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Strategic Report
3 Our Regulatory and Competitive Environment
The University operates in a competitive national and international market attracting students and staff from across the region, the United Kingdom and around the world to study and work at one of our campuses. We are an autonomous institution and determine our own mission and strategy, although as a supplier of publicly funded higher education, we are subject to regulation and legislation to ensure that we act responsibly in our use of public funds.
The University is an exempt charity within the meaning of Schedule 3 of the Charities Act 2011. The Higher Education and Research Act of 2017 (HERA) established the Office for Students (OfS) as the principal regulator of the University as a charitable institution.
The OfS’s primary aim is to ensure that English higher education is delivering positive outcomes for students – past, present, and future – and to ensure that students, from all backgrounds (particularly the most disadvantaged), can access, succeed in, and progress from higher education.
The OfS focuses on delivering four primary regulatory objectives, that all students, from all backgrounds, and with the ability and desire to undertake higher education:
• are supported to access, succeed in, and progress from, higher education; • receive a high quality academic experience, and their interests are protected while they study or in the event of provider, campus or course closure; • are able to progress into employment or further study, and their qualifications hold their value over time; and • receive value for money. The University has a highly diverse mix of students, with regulated limits to fees for UK and undergraduate students. There is flexibility to set fee levels for postgraduate and EU and international students. All universities which charge fees for home undergraduate students above £6,165 a year (up to the limit of £9,250) are required to submit an Access and Participation Plan to the OfS. The University’s annual Access and Participation plan was approved at the time of registration and a five-year plan was approved by the OfS in September 2019 which runs until 2024-25. The plan commented positively on our record in opening up higher education to all that can benefit. Our progress towards meeting targets since approval of the plan contains many highlights, including the fact that the University has no attainment gap for disabled students (indeed they achieve a higher rate of good honours), the fact that our black awarding gap has been steadily falling to stand now at around two thirds the size of the gap seen across the sector, and that our overall BAME awarding gap is half what it was five years ago.
The regulatory environment continues to evolve, and the University has taken steps to ensure its compliance with OfS requirements by consolidating responsibility for University compliance oversight into the role of University Secretary and Clerk to the Council.
4 Our Objectives and Strategies
During 2019-20, the University formally adopted its new strategy, Impact 2022. The University consulted widely in the
development of the strategy, reaching out to all our key stakeholders for their views and insight. The result is a strategy that focuses the University’s activity over three years as it builds on the transformation programme which was completed at the end of 2018-19.
Impact 2022 sets the University’s long-term strategic vision to be an innovative, teaching-oriented University, delivering sector-leading and lifechanging educational and employment outcomes for our students. We aim to deliver research and innovation that impacts and enhances lives and society and underpins our educational offer. We seek to be an outwardlyfocused institution, entrepreneurial in spirit, meeting our ethical and social responsibilities, expanding our reach through working in partnership with learners, communities, employers, the public, and strategic partners. We will be a learning organisation, enabling our staff to flourish, build their expertise and professional practice, and continuously excel and improve our organisational effectiveness. We will be financially strong, ensuring our sustainability through realising efficiencies, growth, expansion, and investment. Above all, we will be a vibrant, inclusive community that inspires learning, develops potential, widens participation and ambitiously transforms lives.
Impact 2022 establishes a set of interconnected strategies for the University to make significant progress against this longer-term vision by 2022.
Impact 2022 is structured around two core strategies, Education and Research and Knowledge Exchange. Aligned to these, it prioritises work on four underpinning areas of strategic resource and infrastructure – Digital, People, Finance, and our Estate, and on four cross-cutting strategic themes –Social Responsibility and Reputation, Customer Service, One University, and Commercial.
CORE STRATEGIES
EDUCATION
Social responsibility and reputation
Customer service
One university
Commercial RESEARCH & KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE
DIGITAL PEOPLE FINANCIAL ESTATE
STRATEGIC RESOURCES The over-arching aims of each of these strategic elements are as follows.
Education
The University aims to develop sector-leading impact, becoming renowned for an education that is flexible and practice-based, built around the needs of its students and ensuring their career success.
Research and Knowledge Exchange
Research and knowledge exchange activities will enrich our inclusive, learning community. They will help us reach out to the public, to our communities, and to our key strategic partners. They will help us to innovate and continually improve our enquiry-based education.
Social Responsibility and Reputation
We aim to be a University that always meets its social responsibilities and is able to deliver successfully for those that engage with us for the services we provide. We will set and achieve high standards, celebrate and promote our successes, and be self-critical where we need to improve further.
Customer Service Key to our success will be identifying, understanding and responding to our customers, ensuring that our services are continually adapted to meet their needs. We will always question what we could have done to improve customer satisfaction, and will ask for and act on feedback on our performance.
One University
Commercial
Digital
People
Financial
Estate
We will ensure our services and operations are integrated and holistic, with teams increasingly working across the boundaries of their School or Professional Service, so that our customers’ experience is of one, cohesive organisation. We will encourage staff to take end-to-end responsibility ensuring customers feel that they interact with One University. We will build and foster one community and encourage continuous learning working closely with our alumni and students.
We will deliver greater and more sustainable financial returns from those activities with a commercial focus. We will ensure that business to business services and relationships enable the University to take advantage of commercial opportunities. We will ensure our commercial work is agile, responsive, and flexible, rooted in an accurate understanding of income and financial and opportunity costs.
We will shape our digital strategy around the need to prepare our students for a world of work rooted in the cutting-edge use of digital technology. We will develop our core infrastructure, promoting the functionality and behaviour needed to support the strategies of Impact 2022. The student and user experience will be at the heart of the digital strategy positioning the University to take full advantage of new technology, including shaping, improving and transforming our business processes.
We will create a diverse workplace culture which prizes the high performance that will be key to our success and develops our people, their skills, attitudes and behaviours and ensures their alignment with strategic priorities. We will support our people putting in place structures and processes to promote well-being, reward and recognise our staff, and ensure they are supported to fulfil the expectations of their roles.
We will develop the financial capabilities, resources and infrastructure to ensure we can invest appropriately in our strategic priorities. We will generate annual surpluses, meet our ongoing need for capital investment, manage our financial affairs prudently, including controlling cost, and ensure that the money we have works hard for us and in a way that respects our social responsibilities.
We will ensure our whole estate conveys a coherent and appropriate look and feel for the University, one that reflects our strategic vision, mission and values. We will refurbish and redevelop our campuses to ensure they support learning, enhance the University community, providing a sense of destination and arrival, and contribute to minimising our impact on the environment.
Impact 2022 aims to produce a University that is financially strong, growing in student numbers, and providing an excellent learning and student experience.
