

The research comes after Jo Johnson, the former universities minister, told universities that they?¡°must do more¡± to engage with industry, drive up productivity and ultimately generate income for the UK.

With plans for a knowledge exchange framework to measure institutions¡¯ activity in this area, Viewforth says that?¡°full cognisance¡± must be given to the pre-existing contribution from universities and their staff, ¡°albeit under-recognised and hitherto unquantified¡±.

Any evaluation framework that rewards ¡°only a visible subset of¡­activities¡± ¨C for instance, by measuring patents and licences acquired ¨C runs the risk that ¡°staff will simply abandon their voluntary work to concentrate on ¡®recognised activities¡¯¡±, the report says.

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¡°To sustain this volume of knowledge exchange activity on a?non-voluntary basis,?someone is going to have to find an additional ?3.2 billion to pay for it,¡± the report¡¯s authors say.

rachael.pells@timeshighereducation.com