vision2015 A S T R A T E G Y F O R W A R WI C K
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“ By 2015 Warwick will be in the top 50 world universities.�
From the Vice-Chancellor
From the Vice-Chancellor Among UK universities, Warwick is a unique, and uniquely successful, institution. Despite its relative youth – it was founded in the mid-1960s – it is now one of the UK’s leading universities, with an acknowledged reputation for excellence in research and teaching, for innovation and for links with business and industry. In the last government Research Assessment Exercise, Warwick was rated fifth in the UK for research excellence; in the media league tables, it has consistently maintained its position in the Top Ten; applications for undergraduate places currently stand at around 30,000 for 3,000 undergraduate places, and over the last seven years we have built up from scratch a flourishing Medical School. Now, as we approach Warwick’s 50th birthday in 2015, our challenge is plain: how to focus activity and drive so as to attain greater international pre-eminence. National pre-eminence is no longer enough: we have set our sights on making Warwick a universally acknowledged world centre of higher education by 2015, firmly in the top 50 of world universities. To do so we need to reinvigorate that unique mixture of entrepreneurial spirit and a commitment to absolute academic excellence that has served the University so well in the past and that is largely responsible for our success to date. This strategy sets out ideas and principles, important priorities and some key activities that will occupy us in the next few years as we work towards our goal. It has been written after extensive consultation with members of the University – staff, students, alumni, lay members. We know from this consultation process that there is a real appetite for involvement, and for moving ahead quickly to realise our ambitions. So it is with the full support of the University community that we will move forward with this strategy and that, in itself, will be the greatest guarantee of its success.
Professor Nigel Thrift Vice-Chancellor
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Core Values and Ambitions
Core values These are the core
values that have always underpinned the
University’s success and which will continue to
inspire its future activities: Excellence Excellence in research and in teaching and learning is paramount. Everything else must be subsidiary to this value.
Ambition and drive Warwick’s future success is totally dependent on the ambition and drive of its staff.
Entrepreneurial flair An entrepreneurial attitude is an integral part of the University’s make-up.
Cosmopolitanism The University is an international and cosmopolitan body, which is committed to solving major global problems.
Service Service to the people of the surrounding area, and more widely within the UK, and internationally, is an important element of Warwick’s make-up.
Accessibility Warwick was the first research-led University in the UK to give priority to widening participation and life-long learning and believes that accessibility remains critical to its developing mission.
Community There is a tight-knit Warwick community which staff and students can expect to be lively and welcoming but also challenging.
Independence The University is an independent entity which remains autonomous in its governance and subscribes to the principles of unfettered rational inquiry.
Ambitions Our over-riding ambition is to take Warwick into the
top 50 world universities – as measured by the quality
of research output and the strength of student demand – by the University’s 50th birthday in 2015. To do so, we must markedly increase Warwick’s international reputation by carrying out only the very best research and teaching. We must also continue to attract only the highest quality staff and students, who will be drawn to the University by its reputation and its supportive and challenging community. Ambitious universities like Warwick need to consolidate existing support and find new partners to help take their plans forward. We must therefore reach out to all relevant stakeholders – and these include business and industry, government and government services, donors and alumni – to win their backing for the proposition that Warwick is a unique institution and therefore one that they will be keen to support. Warwick will be positioned as an intellectual gateway to the UK and beyond. We must therefore bring sharper focus to our regional, national and international engagement, so that Warwick will be
perceived as a key node on the international map of higher education. We are keenly aware that our plans will require us to generate a substantial increase in income. Indeed, we will need to see at least a doubling of our 2004-2005 annual income by 2015, in real terms. Finally, we intend to make the Warwick campus into a representation of the strength of our ambitions and the quality of our imagination. The campus will be distinguished by environmental quality, the highest standards of design, and a supportive, collegial atmosphere. These are far-reaching ambitions that will require hard work and imagination for their realisation. However, we are encouraged by the University’s clear competitive advantages - its established reputation, its current staff and the security and flexibility of a large amount of land. Our aim now is to create new competitive advantage by making Warwick recognisably excellent and unique on the world stage.
Research and Scholarship
Research and Scholarship We intend to make Warwick an undisuputed world leader in research and scholarship.
Goals
» 45 ISI Highly Cited researchers by 2015 » Institute of Advanced Study » 3 new interdisciplinary research centres » Research collaborations with overseas partners » Double the number of postgraduate students
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Research and Scholarship
Excellent – not just good – research is the lifeblood of a University like Warwick. Without it nothing else will work. Reputation will suffer. Teaching
and learning will become anodyne. There will be
no knowledge to be transferred. It is therefore an imperative to produce an environment in which
excellent research can thrive, research which will
display only the highest standards of international scholarship and which will drive out the merely
good research which is no longer good enough. So we must aim to achieve a culture where first class research is second nature, where colleagues do
not have to worry about the standard of the work of others, where every researcher feels that he or she is part of a unique intellectual community.
That requires three main commitments. One is
to excellent research; the second is to generating research income that will pay for it; the third is to providing support to allow the previous two commitments to happen.
Strategy Our intention is for Warwick to have at least 45 ISI Highly Cited researchers by 2015, as one of a number of indicators of research strength. To achieve this we need to appoint only the most able academic staff and be prepared to leave positions vacant until such appointments can be made. We also intend to institute University Postdoctoral Fellowships to reinforce existing provision for the best and brightest new career researchers. We will boost research quality by regular benchmarking to world, rather than UK, standards, and will provide buildings and equipment that will allow world-class research to be fostered and made real. We have already set up an Institute of Advanced Study to provide a site of international research interchange for the University. We intend that the Institute will provide an International Fellowship Programme based on themes to be mutually agreed; it will be a means to provide Warwick staff (especially new career staff) with access to distinguished international faculty, and a place where the continual throughflow of international visitors to the University can be accommodated and made welcome. We believe that, in time, the Institute will become a key node in world scholarship. We will also develop selected research collaborations with overseas partners, including at overseas sites, and are exploring links with North America, Asia and Europe. We plan to set up at least three new large interdisciplinary research centres. These will sit alongside the already successful centres in the University – for example, the Warwick Digital Laboratory, the Centre for Scientific Computing, and Warwick Systems Biology Centre. At Warwick, postgraduate students are an integral and valued part of our research community and contribute to the University’s reputation for research excellence. We intend to double the number of postgraduate research students across the University by 2014.
