LONDON’S GLOBAL UNIVERSITY
2018
Welcome UCL was built to open up higher education in England to those who had been excluded from it, and to change the way we create and share knowledge. That radical spirit is alive today in the work of people across our university, who are taking on some of the biggest challenges of our time, and making vital contributions to the public good. You can read many examples in the following pages, including our pioneering research on dementia, which currently affects 47 million people, our involvement at the forefront of the international fight against cyber-crime, and our work with people affected by the refugee crisis resulting from the war in Syria. Our Connected Curriculum stretches the intellects and skills of our students, creating the next generation of change makers. In 2018, UCL scientists indicated that ‘Cheddar Man’, Britain’s oldest nearly complete skeleton, had dark skin and blue eyes – a prime example of how our research continues to push the boundaries of knowledge – and make international headlines. Our position as one of the world’s top universities enables us to do all these things and more, by helping us to attract the best minds and the most exciting partners. By broadening our strengths across disciplines and following the objectives of our 20-year strategy, UCL 2034, we can ensure we remain among the world’s best. It is a difficult climate for higher education, but UCL’s spirit of openness also means we are uniquely positioned to prove that universities are essential to society, democracy and progress.
As a university with a global outlook, and many partners across the world, we challenge the notion that being international entails leaving anyone behind. UCL academics are continuing to inform the Brexit policy debate on a wide range of topics, including EU foreign policy and migration, energy and environmental policy, economics, finance, fisheries and agriculture. We are also striving to ensure the best outcome from Brexit, not just for our staff and students, but the whole of the UK. Much of the work at our new campus, UCL East, will contribute to key areas of the government’s Industrial Strategy, including AI, energy technology and manufacturing materials. Meanwhile, we are also working to strengthen our international ties, with collaborations and partnerships across the world. We have recently consolidated our first deep partnership – with Peking University – and confirmed a new partnership with Osaka University, and developed existing partnerships in North America and Europe. You can discover more about our strategic goals and history on our website at: ucl.ac.uk/about and ucl.ac.uk/2034. I am proud to lead such an impressive organisation, and hope that you will enjoy finding out more about what we do.
Professor Michael Arthur UCL President & Provost
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UCL Quad. Credit: Elaine Perks
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UCL 2034: our 20-year strategy
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Our Vision
Our Mission
Our distinctive approach to research, education and innovation will further inspire our community of staff, students and partners to transform how the world is understood, how knowledge is created and shared and the way that global problems are solved.
London’s Global University: a diverse intellectual community, engaged with the wider world and committed to changing it for the better; recognised for our radical and critical thinking and its widespread influence; with an outstanding ability to integrate our education, research, innovation and enterprise for the long-term benefit of humanity.
Principal Themes
Key Enablers
Founding Principles
1. Academic leadership grounded in intellectual excellence
• Giving our students the best support, facilities and opportunities
2. A global leader in the integration of research and education
• Valuing our staff and delivering on equality and diversity
3. Addressing global challenges through our disciplinary excellence and our distinctive cross-disciplinary approach
• A strong financial performance is critical to the success of UCL
UCL was established in 1826 in order to open up education in England for the first time to students of any race, class or religion. By 1878, it had become the first English university to welcome female students on equal terms with men.
4. An accessible, publiclyengaged organisation and a lifelong community 5. London’s Global University: in London, of London and for London 6. Delivering global impact through our international activities, collaborations and partnerships
• Delivering excellent systems and processes in support of UCL’s vision • Maintaining a sustainable estate to meet our aspirations
The founding principles of academic excellence and research aimed at addressing real-world problems continue to inform our ethos to this day.
• Communicating and engaging effectively with the world
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UCL 2034 Principal Themes 1. Academic leadership grounded in intellectual excellence Enduring intellectual excellence – derived from talented individuals’ curiosity about, and commitment to, their chosen subject areas – is the prerequisite of academic leadership. This, more than anything, underpins the contributions that a university makes to society.
2 . A global leader in the integration of research and education, underpinning an inspirational student experience We will inspire our students at every level – undergraduate, postgraduate taught and postgraduate research – and equip them with the knowledge and skills that they need to contribute significantly to society and be leaders of the future in their chosen field and profession. All our students and staff will be seen as collaborative members of our university community, with a shared interest in the future of UCL.