Impact 2022 differs from the University’s previous strategy in relation to the size, scale and nature of its franchise provision, prioritising strategic fit and alignment over the volume of student numbers. The University expects the numbers of students in franchise provision to remain broadly stable, whilst Impact 2022 will see continued growth in core BNU numbers.
The overall success of Impact 2022 will be measured against a clear and simple set of key performance indicators and targets. The targets in the table below are those that the University will aim to achieve by 2022.
The following financial indicators and targets were set against the financial performance of the University in 2018-19, and since then the University’s financial statements reflect the full income and cost value of franchise partnership activity. As a consequence, to understand University financial performance against some of the above targets – surplus, staff costs and liquidity – they need to be related to an income figure adjusted to reflect the net contribution from those partnerships.
Student numbers Target Current year Last year
7,000-7,500 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) 5,657 5,209
Overall student satisfaction Above 85%
70.0% 83.5%
Retention
Above benchmark
Highly skilled employment Above benchmark
Reputation
80th or better in aggregate across league tables;
Gold
Annual surplus
Staff costs
7-10%
Less than 50% of income
In excess of 150 days
*FTE: full time equivalent 84.8%
64.6%
99th
Silver
4.7%
48.7%
206 87.5%
69.9%
109th
Silver
6.1%
48.0%
134
Our performance
2020-21 has seen the University make further progress towards the objectives of 2020-21, even as the HE sector has been challenged by the efforts to safely deliver courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the consequences of the pandemic showing some effect upon the outcomes of students throughout the sector, the University’s key performance indicators demonstrate that a rising reputation has contributed to growth being achieved which leads to a very strong financial performance.
Student numbers
Assisted by earlier work to introduce new courses and boosted by an agile response to the government’s support for fast-track first-year sessions for students dissuaded from entering HE in autumn 2020, the University has seen rapid growth in the 2020-21 academic year.
Overall growth of 9% between December 2019 and December 2020 puts the University in the top 20 fastest growing providers for the most recent rates of growth available. This was achieved through 21% growth in apprenticeships and 20% growth in taught postgraduate provision, on top of healthy 5% growth in first degree provision, which still constitutes over two-thirds of BNU’s full-time equivalent provision.
League table ranking
The University has continued its ascent in domestic league tables, climbing from an aggregate position of 109th across the three rankings that were published in 2020 to an aggregate position of 99th in the same rankings in 2021. Climbs of 22 places in the Complete University Guide and 15 places in the Guardian University Guide have accelerated the University away from its position in 2017, when it ranked 120 or lower in every publication.
The rate of increase in the Complete University Guide was the third-highest of all institutions while the twoyear climb in the Guardian was the 6th highest. Progress in the Sunday Sunday Times Good University Guide has been slower, and the 2021 publication showed a small decline.
Having achieved the Impact 2022 objective of a top 80 position in the 2021 Guardian publication, the University expects to achieve an aggregated position of 80th in the 2022 rankings, when averaged across all three publications.
Overall student satisfaction
Set with reference to the sector average satisfaction rate in 2018, BNU had got very close to its Impact 2022 target of 85% in 2020, reaching a high of 83.5% and exceeding its benchmark rate of 82.4%.
In 2021 the entire sector saw a large drop in satisfaction levels of -8% as students reflected on their experience during the pandemic. In reflection of this, the University’s benchmark for full time first degree overall satisfaction fell to 75.7% and the University’s overall satisfaction rate fell further, to 70%. Unlike some universities, BNU places a high premium on practical, face-to-face teaching, and the pandemic therefore had a more significant impact on the University, compromising its ability to provide the high-quality experience we normally provide for our students. As the University emerges from the pandemic, and teaching is less disrupted, we anticipate student satisfaction returning to our pre-pandemic levels.
Although responses to the headline ‘overall I was satisfied with my course’ question were disappointing for the 2021 graduating cohort, there were other sections of the survey in which students expressed greater satisfaction. Bucks Students' Union continues to rank in the top 5 nationally while relative gains for organisation management puts the University in the top half of all institutions. Satisfaction with the timeliness of feedback to BNU students was maintained, significantly above benchmark, even as students across the sector voiced their dissatisfaction with how this had declined at other providers. The response to the pandemic was better in some subjects than in others. 100% of Dance students were satisfied with their course while several subjects increased their relative position amongst other providers.
Retention
BNU exceeds its benchmark for retention of students, with 81.2% of the full time first degree population included in the official 2018-19 HESA metric continuing at the University after their year of entry, compared to a benchmark of 79.8%. The proportion of BNU students leaving HE after their year of entry was lower than benchmarked – 15.5% against 16.3%.
Although superior to benchmark, these figures do not reflect the strong retention performance of the courses delivered by BNU. In particular, the School of Nursing maintained a continuation rate of over 94% for the third year running while the School of Health Care & Social Work improved its rate to over 91%.
Highly-skilled employment
Now measured by the Graduate Outcomes survey, which assesses the proportion of students undertaking graduate-level occupations 15 months after completion of their degree, the 2018-19 cohort showed a decline in employment prospects for students starting their careers during the pandemic.
The unemployment rate of BNU graduates, previously the 4th-lowest in the UK at 2%, increased to 5.2% for the 2018-19 cohort. There are still no official metrics for the highly-skilled metric but the definition used by the Sunday Times University Guide saw 64.6% of graduates enter a graduate level occupation or enter further study – a proportion that ranks 100th in the sector after a decline of 5.3% from 69.9%. This decline is similar to those observed throughout the sector and may decline further before recovering – the employment prospects of those graduating in 201920 were even more affected by the pandemic than those of the students who have been surveyed so far.
The University was awarded a Silver TEF rating in 2018 and this was due to expire in 2021, although there have been no opportunities for new assessments. In June 2021 the Office for Students announced that BNU’s award would be extended for a further year but that no providers should be promoted or used to inform student choice. Subject to further announcement and consultation, it is expected that a new window for TEF submissions will be opened in summer 2022 and new awards announced in 2023.
Surplus
In spite of the disruption to campus activity throughout 2020-21 and the additional resources that were deployed to keep students and staff safe, the University has recorded an operating surplus of 4.9%. This is second successive surplus following deficits of 7.8% and 4.3% in the two preceding years and demonstrates the resilient footing of the University.
Staff costs
This impressive financial performance has been achieved against a prudent approach to the cost base, including staff costs, which have been maintained at under 50% of income for a second successive year. Having been 54% in 2018-19, the proportion of staff costs as a proportion of income is now 49.3%, reflecting work undertaken as part of BNU’s Fit for Future programme, which led to reduced staffing in some areas balanced by additional staffing aligned to Impact 2022 and its growth agenda.