Research and Scholarship
Left: Artist’s impressions of the new Digital Laboratory Below: (left to right) Prime Minister, Gordon Brown; Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nigel Thrift; Director of the Warwick Manufacturing Group, Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya
‘I am delighted that this pioneering facility is being built here at Warwick University where there is such a history of innovation.’ Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, May 2007
Warwick Digital Laboratory – an interdisciplinary research centre for the 21st century The Warwick Digital Laboratory is a brand new, ultra-high tech facility built by the University for the Warwick Manufacturing Group, directed by Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, and partly funded by the regional development agency, Advantage West Midlands. This iconic new building, whose foundation stone was unveiled by Gordon Brown in May 2007, will house a £50 million multidisciplinary programme of research, development and training. The Warwick Digital Laboratory is unique. Though based in Engineering, it will also involve other departments of the University including Warwick Medical School, as well as partnerships with user organisations. It will offer the most advanced technological solutions not only to manufacturing but also to health, security and a whole range of other sectors.
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Research and Scholarship
Postgraduate research at Warwick – a student perspective
Professor Julie McPherson, Department of Chemistry and Royal Society Research Fellow; Julie was named Young Researcher of the Year in the Times Higher Educational Supplement Awards for 2005; she has also been awarded the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Marlow Medal. Julie works in nanotechnology and the chemistry of surfaces.
The Institute of Advanced Study Established in April 2007, the Warwick Institute of Advanced Study (IAS) is designed to promote collaborative research projects of international calibre and profile across the full range of University departments, schools and research centres. A key goal of the Institute is to reduce ‘silo effects’ within the University’s research environment: IAS programming will, in consequence, focus predominantly on collaborative research projects that extend beyond individual investigators, disciplines and departments. The recent appointment of a major tranche of new academic staff provides an especially timely opportunity to create innovative collaborative research groupings at Warwick during 2007-08. Helping to make that happen is a central IAS start-up objective: academics across the University will be developing new collaborative projects during the coming academic year with IAS ‘Incubation’ and ‘Integration’ awards. Enhancing opportunities for international scholars to work with Warwick researchers and to engage with Warwick postgraduates
for extended periods is the second key component of the IAS agenda, with funding to bring 10-14 distinguished scholars to Warwick as short-term Visiting Fellows during 2007-08. The following year will see this programme expand to include, additionally, IAS Residential Research Collaborations. This scheme will allow seconded Warwick staff (and, where appropriate, seconded representatives from business, government or industry) to work collaboratively on specified programmes of research with selected national and international Visiting Fellows, funded by the IAS and in residence at the University for periods of one, two or three academic terms.
Professor Margot Finn, Director of the Institute of Advanced Study
I came to Warwick as an MA student after completing a BA at Cambridge and two years working in London. I wanted to return to studying because I remained curious about my subject: History. The History Department at Warwick offered a uniquely progressive and supportive research culture, in addition to some of the top academics in my field. The MA by Research provided me with rigorous training for my PhD, allowing me to experience the challenges and frustrations of managing my own research project. I am now in the first year of my PhD and I feel that nothing could have prepared me more thoroughly for the ups and downs of academic research. As a postgraduate student, not only are you required to manage your time, motivate yourself, and organise your project, you are also required to make a positive contribution to your department’s research community. Although initially daunting, I have found taking part in the various seminars, conferences and workshops that Warwick offers, a rewarding and stimulating experience. In terms of my own individual project, I feel very privileged to spend my time thinking, researching and writing about a subject that really interests and absorbs me. I have been encouraged to constantly rethink, question and analyse my inherent assumptions about history and research more broadly. Kate Smith, First-year PhD student in History
Research and Scholarship
The Global History and Culture Centre The recent establishment of the Global History and Culture Centre reinforces Warwick’s commitment to the understanding of globalisation in all its aspects and to its belief in the value of interdisciplinary research. The new Centre is based in the Department of History within the Faculty of Arts and draws in academics from History, History of Art, Comparative American Studies, English, Economics, Politics and Sociology. Global history is an exciting new departure in historical methods and approaches. It has grown out of recent research in new imperialism and postcolonial history, as well as comparative economic, social and cultural history. It challenges us to redefine the objects of historical study beyond national, regional and local frameworks. The Centre promotes this global approach to historical questions and aims to develop this new field of study, fostering co-operation with groups and centres in other parts of the world through
In June 2007, in collaboration with the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Centre for Global History and Culture organised a workshop in the museum on global cultures of Indian textiles. This included a practical demonstration of traditional textile printing and tie-dyeing by two wellknown practitioners from Gujarat. Pictures below and right come from this workshop.
research-interchange programmes and networks. The Centre has an ambitious programme of research, symposia, conferences, seminars and workshops. The focus of current research includes global arts (where a network of scholars and curators from Warwick, the Asmolean Museum, Oxford, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London are investigating the historical relations between East and West via ideas and objects connected with the Arts); global cities (a collaborative project that examines the metropolitan scientific culture), and global technology (an ESRC funded project in which Professor David Arnold, Department of History, will examine ‘Everyday Technology in Monsoon India, 1800-1960’). The Centre also hosts an annual conference at the Palazzo Pesaro Papafava, Venice, which in January 2008 will address ‘Cultures and Material Cultures of Food: A Global Perspective’.