3. Addressing global challenges Our commitment to innovation and relevance, our home in the heart of a global capital and the breadth and depth of our expertise offer us a unique opportunity to address the most important problems confronting humanity in the 21st century. The UCL Grand Challenges – of Global Health, Sustainable Cities, Cultural Understanding, Human Wellbeing, Transformative Technology and Justice & Equality – are the flagship embodiment of our institutional commitment to provide wise solutions to global challenges.
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4. An accessible, publicly-engaged organisation that fosters a lifelong community UCL has a proud history of being the first university in England to be open to all, irrespective of race or religion, and the first to admit women on an equal basis. We will continue to seek out those students best able to benefit from, and contribute to, our thriving intellectual community, regardless of their background and circumstances.
5. London’s Global University: in London, of London and for London UCL is committed to becoming a global leader in knowledge exchange, enterprise and open innovation with societal impact. Our relationship with London is central to this commitment. We will bring our profile as London’s Global University and our international connectivity to bear on establishing UCL at the centre of a cluster of organisations that will make London the premier destination for higher education, research and innovation in the world. We recognise our role in making London a better place to live and work in for all, and in promoting and contributing to social equity and environmental sustainability in our capital city.
6. Delivering global impact
We will enhance our international profile by developing a reputation as a university that delivers outcomes with impact for communities, and that listens, learns, helps to build capacity and adds long-term value through our international activities and presence. We intend to focus much of our new international activity on countries in the ‘Global South and East’.
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Education and student affairs Research-based education The Connected Curriculum, UCL’s framework for research-based education, continues to build a learning culture that develops students’ critical thinking and readiness for the next step in their careers. UCL was a finalist in the inaugural Global Teaching Excellence Awards, while the Integrated Engineering Programme was recognised as an emerging leader in an MIT review of engineering education around the world. Three books about the principles and practice of the Connected Curriculum were published by the UCL Arena Centre through UCL Press and were downloaded 23,000 times from more than 150 countries.
the first conference on closing the BME attainment gap and we recruited faculty champions to support the project. Teaching estate We’ve created 2,800 additional teaching seats, while 534 extra study spaces have brought the total managed by Library Services to just under 4,200. The new Student Centre is on track to open in early 2019, bringing all student services into one place and providing an additional 1,000 study spaces.
Undergraduates presented their original research at the first Posters in Cloisters exhibition in February 2018, competing to go on to Westminster to represent UCL at the annual Posters in Parliament, and we recruited the second cohort for the UCL Laidlaw Research and Leadership Programme from an extremely impressive pool of applicants.
Student partnerships More than 1,000 students have participated in the Student Panel, helping to shape the UCL experience, and more than 1,000 nominations were made for the Student Choice Awards, which recognise exceptional contributions by staff to teaching and learning. 294 students participated as ChangeMakers in studentstaff projects, as facilitators working with Annual Student Experience Review (ASER) Intensive departments and as student reviewers of teaching practice.
Personalising support for students In response to student feedback, we have introduced Late Summer Assessments (resits and deferrals) across the institution following a two-year pilot, aligning UCL with the majority of UK universities. There has been a five-fold increase in the use of LectureCast, the system for recording lectures, and we’ve created a new Personal Tutoring website to encourage a consistent experience for all students. 120 staff and students attended
Transforming the student experience Through the UCL Education Strategy 2016–21, we’re transforming the student experience through a number of UCL-wide initiatives, including full reviews of how students are assessed, the postgraduate taught portfolio and the virtual learning environment. We’re also developing a platform to support personal tutoring, and our Academic Model Project is making the student information and records system easier to use for all.