Liquidity
The University has further improved its cash position in 2020-21, with resulting advantages for liquidity. By reaching 206 days, the net liquidity days statistic has now exceeded the Impact 2022 target of 150 days. This further increases the University’s capacity to face the uncertainties and potential challenges that the HE environment is encountering.
PUBLIC BENEFIT STATEMENT
Our University has been transforming lives for 130 years, from developing our students’ full potential to making a positive impact to the environment and in our communities. The University’s Impact 2022 strategy expresses the importance of corporate social responsibility and reaffirms our commitment to reduce our environmental impact; increase sustainability; and address challenges by building effective and strategic partnerships. BNU was the first university in the UK to achieve Gold CSR Accreditation, with its commitment described by the awarding body as ‘a visible testimony of excellence’ in CSR.
Being a responsible corporate citizen is important to us and so we will:
- deliver against our mission as a civic
University, engaging with communities in Buckinghamshire and elsewhere. - engage effectively with business, actively contributing to the local and national industrial strategies, and economic growth within the region. - minimise the environmental impact of our estate by setting new targets to meet the highest standards around energy, waste and travel. The most direct beneficiaries of our impact are our highly diverse community of undergraduate and postgraduate students who choose BNU for sector-leading and lifechanging education, designed to deliver excellent employment outcomes.
We provide an education that works for all regardless of background or circumstance, and provides skills for life, to meet the global challenges of the 21st century. In The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, based on 202021 data, we are proud that BNU: • rose 8 places to rank 26th for social inclusion out of all universities in England; • had the 21st lowest dropout rate in the UK for students from deprived areas; and • had the 23rd lowest black attainment gap across UK universities. These achievements highlight our strength in supporting all BNU students to succeed, underpinning our mission to widen participation through the transformative education we provide.
BNU supports tens of thousands of regional jobs with its beneficial impact estimated to be in the region of £0.95bn annually, reflecting the economic activity of the University’s students, staff, and alumni. BNU students work in and support many key local industries, including the vitally important health and social care sector, and are active contributors to local and regional charities and voluntary groups.
And a report by the Higher Education Policy Institute showed that international students delivered a net economic benefit of £25.9 billion to the UK in 2018-19, with significant contributions across the constituencies in which BNU’s campuses are based:
• Uxbridge and South Ruislip: £129.4m • High Wycombe: £45.6m • Aylesbury: £20.1m Throughout the year, our University community worked tirelessly to play our part in fighting against COVID-19. We also continued our long-hold commitment to make a positive contribution and impact through our business activity across several key areas:
• Research, enterprise and regeneration activities • Teaching impact • Environment
• Community engagement • Outreach and widening participation activities • External engagement
RESEARCH, ENTERPRISE & REGENERATION ACTIVITIES
Our research is focused on ensuring that the University is a catalyst for positive change.
We engage with the wider world in many different ways and knowledge exchange has long been at the heart of our research and innovation activities. We are passionate about working collaboratively with industry and our local communities to benefit both the economy and society.
Knowledge Exchange Framework
BNU scored highly for the way we share knowledge with wider society in the first Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) results published in March 2021. We performed strongly against other similar institutions in three key areas including skills, enterprise and entrepreneurship (top 30%); public and community engagement (top 40%); and working with the public and third sectors (top 50%).
Led by Research England, the purposes of the KEF are to provide:
• universities with new tools to understand, benchmark and improve their individual performance; • businesses and partners with information on universities’ strengths in KE; and • greater public visibility and accountability of university KE activities. We will continue to work tirelessly to expand our KE activities at a local, national, and international level.
Arc Universities Group
Buckinghamshire New University is a proud member of the Arc Universities Group (AUG), a network of nine universities between Oxford and Cambridge, formed to foster collaboration, research, skills and innovation to support the economic growth of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc region. Our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Nick Braisby and Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Gavin Brooks are respectively members of the AUG’s Governing and Operating Boards. The boards comprise senior representatives from the AUG whom work together with government, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), Growth Boards and business to deliver the Arc’s economic development goals and support growth, inclusivity and resilience across the region.
BNU is also represented on the OxfordCambridge Arc Universities Group’s Environment Partnership Board (EPB) with an agenda focused on three areas:
• Natural assets - the protection and enhancement of the natural capital of the Oxford-Cambridge Arc region • Sustainable infrastructure - the environmental sustainability ambitions of infrastructure bodies, companies, utilities, and their professional advisors; and • Employment opportunities for a green economy - the green economy and recovery opportunities in the Arc. People living and working in the Oxford-Cambridge Arc value highly its natural environment assets, wildlife, landscapes and green spaces. Conserving and enhancing the natural environment of these areas are at the heart of the Government’s ambitions for the Arc region. At BNU, we are responding to these regional and global challenges by conducting research and developing new course programmes: Clean water: esearch on water security and pollution levels is both informing Government policy and helping to improve access to clean water on a global scale, as well as for the Arc region.
• BNU is part of the four-year £4.3 million PANIWATER (Photoirradiation and Adsorption Novel
Innovations for Water-treatment) programme, a joint EU-Indianfunded project through the Horizon 2020 programme and the Indian
Department of Science & Technology (DST). BNU is one of 18 partners across the UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy,
Cyprus and India. Prototype solar water disinfection (SoDis) jerry cans, designed at BNU, kill harmful microbes in water to benefit India’s rural communities, which account for more than 60 million people within its 1.3 billion population. • The jerrycans and SoDis buckets are already being used by more than 500 families in the Chikwawa region of Malawi, in southeast Africa, through a BNU project with the
Polytechnic University of Malawi, as part of an earlier EU Horizon 2020-funded WATERSPOUTT
Project. WATERSPOUTT is coordinated by researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons in
Ireland (RCSI) and aims to reduce the number of people worldwide relying on unsafe drinking water. Its work with BNU has also included being part of a trial of transparent plastic jerry cans for solar water disinfection in rural communities in Ethiopia. • BNU academics have also advised on water disinfection buckets used in primary schools in rural Masaka, Uganda. Life below water: by highlighting and researching marine environmental challenges, the Arc universities are helping to drive initiatives that have a global impact, not only on policy but also on the attitudes of individuals.
• At BNU, our research is addressing the decarbonisation of sport leisure marinas through our involvement in the Carbon Neutral Management of Sport Marinas International
Master Modules programme. The programme has been created to meet future skills needs; enhance the opportunities for cooperation between higher education, vocational educational training and industry; and boost the exchange and transfer of knowledge to increase know-how. Life on land: with a landscape ranging from low rolling hills of the Chilterns to the open landscapes of Bedfordshire, good land stewardship is crucial for the 1.15 million hectares which comprise the Arc region.