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Research and Scholarship
Mathematics research at Warwick From its foundation, the Mathematics Department at Warwick has placed significant emphasis on research. Initially the Department specialised in key areas of pure mathematics, but over the years its research interests have broadened, with a focus on modern applications of mathematics. One of the most exciting recent developments has been the spectacular growth of interdisciplinary research, and over the last few years Mathematics has set up several new research centres in collaboration with other departments. The Systems Biology Centre complements the growing understanding of the molecular basis of living creatures by modelling the complex processes that occur when these molecules interact inside an organism – for example in neurophysiology, plant science, and
molecular signalling. MOAC (Molecular Organisation and Assembly in Cells) is a Doctoral Training Centre at the interface between Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Computing. The Complexity Complex is dedicated to the emerging science of complex systems, whose applications include traditional areas of science, but also social science, economics, business, transport, and health. The Centre for Scientific Computing is developing new uses of computers in mathematics alongside new applications of mathematical techniques to computer science. And the Centre for Discrete Mathematics and its Applications, a joint venture of Mathematics, Computer Science, and Warwick Business School, concentrates on discrete modelling, algorithmic analysis and operational research.
Fellows of the Royal Society Professor Howard Dalton, Biological Sciences Professor of Microbiology; Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2002-07
Professor David Epstein, Warwick Mathematics Institute Emeritus Professor and Professorial Research Fellow in Warwick Mathematics Institute
Professor Robert MacKay, Warwick Mathematics Institute Professor MacKay’s research interests include dynamical systems, complexity science and mathematical physics.
Professor David Preiss, Warwick Mathematics Institute Professor Preiss works in mathematical analysis.
Professor Miles Reid, Warwick Mathematics Institute Professor Reid works in the field of algebraic geometry.
Professor Peter Sadler, Chemistry Professor Sadler works at the interface between chemistry, biology and medicine to develop new anti-cancer drugs.
Professor Ian Stewart, Warwick Mathematics Institute Ian Stewart’s many awards include the Royal Society’s Michael Faraday Medal for promoting the public understanding of science.
Professor Phil Woodruff, Physics Professor Woodruff works in the area of surface science.
Sir Christopher Zeeman FRS, Founding Professor of Mathematics at Warwick
TEACHING AND LEARNING
Teaching and Learning We will sustain an exceptional teaching and learning experience at Warwick.
Goals
» Embed an international perspective into the content of the whole curriculum
» Consider different uses of spaces to enhance the teaching and learning process
» Accreditation of activities such as the Warwick Volunteers’ Programme
» Enhance Warwick’s reputation for widening
participation in its educational opportunities
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TEACHING AND LEARNING
Warwick has produced a distinctive model of teaching and learning which, through a strong commitment to skills, lifelong learning and social inclusion, has served well many generations of learners from all
socio-economic backgrounds, in the UK and overseas. It is based on a particular synthesis of research-
led teaching with employability-related personal development; a readiness to reflect critically on curriculum content and modes of delivery; the constructive engagement of our students; the
contribution of our alumni body, providing mentoring and career opportunities; an excellent campus and Students’ Union with diverse opportunities for
employment and other forms of service, and the provision of high quality resources.
Our challenge now is to examine and develop this
Warwick model to ensure that it fully meets the needs of the many different learning communities that
Strategy We will take full advantage of the many opportunities presented by digital media to broaden and enrich our students’ learning experience – for example, by developing additional self-standing modules on a wide range of subjects and themes. We intend to broaden undergraduate curricula while retaining their vigorous disciplinary knowledge base and enhance researchteaching links at all levels. At Warwick we pride ourselves on the range of activities we offer our students, in addition to their chosen degree subjects – for instance, some 2000 students are currently involved in the Warwick Volunteers’ Programme which provides much appreciated help in the local and regional community – and we need to provide appropriate recognition for all these activities. A Warwick education must be genuinely cosmopolitan for UK and non-UK students alike, and we intend to introduce more international modules into courses to foster this cosmopolitanism. Above all, we intend to build on and enhance Warwick’s reputation for supporting the participation of all who, regardless of background, prior attainment, age or nationality, have the ability to benefit from its educational opportunities.
make up the University in the 21st century.
The Learning Grid – a new resource for Warwick students
TEACHING AND LEARNING
Warwick Medical School
The student experience
Warwick is proud to have one of the country’s newest medical schools, offering an innovative four-year MBChB degree for graduates in biology, or in the natural and physical sciences. Established in 2000 in response to the UK’s need for more doctors, it now has the largest graduate-entry medical degree in the UK, with a yearly intake of 178 graduates from the UK and abroad. The emphasis is on early patient contact and on developing both clinical and communication skills from the very beginning; a particular feature of the course is that students receive one-to-one supervision by consulants in the second phase of their MBChB programme. Through the National Teaching Fellowship awarded this year to Professor Ed Peile, Director of the School’s Institute of Clinical Education, Warwick’s innovative approach to medical education has been nationally recognised.
At Warwick we aim to provide all our students with a high quality learning experience. We offer courses with a high academic content, that are stimulating and challenging, and that, in turn, demand intellectual rigour and application. We offer a high quality learning environment, where teaching (judged in the last National Teaching Assessment Exercise to be excellent in 90% of our academic departments) is always informed by research and where knowledge is being created rather than just described. Our courses, even at undergraduate level, often have a substantial research component that encourages students to think actively rather than passively, to develop their powers of critical analysis and to think for themselves. In tandem with the academic content of their degrees, we think seriously about developing our students’ employability. We place great emphasis on integrating career planning provision in
departmental curricula and work closely with employers to ensure that our students develop the skills required in the graduate marketplace. We are particularly keen to foster real world experience through work experience – indeed, we believe that this should become a core component of a Warwick education. From its early days, Warwick has offered a different approach to many subjects. In Law, for instance, our undergraduate courses have always emphasised law in its social and political context, while our Philosophy and Literature degree developed out of our pioneering work in exploring the relations between these two subjects. Warwick is currently the only UK university to offer MORSE – a degree that combines Mathematics with its applications in Business Studies, Economics, Statistics and Operational Research. And we have responded to the immense changes that have taken place in the last decade in
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TEACHING AND LEARNING
the Life Sciences by setting up the MOAC (Molecular Organisation and Assembly in Cells) Doctoral Training Centre, which offers master’s and doctoral programmes at the interface between Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Computing. The reputation of Warwick courses attracts students in large numbers from across the world. For undergraduate entry, we typically have around 30,000 applications for just over 3,000 places. We aim to enrol high quality applicants who have the ability to succeed on Warwick’s challenging courses: we typically make offers in the range of A level grades AAA/ AAB. Nevertheless, we are aware that the ability to succeed at Warwick is not always reflected solely in examination results and we assess each application holistically to identify potential beyond that evidenced by academic achievements.