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Students in the Quad. Credit: Matt Clayton
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Addressing global challenges UCL is committed to using our collective expertise to address global problems. We’re working to extend our knowledge of the local and global, and increase the grassroots relevance of our work. We’re developing partnerships within and beyond the education sector to inform the work that we do and increase our positive impact on the world around us. Addressing the challenge of mass migration in Lebanon Over a million Syrians have fled to Lebanon since war broke out, which has placed significant strain on a country of just over 4 million people. Launched in 2017, The RELIEF Centre is a partnership between the American University of Beirut, the Centre for Lebanese Studies and UCL’s Institute for Global Prosperity, led by Professor Henrietta Moore. The centre aims to tackle the barriers between refugees and their host nation, and find ways to build a prosperous, inclusive future for new and existing communities. The centre brings academics and communities together to plan and develop more resilient public services and infrastructure, but also provides an opportunity to address the social and cultural issues around mass displacement, and develop practical solutions that can be applied in other countries. Creating a brighter future for the world’s poorest children Children living in poverty face a number of problems that can impact development in their early years, including malnutrition, social and environmental risks. The Brain 10
Imaging for Global Health (BRIGHT) Project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to tackle this problem by using Near Infrared Spectroscopy, to assess brain function. Led by Professor Clare Elwell (UCL Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering), the project has developed a portable, low cost, and safe imaging technique, which they have used to take the first ever brain images of infants in Africa. Professor Elwell and her team are now charting brain development for children in the Gambia and the UK from birth to two years-old to inform intervention strategies to help some of the world’s most vulnerable children. Growing the Grand Challenges network We initiated the UCL Grand Challenges programme because we believe that the problems facing the world cannot be addressed by one discipline alone. By bringing together academics from a range of disciplines and backgrounds we aim to find holistic solutions to complex issues. They act as a catalyst for new collaborations, facilitate novel research and enable us to work across traditional boundaries of academic disciplines. Now, two new Grand Challenges have been created; Transformative Technology, which considers how technology and innovation can have far-reaching benefits for society and the planet, and Justice and Equality, which focuses on the barriers that deny equality of opportunity, and how we can build a fairer society and enable access to education, health and resources around the world.
The BRIGHT Project. Credit: Ian Farrell
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Delivering global impact UCL’s Global Engagement Strategy (GES) is based on a commitment to international partnerships and the belief that bringing together different perspectives and diverse experience accelerates the process of discovery and global impact. The Global Engagement Office (GEO) supports UCL academics to collaborate with others who share their dedication to excellence and passion for knowledge, irrespective of where they are in the world. We do this by developing and strengthening partnerships with other global institutions in four ways: running seed-funding programmes; organising inbound and outbound delegation visits; profiling the world-leading research and education carried out by UCL academics with their partners; and monitoring and mitigating risks to UCL’s international outlook and activity. Supporting international collaboration Over the past three years, GES funding programmes have benefited more than 400 academics, with £500k of internal funding allocated, leveraging more than £12m of external funding so far. This year, the programmes were again over-subscribed, with a 31% increase in applications overall. In 2017/18 GEO led or co-led 13 outbound delegation visits involving 25 academics, and hosted 80 inbound visits involving more than 200 academics, which led to new and deeper partnerships with key institutions. During visits to China, Japan and India, targeted communications reached a potential audience of over 90 million people, and led to an increase in visitors from those countries to the UCL website. 12
Developing cross-institutional partnerships To grow existing partnerships and extend new opportunities, we have focussed our effort on developing UCL’s cross-institutional global partnerships. This year GEO has worked to consolidate our first deep strategic partnership, with Peking University. We’ve also had notable success developing faculty-level partnerships into crossinstitutional partnerships, of which we currently have six: two in Europe, two in North America and two in East Asia, including a new partnership confirmed with Osaka University as a result of the Provost’s visit to Japan. In light of Brexit, we are focussing more on bilateral collaboration in Europe. Strengthening European engagement Our efforts to intensify UCL’s engagement in Europe this year included hosting delegations and signing Memoranda of Understanding with partners from France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. We launched UCL’s new Cities Programme, to support and celebrate sustainable academic partnerships in major cities around the world, starting in Europe. Transitioning from campuses to partnerships UCL’s approach to global engagement centres around partnerships of equivalence. In 2017, UCL Australia successfully transitioned from a campus model into a partnership between UCL’s Faculty of Engineering Sciences and the University of South Australia. At our last overseas campus, UCL Qatar, staff remain focused on delivering UCL’s commitments over the next three years and leaving a positive legacy.
Celebrating Global Engagement event 2017. Credit: Kirsten Holst
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The Campaign for UCL Philanthropy founded UCL and, nearly 200 years later, it is still shaping our future. As one of Europe’s most successful fundraising universities, UCL is the partner of choice for philanthropic individuals and organisations large and small who want their funding to make a tangible difference. It’s All Academic is our major philanthropy and engagement campaign with two ambitious targets: •
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A fundraising target of £600m – to help deliver UCL’s biggest long-term ambitions An engagement target of 250,000 volunteering hours – to build our global community of alumni, supporters and advocates.
London UCL’s Dawes Centre for Future Crime, funded by the Dawes Trust, is strengthening London’s position at the forefront of the international fight against cybercrime. UCL also partners with philanthropists at the Centre for Access to Justice, where law students provide pro bono legal advice to vulnerable citizens in East London. Philanthropy is supporting the development of UCL East, set to play a far-reaching role in the long-term development of the capital (see p.22).