• BNU has biodiversity projects across our estates including green rooves and wildflower and meadow planting programmes. All AUG members are also working in partnership to raise public awareness of environmental challenges. BNU is part of SOCLIMPACT, a European innovation projected funded by the EU Horizon 2020 scheme. This innovative project models climate change effects and their socioeconomic impacts in European islands, aiming to develop climate projections, and assess impact, risk and vulnerability to island communities.
Universities in the Arc region also play a highly important role in the development of the aviation and aerospace sectors. Ranking third in the world, behind only the USA and China, the UK is a significant player in the aerospace industry. In the Oxford-Cambridge Arc area, there is world-class capability and a tradition of deep collaboration. Historically, the Arc region was the birthplace of the Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner to the RAF, and is now home to a network of aerospace companies. BNU makes its own contribution to the industry with our pioneering dual aviation and pilot degree programmes which equip professionals with the skills they need to succeed in an ever-changing and dynamic sector.
In 2020, the AUG members began working together so that real progress could be made in meeting the enormous aerospace and aviation challenges of our times, chiefly readying the industry for its transition to netzero emissions, in line with the UK Government’s ambitious target to be carbon neutral by 2050. This collective and systems approach between the AUG members and industry has led to the proposed Oxford-Cambridge Virtual Institute for Aviation (OCAVIA). Guided by an industry advisory board, OCAVIA will offer a systems approach to enable real-time modelling and integration of technology into aircraft, and aircraft into wider operations. This will include assessing how the jobs, responsibilities and skills of tomorrow’s aviation professionals will inevitably need to adapt to the new operating environment.
In addition to BNU’s AUG contribution, academics from our School of Aviation and Security have collaborated with the European Commission Joint Research Centre to estimate regional variation in air transport connectivity across the EU, UK and EEA regions. The research project, supported by Research England’s Quality-Related Research Strategic Priorities Funding (QR SPRF), involved the development of a new regional air transport vulnerability and dependence index to estimate the impact of disparities in air transport access and mobility in the post-pandemic period. In total, the research project analysed sub-regional air access inequality across 13,883 N3 regions in Europe. The resulting invaluable data will now aid policy makers and industry in their immediate understanding of the changing levels of disparity in air transport connectivity and access across the EU, EEA and UK regions, before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
New BNU research, funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and commissioned by GTR development organisation GATE Herts, demonstrated that Anti-Gypsy hate crime and hate speech were linked to both attempted and completed suicides in the Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showman and Boater communities. The first-of-its-kind pilot study of people from the Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showman and Boater (GTRSB) communities estimated there have been 131 suicide attempts known to NGO support workers over a fiveyear period ending in 2020. A large proportion of NGO support workers who took part in the study said the vast majority (90%) of their clients who had completed, or attempted, suicide had experienced hate incidents.
All of the GTRSB respondents to a survey ran as part of the study said they had experienced hate incidents or discrimination, with the most common experiences being: exclusion and discrimination from and within services (94%); reinforcement of negative stereotypes through mainstream media representations (89%); social media abuse (87%); and racial hatred caused by media incitement (82%). Only 10% of respondents to this survey said they would formally report hate incidents, while one-in-three neither knew how to make such a report or felt that it would be too much bother given their lack of trust in a positive outcome. School bullying was highlighted by 78% of respondents as one of the most common forms of hate incidents they had experienced.
The BNU study also found that one-in-five GTRSB people who have experienced a suicide within their family were aged 18 to 30, with two-thirds of these young people experiencing a suicide of a close relative. The profound impact of exposure to multiple suicides at such a young age is likely to exacerbate their own risk factors for suicide, which include exposure to hate incidents, according to the research. BNU’s ground-breaking study is a key intervention in the continued fight for the rights of Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showman, and Boater communities to be treated equally and valued by the institutions that should serve them. Our University continues to widen access to higher education and increase support for these communities, to close the equality gap and remove some of the unnecessary barriers to social inclusion they have faced for far too long, for example through a new GTRSB bursary.
Buckinghamshire Life Sciences Innovation Centre
We are proud to be a partner in the Buckinghamshire Life Sciences Innovation Centre which supports innovative businesses to develop products focused on health and wellbeing, prevention, and public health and, in so doing, meet the health needs of our region and improve patient outcomes. BNU is also among a consortium of eight higher education institutions, led by Imperial College London, tackling medtech challenges through the MedTech SuperConnector programme.
Dr Ricardo Khine, BNU’s Head of School of Health Care & Social Work and Associate Professor, Health Care (CPPD & Partnerships), developed a study to define the opportunity and potential for Advanced Clinical Practice (ACP) roles in oncology services. The research was conducted to utilise a qualitative study design using focus groups and set objectives to explore local profiles, role development, opportunities for standardisation of ACPs in therapeutic radiography and to determine resource requirements to roll out and ensure continuation of the existing and new roles. The focus groups enabled participants to tell their stories and share experiences. Key findings concluded that the need for standardisation in job descriptions, roles and responsibilities and a key understanding of career progression were essential to ensure continuation of the existing and new roles.
Enterprise activities
We have also recently expanded our team within the University’s Research and Enterprise Directorate to include a Knowledge Transfer Partnership Manager and an Innovation and Knowledge Exchange Manager. Together, these new roles will facilitate increased external engagement within the local community, both with local businesses and institutions and will ultimately work to increase our research impact, reputation and involvement within Buckinghamshire and the surrounding areas. BNU is now represented as members of various local Chambers of Commerce and engages with the Buckinghamshire unitary authority through a range of partnerships and projects to ensure that we actively utilise our academic expertise to engage and participate in ways that benefit our external partners.
Bucks HSC Ventures is a three-year health and social care innovation programme hosted by BNU and funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in collaboration with Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, Buckinghamshire County Council, Oxford Academic Health Science Network and Buckinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group. Bucks HSC Ventures has provided over 1143 hours of direct support – with a market value of more than £128,000 - to 164 micros, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through a variety of workshops, masterclasses, webinars, events, and networking opportunities.
Innovative ideas are based on themes such as ‘Best Start in Life’, ‘Prevention’, ‘Age Well’, and ‘Staff Wellness’ with the aim of establishing Buckinghamshire as the ‘go to’ destination for health and social care innovation, and ultimately improving patient care within the region. Bucks HSC Ventures has supported an exciting array of beneficiaries including a BNU Master’s student who successfully launched Coggi, a ground-breaking digital app which uses immersive AR technology to help children promote their own psychological wellbeing with the aim of preventing or lessening future mental health problems. The Bucks HSC Ventures programme’s Value Proposition workshops helped the student to identify future commercial opportunities and how to develop a strong pitch ahead of seeking R&D funding to validate the use of Coggi as a tool for improving children’s wellbeing while in hospital.