Professor Ed Peile, Director of the Medical School’s Institute of Clinical Education, has been awarded a National Teaching Fellowship Award by the Higher Education Academy. The scheme recognises and celebrates individuals who make an outstanding impact on the student learning experience. In 2007, Warwick was awarded three of the 50 national awards – a testimony to the quality of teaching in the University. Top: RSC assistant director Steve Marmion and actors lead a study day on ‘The Tempest’ for two hundred students. Left: RSC assistant director Donnacadh O’Briain leads a workshop on ‘Richard III’ for students in the CAPITAL studio. Right: RSC associate actor Richard Pasco joins the rehearsed reading of a student-written play, ‘Little Thorns’.
The CAPITAL Centre The CAPITAL (Creativity in Teaching and Learning) Centre is one of Warwick’s flagship centres, a unique partnership that cements its long history of co-operation with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) based in nearby Stratford-upon-Avon. The Centre uses theatre and performance skillls and experience to enhance student learning and also draws on University research and resources to shape the development of the RSC acting companies. Students and
actors focus on theatrical performance – the development of acting and stage skills, the engineering of production, theatre history, writing for performance, the rehearsal process and theatre as a research medium. The Centre has recently launched the first ever Postgraduate Certificate in the Teaching of Shakespeare for Actors – a yearlong course for which seven Shakespearian actors have already signed up.
TEACHING AND LEARNING
Lifelong learning Warwick was the first research-led university to give priority to widening participation and lifelong learning. We have a flourishing Open Studies programme, attended every year by around 8000 local people, a highly successful PartTime Degree Programme, launched in 1986, and an innovative 2+2 Degree Programme taught in conjunction with local colleges. Warwick was the first research-intensive university to have become involved with the new Foundation Degrees, piloted by the government from 2001, and a large group of Foundation Degree students now graduates every summer. Our lifelong learning programmes are targeted at people who often have little or no formal qualifications; courses are graded so as to provide the skills to progress gradually to degree level and often to embark on new careers. Foundation Degree students graduate
The Warwick MBA Warwick Business School (WBS) is one of Europe’s leading business schools, offering a portfolio of world-class degrees from undergraduate to PhD as well as executive education. One of its most highly rated courses is the Master of Business Administration (MBA) which is offered in three different ways – full-time, executive (modular) and by distancelearning. The keynote of the Warwick MBA is its flexibility: students can tailor their studying to accommodate personal or professional circumstances by switching between the different modes of study. Right, Tony Arthur, currently completing his MBA by distance learning, describes his Warwick experience.
“I chose WBS because of its international reputation, high ranking, and the flexibility it offered in pursuing the Warwick MBA. As my studies progress, I discover that I am able to comprehend more about the workings of businesses. The study programme is proving to be a useful balance between my technical educational background and the highly interesting world of business and finance. In terms of teaching style, I find the combination of the case-study approach and the traditional taught class to be of the utmost value. I fully realised this fact at the recent September seminar. The calibre of the teaching faculty is exceptional and so are the participants. It is always welcoming to be among very smart and intelligent individuals. You get to learn a lot. It proves to be a two-way street. The Warwick MBA will create a well-rounded individual out of me and will certainly open opportunities that will last a life time.”
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TEACHING AND LEARNING
The Reinvention Centre for Undergraduate Research The Reinvention Centre for Undergraduate Research – a collaborative project between Warwick and Oxford Brookes University – is a unique resource, offering an entirely new approach to teaching and learning. A HEFCE Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, its mission is to integrate research based learning into the undergraduate curriculum. In this way, undergraduates can become actively involved in research and, like their postgraduate counterparts, become integrated into the research cultures of their academic departments. The Centre also explores new methods of teaching and learning. It works on the principle that teaching and learning are collaborative processes between teacher and student, with both actively engaged in the construction, production and dissemination of knowledge. So it is important to think about the physical spaces in which teaching and learning take place, for their lay-out often predetermines the nature of the process. At Warwick, the Reinvention Centre has redesigned teaching and learning space,
with easily moveable furniture and heated floors with comfortable surfaces to work on as well as walk on. The space can be continuallly transformed – for group work, presentations, lectures, or more informal sessions. One student described the classroom as ‘spacious and free-thinking – it suggests lots of room for ideas and innovation’. The Centre also contributes to the University’s Undergraduate Research Scholarship Scheme, which awards bursaries to students to carry out their own research projects. This can open up exciting opportunities – for example, a Physics student was recently put in charge of directing one of Europe’s largest optical telescopes as part of his work with Warwick astronomer, Professor Tim Marsh. In 2006-7, the Undergraduate Research Scholarship Scheme funded around 60 new projects, involving students from Arts, Science, Social Studies and Medicine.
International Profile
International Profile The University intends to build on its reputation as an international portal.
Goals
» Establish an international quarter of campus » Continue to appoint Warwick Commissions » International Gateway for Gifted Youth » Create scholarships for students from developing countries
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International Profile
Universities like Warwick are international portals, bringing together the most talented staff and
students in the world and allowing them to take off again on professional and personal journeys which are likely to include all four quarters of the globe.
