OUR VISION FOR TRANSFORMATION

We have seen this transformation for over 180 years in our own University and continue to see it every day in our students, the partners we work with and in the communities we serve.

This strategic plan is all about transformation. At its core is our mission to provide transformational education and opportunities for our students.

The seismic events of the past few years have changed the way we think about life and learning. The next five years are likely to be a time of national and global challenge and change. We are living in a time of significant economic uncertainty; the realities of climate change; shifting political sands and a pervading sense of social unease and anxiety. Universities have a key role to play in responding to this with creativity and integrity and a responsibility to ensure that graduates are enthusiastic about their future and well-equipped to succeed.

Although the external environment may be in flux, our unwavering priority, as always, is the success of our students. This plan sets out a clear direction of travel for the University over the next few years, to enable us to navigate the external challenges ahead and to strengthen and develop the way in which we ensure that our students flourish and succeed.

In the next five years, we will grow the impact of the University’s transformational education by ensuring that graduates have the skills that they need to live successful and meaningful lives. This will include offering interesting and relevant courses to sustain their love of subject and to stretch them intellectually, whilst embedding the skills that they need to be successful in employment and beyond. The next five years will see the expansion of our professional education and postgraduate taught provision –responding to regional needs, working in partnership with employers – and an unwavering focus on quality.

To succeed in this endeavour, we need a clearly articulated focus to ensure that our courses, campus and culture can deliver the outstanding experience that we want for our students and achieve positive results for the regional economy and wider society.

The next few years will require us to refocus on delivering transformational education that sets our students up for success and responds purposefully to local needs.

Over the next five years, we will rebuild confidence in ourselves and our students as we emerge from the global pandemic. We will adapt to the new ways of working we encountered during that time, capturing the benefits of the flexibility that brought us, whilst recommitting to the fundamental importance of human connection, face to face teaching and student support and working alongside our colleagues.

This plan will also allow us to work with and for our students, supporting them to acquire the skills needed to thrive and succeed in the as yet unimagined jobs of the future.

This plan has been developed in partnership with staff, students and external partners. It encompasses and builds on everything that this institution has already achieved over the past 180 years. Our previous strategic plan had, as its primary focus, the important work that needed to be done to profile and progress the issues of sustainability and social justice. This work is now well and truly embedded in everything that we do and will continue to be an important part of our educational mission, woven into the detailed enabling strategies that will underpin this plan.

Above all, this plan is intended to give focus and clarity, anchoring the University community in a shared sense of purpose and direction. The core focus of this strategic plan is to be clear about what we need to do in order to provide a transformational education for our students –delivering an exceptional education, environment and experience for our students, instilling in them a love of learning and preparing them for meaningful and successful lives.

It will be underpinned by a clear map for growth for the University; to identify and develop new subject areas; build our profile across the UK and globally and embrace new ways of delivery and partnership working.

This is such an exciting moment for the University, as we stand on the firm foundations of our past to reach into a future which will allow us to transform more lives through education, transform the way we work together and transform the communities which we serve. I look forward to working together as a community with the shared determination to make it happen.

Professor Sarah Greer Vice-Chancellor