Regeneration activities
BNU supports regeneration activity in the region with projects to support graduates’ start-ups and to provide know-how to SMEs in Buckinghamshire following a £1.2m investment from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), as part of the European Regional Development Fund Programme (ERDF).
The GLIDE programme seeks to increase entrepreneurship and stimulate the local economy by supporting small and local businesses during the economic recovery period following the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the use of knowledge, expertise, technology and research capabilities that already reside within BNU, the programme aims to help our graduates start their own businesses across a variety of industries, as well as to develop and enrich existing SMEs to develop their business and increase reach within the market.
Challenge Works is a programme designed to bring the power of innovation generated through the private sector to work on reducing costs and improving the effectiveness of the public sector’s response to key challenges facing society. By using the ‘hackathon’ methodology, the private sector can create innovative products, services and processes to help address both local and wider challenges. The programme will also focus on knowledge exchange between our academics at BNU and private sector businesses participating in the programme, fostering better and lasting relationships with the wider business community and making BNU a preferred place for businesses to access support.
TEACHING IMPACT
We are proud to train the nurses; operating department practitioners; midwives, paramedics, social workers and police officers of the future, many of whom choose to stay on and work in the local area after graduation. All our graduates make a difference in the real world through their significant contribution to sectors and industries including design; music and film; sport; business and law; and aviation.
We provide a high-quality learning experience for all our students, and we have outlined in the Strategic Report the league table successes the University has achieved in 2020-21. The University’s improved rankings are testament to our proud history of offering employment focused and skills-based learning.
Applying knowledge in authentic work-related scenarios is a hallmark of every course at BNU. From day one, we encourage our students to focus on their future careers and to take advantage of the many opportunities to bolster their job prospects while they study. In partnership with Bucks Students’ Union, we do everything we can to ensure our students are well prepared to stand out in the highly competitive employment market when they graduate. It is why BNU graduates go on to be successful in their chosen careers, and we take great pride in all that they achieve.
We are also proud that our library has been re-accredited with the Book Industry Communication Technology Excellence in Libraries (TEiLA) award which honours libraries for their adoption of best practice and industry standards and their investment in beneficial technologies. This award demonstrates that our staff and students benefit from BNU’s optimum use of technologies in book and e-book acquisition and in our self-issue machines which use RFID technology for efficient book circulation. It is just one way in which BNU strives to provide our staff and students with access to learning resources and services in the most efficient way. Developing courses to ensure graduates succeed in the real world
• BNU’s Human Performance Lab was praised for helping volunteers achieve a ‘remarkable health turnaround’ in the ‘21 Day Body Turnaround’
Channel 4 programme with BNU honorary Dr Michael Mosley which aired in June 2021. Initial lab testing at BNU of the volunteers revealed they were all likely to be at risk from debilitating conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, chronic inflammation and stress. Further tests by BNU staff showed that most had the aerobic fitness age of someone at least 20 years older. After following Dr
Mosley’s exercise and diet regime for 21 days, the tests were repeated at
BNU with the results demonstrating the health improvements for each participant. Dr Mosely said: ‘Key to their success were the tests we did at Buckinghamshire New University, where I was delighted to receive an honorary doctorate a few years ago.
My volunteers found doing the tests very motivating and were impressed by the expertise of the staff.’
Our Human Performance Lab specialises in human physiology, biomechanics and psychology. It plays an important role in assisting and facilitating student learning on a range of sports science academic courses, while also being available to athletes and teams who wish to improve their training and performance with advice from the university’s experienced consultants.
BNU alumni who have used the lab for their studies have gone on to successful careers in sports analysis and coaching at Premier League football clubs and in other sports, while the lab’s sports science consultants provide support to athletes across a range of sports and disciplines. • BNU was selected as one of five UK institutions to take part in the UK
Fashion and Textile Association’s (UKFT) ‘MADE IT’ 2020-21 programme. The project aims to bring together design graduates and manufacturers, enriching studies with specialist industry knowledge and providing a foundation for those hoping to start a career in manufacturing. The programme is made up of three elements: a
Production and Sourcing Masterclass, highlighting the breadth of job opportunities across the supply chain; a production internship, immersing students within a manufacturing environment; and the development of quality internship material for both students and employers, with the aim of raising the quality and expectations of internships across the industry. BNU is proud to enter into this new partnership as part of an ongoing commitment to providing practical experiences that aid our students’ future employability. We are passionate about developing graduates with industry-ready skills who are equipped to consider their position in the wider ethical and economic attributes of the fashion and textiles sector.
• BNU’s online MA Interior Design for Health and Wellbeing course became the first Master’s qualification to receive accreditation from the
Society of British and International
Design (SBID). SIBD represents the interior design industry on a global stage and promotes the highest standards in education, development and sustainability in design and construction. We are proud to play our part in changing the design industry for the better by actively promoting health and wellbeing. The programme involves industry professionals contributing to students' learning and research to enrich the student experience, along with contributions from experts across the healthcare design sector. • Two news ways of becoming a police officer has seen people aged 19-44 from all walks of life join the force via a partnership between BNU and
Thames Valley Police (TVP). More than 35 new police officers have joined Thames Valley Police (TVP) via the University’s two new student officer entry programmes: the three-year Police Constable Degree
Apprenticeship (PCDA) entry route for those who do not already hold a degree qualification, and the two-year
Degree Holder Entry Programme (DHEP) entry route for those that do.
The two cohorts are aged from 19 to 44 years old and 55% of new recruits are female, while 13% have Black, Asian or MultiEthnic backgrounds. They bring with them a variety of previous life and work experience including experience in community mental health support, the military, retail and leisure, foster care, the prison service, teaching and animal welfare.
ENVIRONMENT
We take our environmental responsibilities seriously and are committed to building on our achievements. The University’s Impact 2022 strategy expresses the importance of corporate social responsibility and reaffirms our commitment to reducing our impact on the environment; increase sustainability in our operations and education; and address challenges through building effective and strategic partnerships.
Impact 2022 set new targets to meet the highest standards in relation to our environment, including energy, waste and travel. We will deliver against our mission as a civic University, engaging with communities across the county of Buckinghamshire and elsewhere. We will engage effectively with business, actively contributing to the local and national industrial strategies, and economic growth within the region. We will minimise the impact of our estate on the environment.
We were the first university to receive a Gold CSR Award. In 2020, BNU signed the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Accord. We have committed to publicly sharing our submissions to the UN to provide transparency around our progress against the 17 SDGs which span climate change, reducing inequalities, promoting economic growth, providing quality education and tackling poverty. Although we are at an early stage of explicitly aligning the SDGs to our strategic work, we are very proud of all that our University community has already done to make a positive impact locally, nationally and globally.