It follows that those coming to Warwick need to be
provided with a cosmopolitan workplace, building on a campus which already represents a good deal of the world’s diversity of viewpoint and potential.
It has been agreed that Warwick must achieve a
much higher international profile. Most recently,
this ambition has been underlined by activities such as the expansion of Warwick’s Venice operation so
as to provide a permanent facility for both teaching and research; the Warwick Commission, and the
institution of Warwick iCasts. But activities of this kind need to be extended substantially, building
on the rich scientific and cultural resource that the University represents.
Strategy We intend to set up an international quarter on the Warwick campus. This will host several overseas research universities, offering them a genuine physical base at the University. It will allow Warwick to interact on a day to day basis with other research and teaching cultures and will enable us to build up genuine joint research, while offering extended opportunities to both staff and students. This is a radical move for a UK university, opening up new possibilities for international collaboration. The University is keen to contribute its expertise to the solution of major global problems. This was the rationale behind the establishment of the first Warwick Commission – a group of international policymakers, backed up by Warwick
experts, who are currently examining the global trading system after the Doha Round of trade talks and whose recommendations for action will be presented to world governments. We intend to continue to establish Warwick Commissions, with access to Warwick research, to explore other pressing global issues and offer potential solutions. In time, we will also produce a series of other related high-level international policy activities that will be directed to the exploration of real-world issues. We have launched an International Gateway for Gifted Youth with members from at least three continents. Here, we are building on the vast accumulation of knowledge and expertise gained over the five years in which Warwick hosted the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY), and are now taking gifted and talented education into the international arena. To raise our international profile in the world of literature – where the Warwick Writing Programme is already one of the largest and most successful in the UK – we plan to establish a distinctive Warwick Prize for Writing that will involve global competition. We are also examining in detail the case for a digital university press, one of whose primary outputs will be to publish new forms of reference work that are appropriate to the internet. Warwick Arts Centre, situated at the heart of campus, has established itself as a major cultural centre for the whole of the West Midlands. We now intend to expand Warwick Arts Centre so that it becomes a major international cultural centre. Finally, we will consolidate and expand our current position as one of the major UK providers of international education. We are well equipped to make this progression: we have a sophisticated international operation with representatives across the world and, in particular, a dedicated network of Warwick offices in many Asian cities. However, we realise that some overseas students, like their UK counterparts, may benefit from financial support during their time here. We therefore intend to create more scholarships for both undergraduate and postgraduate students from developing countries.
International Profile
Above right: Warwick’s permanent Venice base, the Palazzo Pesaro Papafava Right: Students enjoying the Venice Term in October 2006.
Warwick’s Venice Programme One of Warwick’s earliest international ventures was the Venice Programme, established in 1967, and a unique initiative by a British university. For 40 years, undergraduate and postgraduate students studying History and History of Art have had the opportunity to spend a full autumn term in Venice, incorporating site visits and study trips, backed up by work with Warwick staff at the University’s Venetian base. The University has now expanded the Programme and has established its new base in the Palazzo Pesaro Papafava, a fifteenth century palace in the northern district of Cannaregio, which it now rents for the whole year. Not only does this provide better facilities for students during the Venice Term, it also gives the University as a whole a permanent base in the centre of Europe that can be used for academic conferences and as a research venue. This opens up opportunities for wider international collaborations, as well as reinforcing Warwick’s long-standing relationship with the history and culture of Venice.
TV Winner Heading for Warwick The winner of an Indian reality TV show has scooped a four-year scholarship worth £80,000 to study engineering at Warwick. Arvind Aradhya, an 18 year old from Bangalore, is the first winner of Scholar Hunt:UK – a programme run by the widely respected Indian news channel NDTV. He beat 14,000 other hopefuls to the top spot, after an online general knowledge quiz, engineering exams, a televised interview, a TV quiz and a practical ‘scrapheap challenge’. In effect, this amounted to a televised recruitment process. Warwick is one of four British universities which maintains full-time representatives in India. Several of its former students are now leaders of Indian commerce and industry.
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International Profile
The Warwick Manufacturing Group
The first Warwick Commission at work in Toronto, Canada
The Warwick Commission The Warwick Commission is a new initiative by the University, a major programme of independent inquiries into some of the most pressing global issues. It brings together international policy makers and Warwick scholars, thus uniting practical skills with theoretical insights so that wider systemic and conceptual issues can be considered alongside the immediate policy process. This unique forum will enable Warwick to make a real contribution to the discussion, and, hopefully, the solution of at least some of the problems that beset the world today. The first Warwick Commission is currently considering the future of the multilateral trade system after the Doha Round of world trade talks. It is chaired by the Honourable Pierre Pettigrew PC, an experienced trade specialist and diplomat and a former Canadian Minister for International Affairs. The Commission’s director is Professor Richard Higgott, a specialist on trade governance issues from Warwick’s Centre for the study of Globalisation and Regionalisation. Other members are senior practitioners in international trade and economic governance and ‘next generation’ scholarly analysts of the global trade regime. The Commission has spent the year taking evidence from expert witnesses and will present its report in December. Its aim is to reach conclusions that are not just immediately policy focused but are also embedded in the context of our understanding of the contemporary global and regional economic and political orders.
One of the University’s most successful international operations continues to be the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG). Directed by Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, WMG was established in 1980 in the School of Engineering to reinvigorate UK manufacturing through the application of cutting edge research and effective knowledge transfer. From this modest beginning WMG has grown into a truly global force, moving from its manufacturing core into new sectors such as health, banking, the built environment and digital technology. It now employs over 200 full-time staff with a further 150 associates; research teams are comprised of specialists from both academic and industrial backgrounds.
WMG is a truly international organisation, running research and teaching centres in Hong Kong, South Africa, India, China, Malaysia and Thailand and providing expert advice to many overseas governments and companies. In India, Warwick’s MSc in Engineering Business Management is taught in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry and WMG also works closely with the Tata Group whose Chairman, Mr Ratan Tata, is an honorary graduate of the University.