It’s All Academic is supporting the people and projects that transform life for individuals and communities around the world. By June 2018, the total funding raised had reached £400m, putting the campaign one year ahead of schedule. At its core are four themes:
Disruptive thinking From the Institute for Global Prosperity to the Institute for Advanced Studies, philanthropy is a major catalyst for work at UCL that is too novel and groundbreaking to fit traditional funding structures. Partnerships aimed at promoting radically different thinking include a £1m donation from Baillie Gifford to UCL’s new Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose, led by Professor Mariana Mazzucato.
Students A range of scholarships and bursaries are funded by philanthropic individuals and organisations to ensure that UCL remains open to talented students regardless of background. The African Graduate Scholarship, established by the CP Charitable Trust, has so far enabled 73 students from African countries to expand their skills, knowledge and career paths in UCL’s Institute for Global Health. Other scholarships are supporting undergraduates from refugee backgrounds or PhD students in particular research areas. Alumni and other supporters including leading investor Phil Bunker are also helping to fund the new Student Centre (see p.24).
Health Philanthropy supports work to tackle the major health challenges of our time. UCL’s leading neuroscience research is supported by the Dementia Retail Partnership – a coalition of leading retailers, led by Iceland, that donates the plastic bag 5p levy to advance UCL’s world-leading neuroscience, raising a total of £20m. UCL is also leading the way in developing new therapies for rare cancers such as osteosarcoma, a bone cancer primarily affecting teenagers and young adults. Osteosarcoma research is supported by the Tom Prince Cancer Trust, which donated £1m to the UCL Cancer Institute.
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The Wilkins Terrace. Credit: Ben Blossom
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2017/2018: Students by faculty Headcount at 1 December 2017 Undergraduate
Postgraduate Taught
Postgraduate Research
Total
Arts & Humanities
2,735
797
264
3,796
Brain Sciences
707
1,393
877
2,977
Built Environment
703
2,023
406
3,132
Engineering Sciences
3,345
1,844
992
6,181
Institute of Education
584
5,094
733
6,411
Laws
590
480
32
1,102
Life Sciences
2,292
662
554
3,508
Maths & Physical Sciences
2,844
526
645
4,015
Medical Sciences
1,971
1,215
405
3,591
Population Health Sciences
126
694
381
1,201
Social & Historical Sciences
3,335
1,791
459
5,585
0
34
6
19,232
16,553
5,754
Office for International Affairs Total
Male 42%
16
Female 58%
40
41,539
2017/2018: Students by domicile Undergraduate
Postgraduate Taught
Postgraduate Research
Total
UK
10,163
9,522
3,488
23,173
56%
Rest of EU
3,023
1,298
833
5,154
12%
Other international
6,046
5,733
1,433
13,212
32%
Total
19,232
16,553
5,754
41,539
15%
Percentage
11% 16% 44%
41%
UK
25%
59%
Rest of EU
43%
46%
Other international Undergraduate Postgraduate Taught Postgraduate Research
Source: www.ucl.ac.uk/srs/statistics
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2017/2018: Staff in numbers Headcount at 1 October 2017 (excludes honorary and casual staff) Academic and research staff
Teaching only
Other staff
219
159
82
460
1,129
48
456
1,633
Built Environment
315
115
116
546
Engineering Sciences
784
115
265
1,164
Institute of Education
474
117
309
900
Laws
79
85
35
199
Life Sciences
581
38
242
861
Maths & Physical Sciences
626
69
222
917
Medical Sciences
759
73
531
1,363
Population Health Sciences
865
23
515
1,403
Social & Historical Sciences*
461
280
264
1,005
Professional Services
2
1
1,588
1,591
Provost & Vice-Provost Offices**
39
170
614
6,333
1,293
5,239
Arts & Humanities Brain Sciences
Total
* Includes School of Slavonic & East European Studies ** Includes Development & Alumni Relations and Library Services Source: www.ucl.ac.uk/human-resources/policies-advice/workforce-reporting-and-analytics
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Number of employees
823
12,865
Global league table position Global top 10 universities by ‘mean rank’ Position
University
Mean
1
Harvard
(2.4)
2
Stanford
(3.6)
3
Oxford
(4.4)
4
MIT
(4.6)
5
Cambridge
(6)
6
UCL
(10.8)
7
Johns Hopkins
(11.2)
8
Columbia
(13)
9
UC Berkeley
(13.6)
10
Chicago
(13.6)
UCL is in sixth place in the world in this table of the average 2017 global league table positions, created using QS, Times Higher World, Shanghai ARWU, NTU and URAP. More on rankings can be found here: www.ucl.ac.uk/about/why/rankings 19