In 2020 we announced our pledge to go carbon net zero by 2030 - 20 years ahead of the Government’s target. We are moving towards embedding sustainability into our curriculum for all disciplines and course programmes.
Our sustainability principles are to:
Create a sustainable campus.
Enable, empower and support the BNU community to tackle their sustainability impacts.
Provide the education, advancement dissemination and application of sustainable development.
Maximise the impact of BNU's environmental sustainability activities at local, regional, national and international levels through collaboration, partnership and communications.
Become a leader across the HE sectors in terms of environmental sustainability.
Projects we have undertaken to reduce BNU’s carbon footprint:
Net zero carbon emissions
A full audit and review of all plant, machinery, mechanical and electrical equipment across our estate was undertaken, using financial cost / benefit analysis, to identify where capital investment is required to reduce our carbon emissions. We have proud to have already succeeded in reducing our carbon footprint by 55% since 2011.
Energy costs and consumption
Energy costs consist of two key elements: electricity and gas. Our Estate Management Report indicates the University’s gas costs in terms of both price and % consumption are in line with the lower quartile of the sector. For electricity, however, both price and % consumption are in the upper quartile. This is partly driven by the fact that we have opted to use a nuclear carbon neutral tariff which attracts a price premium. A review of electricity consumption is planned for 2021-22 to identify areas of focus to improve both our tariff and consumption.
Enhancing our campuses
During the year, we developed plans to enhance our campuses to improve the experience of our students and staff. The team with whom we work share our commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and are purpose driven in their work. We are committed to meeting the Social Value Act by procuring goods and services from social enterprises.
• We have developed a partnership with a local social enterprise and charity which salvages materials for reuse and supports disadvantaged people into employment. • The micro-SMEs with whom we have worked are committed to sustainable landscape and planting practices. All plants have been chosen for their variation and support in enhancing biodiversity and urban greening. They will support wildlife with small fruits and flowering in the spring. Many are drought-resistant and chosen in consideration of climate resilience.
• Timber to create planters has been salvaged from the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff where it was a previously a board walk. It is self-maintaining without the need for reapplied paint finishes, and the planters will serve as homes for bees to support biodiversity. The timber is treated with a product that is based upon purified and refined natural resources. • A wildflower garden at our High
Wycombe Campus supports biodiversity, and we have created green roof spaces at our Hughenden
Student Village halls of residence.
We put our energy into saving energy
• In 2021, the University invested £255k for photovoltaic cells places on three buildings at our High
Wycombe Campus. Since installation, these cells have generated 920,581
KWHs of power and generated a cost saving of £125k plus a further energy offset saving of £80k. • We have installed solar panels capable of producing up to 138,000 kWh of energy per year. This equates to an annual saving of 70 tonnes of carbon. • Investment in a modern building management system has enabled greater control of utility spend.
Our building management system controls heating, cooling and hot water, and increases the amount of time when the plant can be turned off. During the COVID-19 outbreak, this enabled building services systems to be monitored and managed successfully off campus. • Our mechanically ventilated buildings recover heat before air is expelled, which is used to preheat air entering the building to save on energy consumption and keep our campuses
COVID-secure. We achieve up to 80% heat / cooling recovery from our ventilation systems. Variable speed pumps reduce energy requirements under different loads and we use highly efficient air source heat pumps. • Electric vehicles comprise 66% of our fleet, and we have an electric car club scheme for staff, along with charging points for our employees’ electric vehicles. • We are working to reduce our carbon emissions further still by migrating from gas to electric boilers and improving insulation by replacing windows with energy efficient secondary glazing units. • We continue to replace old lighting with LED units, and install presence and absence detectors to turn off lights when rooms are not in use. • We have installed low flow shower heads in our student accommodation and fitted flow controls to urinals.
• We specify that our IT equipment must be energy efficient.
Responsible waste management
We manage and dispose of our waste responsibly.
• Recycling facilities are available for paper, card, plastics, metal, electrical equipment, batteries and mattresses. • We are working on food recycling at our campuses and halls of residence, and coffee cup recycling for our cafes. Customers using a reusable cup already receive discounts on hot drink purchases to discourage the use of paper cups. • Office furniture is reused and repaired until it is no longer economical to do so.
• We have upcycled furniture from other organisations, saving items from landfill, and will continue to repurpose them across our learning and social spaces. • We work in partnership with a local charity wood merchant to recycle products as outdoor furniture across our estate.
• Waste that cannot be recycled is sent to a waste-to-energy plant where possible, and to landfill as a last resort. • All hazardous waste is stored in suitable containers and disposed of by specialist contractors. • We have removed more than 5,000 plastic straws from our bars and cafes.
The Bucks New Usage upcycling scheme
This scheme holds a gold level Green Apple Award for Environmental Best Practice, redistributes used and unwanted items from student accommodation, such as bedding, crockery, small electricals and kitchen equipment. We also offer items to other new students when they arrive at BNU. This is both sustainable and helps our students to save money they would have had to spend to prepare for university life. Last year around 150 black bags of unwanted items were redistributed, all of which would otherwise have gone to landfill. Clothing and excess items are donated to the YMCA or Wycombe Food Hub. All donations are delivered using the University’s electric car, our post van or are collected in person to minimise our environmental impact.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Helping our local communities
Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic
• Our Operating Department Practitioner and nursing students rose to the challenges of COVID-19 by joining the front line of the NHS response. We are so proud of how they demonstrated a sustained and dedicated sense of duty and selfless determination to provide compassionate and effective care solutions to patients and their families. It is commendable that they applied their time and skills empathetically, courageously and effectively in a true spirit of altruism. • Student nurses from BNU revealed how they conquered personal and professional fears to help save patients’ lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Living with Fear: Reflections on COVID-19 book, student nurses who joined the frontline while completing their studies described how their fears inspired them to flourish and grow at a time of national crisis.
The book brought together the thoughts of 22 frontline professionals, including clinicians, nurses, therapists, doctors, academics, and people with lived experience of COVID-19, reflecting on what they expected, what they saw, and how this impacted them. The concept of fear is the underlying theme throughout the book, which combines first-hand accounts with academic research and details the clear strategies put in place to make clinical decision-making easier. • BNU was incredibly proud to host Buckinghamshire’s first large-scale COVID-19 vaccination site at its Aylesbury campus. The University joined forces with the NHS and Buckinghamshire Council to provide COVID-19 vaccinations, with the site being operated by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. Our Aylesbury campus already has a strong track record in healthcare, offering a range of traditional degrees and apprenticeships across the health and social care field, which makes its involvement in the vaccination effort even more fitting. Staff from BNU’s nursing programmes also helped to train almost 40 COVID-19 vaccinators so that the mass vaccination site could open on schedule.