International Profile
International Gateway for Gifted Youth Warwick’s international outlook and its expertise in gifted and talented education – gained over the past five years through hosting the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth – have come together in the launch of an international organisation for gifted young people. This is aimed at the top 5% of 11-19 year olds around the world. It is indeed a pioneering venture – no other UK institution has attempted to identify gifted children on a global scale. The idea is to develop a personalised on-line learning network which will encourage debate and discussion among the students; to this will be added face-to face opportunities, and programmes delivered by universities, government agencies and business. And from 2009 onwards there will be regular summer schools based both at Warwick and overseas.
A particular feature of the new organisation will be the Junior Commission – a team of specially chosen gifted young people from around the world, selected by means of a competition, who will consider together a significant global issue. Like the Warwick Commission, they will take evidence, debate and deliberate on how to tackle the particular problem, and then present a report. The result will be a very specific, and perhaps different, view of world problems – one that will be well worth hearing.
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A Warwick Gateway
A Warwick Gateway We will enhance the University’s reputation with stakeholders in the UK.
Goals
» Develop a Warwick School for Public Policy and Management
» Develop a Public Sector Park » Develop a major institutional presence in Stratford-upon-Avon
A Warwick Gateway
The University has always had a strong sense of its responsibility to its many
stakeholders in the UK and overseas. Much of its success has been due to strong connections with business and industry, contribution to government and
the broader policy community, and close relationships with immediate local
communities in Coventry, Warwickshire and Birmingham. Warwick now needs
to build on these successes, maximising the value from these linkages, especially relationships with alumni, business and the policy community.
The University should exploit the opportunities offered by Warwick’s particular geographical location. Warwick is ideally placed to act as a ‘gateway’ – a link
between north and south; between our home region of the West Midlands and
the East Midlands; between the centre of England and the whole of the UK, and
between all these areas and a network of countries around the world. This proposes a much larger geographical area for effective stakeholder engagement in the UK, and requires the University to prioritise and refocus existing commitments.
Strategy Our intention is to refocus our efforts on initiatives that demonstrate Warwick’s purpose as a unique ‘gateway’ – especially to stakeholders within the business and policy communities. We will begin by reshaping existing expertise on public policy throughout the University to develop a proactive Warwick School for Public Policy and Management. This will serve the political and policy communities in Whitehall and the regions, where it will allow the University to capitalise on a new wave of devolution. This Centre might in turn be linked to a Public Sector Park which would be developed on or near the Warwick campus in partnership with local authorities and Advantage West Midlands. This would be a timely development, in view of the continuing pressure to decentralise government and to relocate civil service posts to outside London. A Public Sector Park could bring as many as 2000 new professional jobs to the local economy. Warwick also wishes to develop a major institutional presence in Stratford-
upon-Avon which, in turn, will benefit the economic regeneration of Stratford and South Warwickshire. Building on its own research and relationships with other academic bodies and Shakespeare practitioners, the University could ensure that Stratford becomes a truly global hub and an undisputed world leader in Shakespearean scholarship. Part of the University’s commitment to the local and regional community has been engagement on many levels with local schools. Activities have ranged from the Mead Gallery’s sessions with primary school children to the hands-on A level teaching provided for secondary school pupils by the Department of Mathematics. The University now wishes to extend this commitment by developing a consortium with businesses and local authorities to support a number of trust schools across the Greater Warwick area. In recent years the University has cultivated a more obvious presence in Birmingham, the country’s second city and the capital of the West Midlands
region, seeking to make more connections with both business and local government. For example, several policy briefings have been held in Birmingham, where members of the academic staff have discussed their research before an invited audience (activities which had previously been confined to London). Following the success of these events, the University has now decided to develop a regular series of policy briefings in Birmingham, initially supported by Warwick Business School, to complement the ongoing programme of London briefings. Warwick Science Park, set up in the mid-1980s, is recognised to be one of the most successful Science Parks in the UK. However, the time has now come to review the Science Park’s future, to ensure that it continues to be a pioneer in knowledge and in technology transfer.
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A Warwick Gateway
Above: The University is a major centre of Shakespeare research; Professor Jonathan Bate’s new edition of The Complete Works was published in April 2007. Top right: Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service, Sir Gus O’Donnell studied economics at Warwick in the 1970s. Bottom right: Sir Nicholas Stern, Professor of Economics at Warwick 1978-87; as Head of the Government Economic Service, Sir Nicholas Stern was author of the influential report on the economics of climate change, published in October 2006.
Public policy at Warwick Expertise at Warwick encompasses the whole range of public policy issues – governance and public management, public economics, social welfare policy, social cohesion and well being, employment, education, science policy and cultural policy. Involvement ranges from the research interests of individual academics to specially created organisations within the University. One of these is the Institute of Governance and Public Management (IGPM) set up in Warwick Business School in 2002. IGPM brings together senior policy makers and public managers with Warwick academics so that they can work together on policy issues. Its work is never simply theoretical but is always concerned with practical delivery – translating policy into practice. The Institute also addresses the training needs of public management through its pioneering Master of Public Administration degrees. Across the University, there is a growing
emphasis on health and health care and on working with and for the NHS. Research at Warwick Medical School, for example, addresses a whole range of health care issues – emergency care, mental health, diabetes care, palliative care. There is extensive work with primary care trusts and with the NHS as a whole, with a particular focus on the provision of technology in the NHS and patient involvement. The University of Warwick Health Service Partnership, part of the IGPM, involves the IGPM, strategic health authorities, hospital trusts, primary care trusts and national organisations within the NHS; the aim is to generate and extend knowledge, ideas and experience to support the management of change in health and health care. Much of the public policy work in the University is currently UK focused. However, there is a growing body of expertise on topics with a wider application, such as globalisation and regionalisation.
A Warwick Gateway
A public sector hub for health care
Birmingham Science City
In recent years, the University has become a hub for public sector health care organisations, drawn by its central Midlands location and the availability of relevant research and expertise. Currently located at the University are: The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement (NHSII) – situated in Coventry House, at the heart of campus, and directed by Dame Yve Buckland, formerly an academic in Warwick Business School. The Institute’s mission is to accelerate the uptake in the NHS of innovation and improved processes in health care delivery, medical products and leadership. The NHS Centre for Involvement – the University is one of the partners in this consortium which works with NHS staff and organisations to engage more effectively with patients and the public and to implement changes in the health service based on this information. The National Centre for Clinical Systems Improvement – a joint initiative between the NHSII and the University. Its aim is to provide better health care by improving processes, leadership, knowledge transfer and systems design. The Royal College of Nursing Research Institute – a new strategic research partnership formed by the University and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN). The RCN Research Institute is located within the School of Health and Social Studies, and conducts research on patient-related health outcomes and user involvement in health care. NHS electronic libraries – Warwick Medical School has now developed three specialist electronic libraries for the NHS, covering diabetes, emergency care, and ethnicity and health.
Birmingham Science City is a government initiative that brings together world class science and technology within the UK’s second city and its region, and aims to put the West Midlands on the map as a centre of excellence in UK science. A key theme is collaboration between the region’s leading universities and between universities and business. Warwick was keen to become involved in this important project and as a result is now in collaboration with the University of Birmingham, working on the crucial issue of developing ‘green’ fuel. The project, which has funding of £6.3 million from the regional development agency, Advantage West Midlands, is working on the use of hydrogen energy – considered to be one of the best ways of generating energy without producing huge
amounts of carbon or greenhouse gases. The project is exploring how hydrogen energy can be generated, stored, and used as a power source. It will particularly concentrate on producing and storing hydrogen using sustainable methods such as by electrolysis of water, and from biomass. While research is a crucial part of Birmingham Science City, the Programme also recognises the need for more publicity for the region’s first rate science and for its greater engagement with regional business and industry. Warwick has therefore taken the lead in developing Birmingham Science City TV – a video on-demand service to provide business and young people with an insight into science across the West Midlands, and an opportunity to engage with the region’s scientists.
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To Generate More Income
To generate more income
To Generate More Income
We have articulated an ambitious strategy for the
University that aims to take Warwick into the world’s
top 50 universities by 2015 – a strategy that will benefit our stakeholders regionally, nationally, and, indeed globally. We are well aware that this will require a
substantial increase in income, yet Warwick is not
an institution that has shied away from challenge, innovation, and pursuing excellence.
To implement the developments outlined earlier could cost as much as £200 million over five years from
a variety of sources, including statutory funding,
earned income from operations, and private funding. Effective income generation provides Warwick with the freedom to pursue excellence and chart a course for its future. Our goal is therefore to find extra
investment of £200 million over the next five years and to double the University’s turnover by 2015.
Strategy We aim to boost research income substantially by a series of measures that will include an incentive scheme for academics that rewards outstanding performance and success in securing research funding. Concurrently, we will increase mentoring and training in how to secure research funding; review our research governance practices to ensure they serve all parties, and provide increases to the Research Development Fund to stimulate activity in this area regularly as the budget allows. Although viewed as an HE leader in interacting with business, Warwick will utilise a review of activity and best practice to produce a more cohesive approach towards collaboration with industry. Effective implementation of findings will create greater opportunities for partnership and, in turn, increase the University’s industrial income. Private funding sources are increasingly seeking relationships with institutions that not only share their goals, but have the intellectual capital to advance projects and knowledge. Warwick aims to create more opportunities to interact with trusts, foundations, and individuals who value the impact that can be made on the challenges facing society by engaging with Warwick. Warwick will re-examine its intellectual property strategy, with a view to translating the exceptional research of its academics into commercial applications that will benefit the academic, the University, and society as a whole. Warwick will continually consult with its constituencies to identify new ways to achieve more effective income generation.
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To Generate More Income
Warwick Arts Centre Warwick Arts Centre is one of the jewels in the University’s crown. Situated right in the middle of campus, it is one of the biggest arts centres outside London, and attracts some 280,000 visitors every year to an innovative programme of theatre, music, opera, dance, film and the visual arts. It brings to the West Midlands topquality performers and performances from around the world, as well as making time and space for student music and drama and running major school projects annually, involving several thousands of local children. In the words of Alan Rivett, its Director, the Arts Centre’s mission is ‘to make the contemporary arts part of the everyday experience for as many people as possible’, and its programme is both eclectic and international. However, none of this might have been possible without the generosity of one woman – Miss Helen Martin, known until her death in 1988 simply as the University’s ‘Anonymous Benefactor’. A local Kenilworth resident, Helen Martin, through the
charitable trust she set up in 1961, provided much of the initial funding for the Arts Centre – and throughout the 1980s regularly attended its concerts. The Trust also funded University residences, the Modern Records Centre, and music and travel scholarships for Warwick students. This is an amazing example of private charitable giving which has done much to shape the University. For the future, the University wishes to expand the Arts Centre to make it a major cultural centre not just in the UK, as at present, but internationally. The refurbishment of the Butterworth Hall, more big-name international artists, a major artists-in-residence programme, research links with the University’s academic departments and the further development of facilities for music and the visual arts are some of the projects currently in view. The vision is for a truly international cultural centre at the heart of the University. Miss Helen Martin, the University’s ‘Anonymous benefactor’
To Generate More Income
An African project Warwick has a track record as an educational leader/pioneer with a social conscience. An international project funded philanthropically by alumni and friends of Warwick, and Barclays Capital Group demonstrates this. The Warwick in Africa Teaching Project has now completed two years of piloting. Warwick undergraduates, mainly mathematicians and physicists, all with knowledge of teaching, have spent three weeks of their summer vacation teaching in some of the most deprived townships schools in Johannesburg. This novel investment in Warwick talent has paid dividends for African children and teachers alike. It aligns closely with the spirit of Warwick’s widening participation programmes, which are deeply embedded in the University’s ethos. From the outset, the principal aim was to improve educational opportunities for African children. In all the township schools there have been some excellent mathematicians amongst the learners who despite many deprivations aspire to matriculate with Higher Mathematics. Warwick’s students
have been able to offer individualised help, rarely available under normal circumstances. They have been role models demonstrating the value of university education. Jason Young (Accounting and Finance 2005-08) who has just returned from South Africa summed it up: ‘Some may say that three weeks was not enough to make a huge impact, but I disagree. No doubt longer would have been better. But the time we had, even if [it was] just to make the students realise that they do have the potential, that they can understand when things are explained to them and that they can do exceptional work when given the chance, was worth it. Both for them and us.’ Other corporate collaborations are likely to follow. Negotiations are already progressing and may facilitate other pilot schemes including an exchange programme for highly talented township students to spend a year at Warwick. What has become clear is that there is huge latent potential to extend this project in South Africa and beyond.