OUR COVID RESPONSE
The cost of our COVID response: £2.0m
We received an incremental Hardship Funding Grant allocation from the OfS of £0.9m in the year, to provide additional support for our students experiencing financial hardship over the challenging period of the COVID-19 pandemic. This additional funding, together with our own funded programme of planned support for students, delivered a broad programme of support for our students in 2020-21:
£74k was shared between 211 students living in private accommodation impacted by COVID-19 through the Everyday Living Allowance.
£88k was shared between 223 students who encountered a financial emergency and required support for technology and software through the Learning Technology Grant.
DISCOUNTS & REBATES
Discounts worth £850k
to students on our 2020-21 accommodation rates for our halls of residence
Rent rebates totalling £800k
were given to all students with halls contracts when Government restrictions forced us to close campuses
Fee waivers of £800k+
for students in University accommodation when oncampus teaching ceased due to Government restrictions.
University staff’s donations created 113 presents for students staying in halls over the festive period. The University provided these students with hampers containing 1200+ festive treats. 21,820 vaccine doses administered at NHS clinic hosted on Aylesbury campus.
57 COVID-related updates ensured staff were kept informed during the pandemic. Student Wellbeing and Engagement Team and Multifaith Chaplaincy responded to 30,273 student emails
3276 students completed their studies and graduated from BNU
335 digital learning training sessions supported our staff to deliver high quality online teaching.
3000 pupils engaged in 61 BNU events to widen participation in HE with groups typically underrepresented.
1284
Nursing and Operating Department Practitioner students supported frontline NHS workers by staying on placement during the November 2020 and Spring 2021 lockdowns.
Playing our part in tackling hygiene poverty
BNU’s Give to Refresh initiative saw staff and students joining forces with the national Beauty Banks (BB) charity to help local people living in hygiene poverty. The initiative brought together residents, retailers, businesses and politicians in a campaign spearheaded by a local media partnership. We became the first university community in London and the South to set up a public BB donation point and collected more than 1,000 items before COVID-19 lockdowns closed our campuses. We worked with organisations including food banks, homeless centres and schools to encourage them to register with BB and avoid missing out. It’s just one of the ways we’ve been transforming lives for 130 years. Our donations to a local food bank supported 890 local families living in poverty.
We continue to build partnerships with local retailers to siphon off damaged but usable stock from landfill to Give to Refresh and help those in need. And the impact of Give to Refresh has already extended beyond our walls with local school pupils inspired by the University to create donation points in their school community. And Bucks Students’ Union received an Excellent rating in the Green Impact Award with special mention by the auditor about the impressive reach of the Give to Refresh initiative.
Our university community is proud that Jo Jones, co-founder of Beauty Banks, has recognised BNU’s ‘keen and active’ support to help those living in hygiene poverty. A local food bank, One Can Trust, also spoke of our positive impact and the ‘huge help’ BNU’s donations had made to ‘people who need it most in the local community.’
Making a difference to help others
• During the October 2020 half term,
Bucks Students’ Union provided free hot meals to all school-aged children in support of Marcus Rashford’s campaign to tackle poverty. More than £8,000 was donated to the
Union’s Just Giving page in support of the SU’s ‘Free Hot meals for
All’ initiative. During the 2020
Christmas holidays, the Union donated 458 festive bags of food, entertainment and treats to pupils at three High Wycombe schools. • COVID restrictions prevented an annual lunch for older people and instead the Union delivered 70 hampers, with items donated by students and staff, to the Cherry
Garth residential home. Chocolate selection boxes were also donated to Wycombe Homeless Connection to spread some festive cheer, in addition to student fundraising for the charity and Hillingdon Food Bank. • In May 2021, BNU staff took part in the British Inspiration Trust’s (BRIT) 2021 Challenge, to raise awareness and funds for five young adult mental health charities.
Supported by our alumna, BRIT ambassador and Paralympic rowing gold medallist, Naomi Riches, MBE, our staff completed 10,054 miles through a range of activities and raised nearly £2,500 for the charities. • The University’s volunteering policy gives all staff two days’ paid leave each year to support charities of their choice. Charities which continue to benefit from this initiative include the Samaritans, Hounds for Heroes, Blood Bikes, and local hospices. Bucks Students’ Union also promotes volunteering to students and a total of 7,020 volunteering hours were logged in 2020-21.
Providing financial support for students in need
We received an incremental Hardship Funding Grant allocation from the OfS totalling £0.9m in the year, to provide additional support for our students experiencing financial hardship over the challenging period of the COVID-19 pandemic. This additional funding, together with our own funded programme of planned support for students, has combined to deliver a broad programme of support for our students in 2020-21.
In addition to free equipment for students through the award-winning Bucks New Usage scheme, our Bucks Hardship Fund provides discretionary financial assistance to help our students remain in higher education. It is particularly aimed at those students who need financial help to meet specific course and living costs that cannot be met from other sources of support. The fund can provide emergency payments for unexpected financial crises. Payments are usually given as grants, which do not have to be repaid, of up to £3k per year of study. We also offer interest-free loans to students on a short-term basis.
We recognised that many of our students continued to face various difficulties due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19 during 2020-21, when part-time employment ceased and their usual way of studying was disrupted. And so we took further steps to ease our students’ worries and concerns by:
• Continuing our Bucks Emergency
Allowance, in addition to our existing Hardship Fund, for students to claim up to £250 to meet any pressing money issues.
More than 800 students received grants totalling £100k through the
Bucks Emergency Allowance. • Introducing the Everyday
Living Allowance (up to £400) to support students living in private accommodation impacted by COVID-19 to cover ‘everyday’ costs such as food, toiletries, utilities, bills and medicine. A total of £74k was shared between 211 students through this allowance. • Introducing the Learning Technology
Grant (up to £500) to support all students who encountered a financial emergency and required support for costs for technology and software to enhance their learning. £88k was shared between 223 students in total through this allowance. • Distributing £323k of hardship funding direct to BNU’s eligible education partners in support of students experiencing financial hardship. • Reducing our 2020-21 halls of residence accommodation charges from the start of the year by 10-30% which represented total discounts of more than £850k to our students who could not commute to University.
Giving rent rebates to students in our halls from the last week of December in 2020 until April 2021, when
Government restrictions forced us to close campuses, resulted in savings of more than £800k for our students.
• Giving 56 food boxes to student flats where residents had to isolate due to suspected or positive COVID-19 cases. • Offering quarantine food bags to provide short-term food for 120 international students who were required to quarantine following arrival into the UK. • Giving a food hamper and present to 113 students who were staying in halls over the festive period. • Wrote a second open letter to private landlords in January 2021 asking that they recognise the exceptional circumstances and consider rent discounts or early release from contracts for students.
Supporting Bucks Students’ Union
Buckinghamshire New University is the principal funding partner of Bucks Students’ Union, an independent educational charity with a mission to make life better for students at BNU. We invest in the Students’ Union because we believe it is important to support their work, not only in supporting and developing our students, but in building links between their members and the local community; charity fundraising; volunteering; citizenship and endeavours to promote fair trade, sustainability, social inclusion and environmental and ecological good practice.
In 2020-21, Bucks Students’ Union received a funding grant of £1.54m from the University. This enables the Students’ Union’s to run its unique Big Deal initiative so that all students, irrespective of their income, can access recreation, sports and skills development opportunities for free. This removes any financial barriers to participating fully in all aspects of university life at BNU.
NDACA
We are proud to host the National Disability Arts Collection and Archive (NDACA), the first physical location of its kind dedicated to Britain’s disability arts movement which features more than 3,500 pieces of artwork. Our commitment to NDACA is a symbol of our overall commitment to supporting achievement among disabled people. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented us from welcoming researchers, heritage professionals and those interested in this important area of the UK’s cultural identity to BNU for much of the year.
OUTREACH & WIDENING PARTICIPATION
We are proud of everyone in our diverse and inclusive University community and work tirelessly to break down barriers to ensure that everyone can benefit from the transformative education we provide. Some 23% of our students come from postcodes with lower participation rates in higher education, and 35% are from areas of deprivation.
Celebrating Black History Month
Black History Month is an important time in BNU’s calendar as we reflect on the history of Black people and the immense contribution they and other ethnic groups make to our University and the society we live in today. Throughout October 2020, staff and students celebrated Black History Month with a series of events that recognised the positive contributions and achievements of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic group communities. BNU’s celebrations began with a staff launch event for Black History Month, led by our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Staff Network, which provides a platform for members to learn about diversity in an inclusive and open environment. The Network is responsible for raising awareness and promoting opportunities for attracting a diverse group of staff and students.
Different themes shaped BNU’s Black History Month including promoting understanding about Black culture; educating and inspiring others; and reflecting on personal history and experiences in the UK as Black people or allies of Black people. Bucks' Students Union held activities and events including film nights and receptions.
Our strong performance in widening participation in higher education amongst underrepresented groups, and in supporting all students to complete their studies and succeed, was highlighted in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022 in which BNU had the 23rd lowest black attainment gap across UK universities.
BNU continues to make great strides in addressing racial inequalities and create an inclusive culture and environment where individuals are able to thrive, irrespective of their race or ethnicity. To help facilitate progress, we have pledged our commitment to the principles of the Advance Higher Education Race Equality Charter (REC), improving the representation, progression and success of staff and students from different ethnic backgrounds within higher education.
Our outreach work
Last year we continued our work with local schools and colleges as part of our commitment to widening participation (WP) amongst those groups typically underrepresented in higher education. Despite the challenges raised by COVID-19, we were delighted that more than 3000 school pupils engaged across 61 BNU events.
Around half (48%) of the young people we worked with during the year would be first-generation University students; about one in three (35%) were members of the BAME community; and 6% identified as disabled. Three in every five students lived in areas with low participation to university (POLAR4 Q1 and Q2) and 35% lived in high deprivation areas. In addition, we welcomed students from the Probation Service, Young Carers, military families and 55 care-experienced students.
We adapted our activities in response to the changing COVID-19 restrictions by delivering virtual, in-person and blended activities throughout the year, including taster days, careers days and careers advice and guidance sessions across groups from Years 8 to 13. We are committed to playing our part to respond to the increasing emphasis by government and schools on the importance of careers advice. It’s important to us to help students in their career choices and illustrate the pathways available to them, whether or not this includes higher education.
Our Futures Days campus visits are aimed at Year 9 students, offering a first-hand experience of university life to encourage them to consider higher education, irrespective of their background. Last year we held 15 Futures Days which were offered to all local schools which meet our WP criteria. For older age groups, we support both their move into further education and their application to higher education, as well as offering parents’ information evenings and HE workshops. We actively seek to recruit Student Ambassadors who attended our target WP schools to provide relatable role models to the school pupils with whom we work. We continued our outreach work throughout the COVID-19 lockdowns, consulting with schools to create a range of virtual and face to-face sessions to meet the needs of their pupils which were supported with new resources and social media activity. This included an eight-week Fashion Futures initiative where academics in our Fashion course team provided subjectspecific widening participation support. We also organised a virtual Q&A session to help parents support their children in transitioning from school to higher education and supported whole year groups with interview skills and training.
BNU is a partner in Study Higher, part of the National Collaborative Outreach Programme, which targets students from areas where progression to higher education is low. As well as taking part in joint ventures with our partners - Oxford Brookes University, The University of Reading and The University of Oxford – we promote higher education study across the region through the use of cuttingedge ‘simulator’ technology that places participants in virtual career environments. We successfully adapted our Simulate Your Future activity to be COVID-secure and were delighted to see around 1,400 young people take part in Simulate Your Future events during the year.
As part of our widening participation work, we invited local school pupils to help us celebrate International Women’s Day by joining a Q&A session with our female leaders. The pupils asked the panel questions including who their female role models were, how they viewed the future for women in the workplace, and what advice they would give them about entering the world of work. We were delighted to welcome the young women to our University community, and to pass on a range of experiences and views about women in the workplace to help inform their future education and career choices.
Widening participation in higher education
In January 2021, Buckinghamshire New University launched the Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showmen and Boater (GTRSB) into Higher Education Pledge, to encourage universities, colleges and other educational institutions to publicly commit to undertaking certain steps to support GTRSB students into and within higher education. The Pledge’s core requirements are: improved data gathering on GTRSB students and staff at universities; changing institutional cultures; wider outreach to GTRSB students within widening participation activities; and greater celebration and commemoration of GTRSB communities.
A launch event in the same month, led by our ViceChancellor, Professor Nick Braisby, was attended by more than 150 people, including other universities, regulators, politicians, NGOs and GTRSB communities. Eight Pledge signatories were made after the launch with more universities currently finalising approval of their commitment. The GRT Social Work Association also supports the Pledge.
For 2020-21, BNU also introduced a GTRSB bursary to further encourage and support members of these communities to access higher education. This is in addition to the support we already offer with accommodation, assistance with university applications, and providing mentorship throughout a student's time at BNU. There have been three recipients of the bursary in 2020-21.