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Supporting Our Strategic Goals
Supporting our strategic goals
Supporting Our Strategic Goals
If we are to achieve these ambitious goals, we need to create at
Warwick a culture that is energetic and innovative, with a strong
sense of community and mutual support, based on a campus that
operates in a socially responsible manner. Many of these elements are already present in the Warwick of 2007: we need to build on this foundation to produce the University we envisage for 2015.
Simon Patterson, Cosmic Wallpaper, 2002. Situated in the Ramphal Buidling, this piece was commissioned by the Contemporary Arts Society Special Collection Scheme with support from the Arts Council of England Lottery Fund on behalf of the Mead Gallery, University of Warwick.
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Supporting Our Strategic Goals
Improving the Campus Community A community is defined by the space in which it lives and works. At Warwick we are fortunate in our campus. Yet there is clearly room for improvement – steps that could be taken to engender a greater pride in the campus, that could make it more vibrant and interesting for its community. There should be greater opportunities for staff and students to meet in more casual surroundings than those of the lecture theatre, the laboratory, or the seminar room. We need, then, to give the University a greater sense of place, and that, in turn, will naturally engender a greater sense of campus community.
A Fast, Innovative Culture Unlike many institutions, Warwick has never been hidebound by the view that the production of ideas in universities is the sole prerogative of the academy. As the history of the Warwick administration demonstrates, our culture has been one of innovation, where ideas are widely generated and where short lines of communication allow these ideas very quickly to become reality. We now need to develop this further – investing in information technology, the Library and other communications – to make it clear that new ideas, big or small, can be generated by anyone in the University and that in this way everyone can contribute towards taking Warwick further. We need, in other words, to make the University into an arena for ideas about its future.
Means: »» Establish an annual innovation fund that can quickly respond to ideas and suggestions from staff and students.
Means: »» Consider how to produce an effective staff social space that is worth visiting and patronizing, as well as more social spaces in academic departments. »» Produce a greater staff presence on campus through the construction of a University village for staff. »» Enhance the entrances to the University; soften the appearance of older, more functional buildings; turn the University campus into a botanical showcase. »» Have new building schemes designed through international competition so that in time the University has a more commanding and interesting physical presence. »» Continue to purchase site specific art. »» Upgrade general sporting and recreational facilities, including constructing an Olympic-sized swimming pool.
Supporting Our Strategic Goals
A Socially Responsible Campus Universities are socially responsible institutions and Warwick is no exception. For many years, we have striven to maintain our campus according to environmental principles and sustainability. Now many of our community wish to go further and to make the campus into a genuine green icon. We have therefore decided that ‘greening’ the campus is an integral part of our strategy. This will involve careful attention to both general policies and specific details, as well as influencing behaviour, and will pervade all of our activities. We intend to make the Warwick campus a living demonstration of the principles of environmental sustainability.
Means: »» Design all new buildings and refurbish existing buildings to the highest of green standards, to include whole life cycle costing. »» Prioritise recycling and energy management even more highly. »» Reconsider transport provision including enhanced public transport and new cycle paths. »» Continue to develop WISER, Warwick’s Institute of Sustainable Energy and Resources.
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Towards 2015
Warwick: Towards 2015 We have articulated a strategy for Warwick that is bold and ambitious, that will
generate commitment, flair and energy – qualities which we already have here in abundance. Yet this strategy is not restrictive. The Warwick Medical School is on
course to expand its profile in medicine and biological science and tranform health
care in the south of our region; the Digital Laboratory will further enhance Warwick’s reputation for technology transfer and engagement with industry and the public
sector; Birmingham Science City, through our collaborations with the University of
Birmingham, is enabling us to build capacity in energy research. We fully expect that in the next decade the University will create other more innovative projects and seize
opportunities as they present themselves. This has always been, and will continue to be, the Warwick way. We do not, therefore, expect our future activities simply to be confined to those described in this strategy document. Nevertheless, underpinning all such future activities, as it underpins this strategy, is a constant aim: to make
Warwick an acknowledged centre of international higher education – an undisputed world leader in research and scholarship.
Campus development since 2000
Warwick Medical School Teaching Building, opened in 2002
Acquired by the University in 2003, University House now accommodates the University administration, student services and the Learning Grid.
The University merged with Horticultural Research International in 2003, to form Warwick HRI, with sites at Wellesbourne (Warwickshire) and Kirton (Lincolnshire).
Towards 2015
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The Zeeman Building opened for Mathematics and Statistics in 2004
The Clinical Sciences Research Institute, opened at the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust in 2005, is a major research resource for Warwick Medical School.
Warwick Business School’s new building
Edited and produced in the University Communications Office; design: timothyball.com; print: Lemon Press. Š The University of Warwick 2007
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The University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK Tel: +44 (0)24 7652 3523 www.warwick.ac.uk