Health UCL School of Life & Medical Sciences (SLMS) collaborates with colleagues across UCL and beyond to tackle the greatest health challenges facing society. SLMS researchers have recently identified the first blood test that can predict the onset and progression of Huntington’s disease which will help test new treatments for the genetic brain disorder. Other research has helped to develop a cognitive test to detect subtle memory deficits years before Alzheimer’s disease symptoms develop. We have also demonstrated an association of physical fitness with better cognitive performance in older adults with dementia. Our latest cancer research has transformed the diagnostic pathway of prostate cancer, one of the world’s most common cancers. We have also received NICE approval for a novel type of radiotherapy for breast cancer that takes 30 minutes instead of 30 days. A study on strategies to reduce the socioeconomic gradient in uptake of bowel cancer screening has resulted in a nationally implemented intervention that has improved uptake and flattened disparity between socially deprived and advantaged areas. Our work in bioinformatics allowed the inference from genome to skin to help reveal the face of ‘Cheddar Man’, Britain’s oldest nearly complete skeleton. This year has seen us working to deliver the £250m hub of the MRC UK Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI). The MRC recently announced a further £40m into the UK DRI, and Iceland Foods Charitable 20
Foundation fulfilled its pledge to donate £10m towards the development. UCL has been chosen as a foundation partner of a new national institute, Health Data Research (HDR) UK. HDR UK is initially awarding £30m to six sites across the UK to address healthcare issues through the use of data science. Cancer Research UK announced it would be investing nearly £9m over the next five years into research at the Cancer Research UK & UCL Cancer Trials Centre. Internationally, UCL was awarded £31.6m from the Wellcome Trust to develop the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI), a new organisation that brings together two leading centres of research (K-RITH and the Africa Centre) and the University of KwaZulu-Natal to fight the co-epidemic of TB and HIV in KwaZulu-Natal. As the NHS celebrates its 70th birthday, academic and clinical partnership continues to be key to developing new treatments, interventions and technologies. Partnerships such as the NIHR Biomedical Research Centres (UCLH BRC, Great Ormond Street BRC and Moorfields Eye Hospital BRC) and UCLPartners help our research to transform the health and wellbeing of the population. We are also involved in many major projects to enable the co-location of NHS clinical and UCL research activities, so that patients, nurses, clinicians and researchers can easily work together to accelerate the development of new therapies.
Pyramidal neuron, Dr Luigi Federico Rossi
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Accelerating innovation and impact UCL’s ambition is to change the world for the better and tackle the great global challenges of our time. Specialist teams in UCL Innovation & Enterprise are at the heart of this aspiration. Working with students and staff, UCL Innovation & Enterprise encourages a spirit of enterprise and creates links with the wider world, helping people from across the university transform their knowledge and ideas into action. Advancements in data security The protection of personal data is a big concern for companies that gather and process such data. Hazy, a UCL spin-out, is helping to overcome this by automating the data anonymisation process so as to allow developers and data scientists to share data in a GDPR-compliant fashion. Founded by two experienced software entrepreneurs in collaboration with Dr Fintan Nagle, a researcher in UCL’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Hazy is gaining industry interest. Most recently, it was awarded $1m of investment as the European winner of Microsoft’s Innovate.AI global start-up prize. Translating research into practice Using HEFCE’s Higher Education Innovation Funding, between 2017–2018 UCL Innovation & Enterprise was able to support over 30 projects to translate research ideas into practice. In one, a collaboration between UCL Slade School of Fine Art and the Coal Authority, ochre pigments sourced from mine water at former British coalfields have been used 22
to make five new fine art paint colours creating a new link between colour and the British landscape. Artist Onya McCausland, who conducted research with artist paint manufacturers Winsor & Newton, has used the new pigments in an exhibition at UCL and is now working with UCLB to explore ways to commercialise them. Digitising Jeremy Bentham For the first time UCL and IBM, who have a long-standing strategic relationship, collaborated on a hackathon. Bringing together disciplines from the humanities to computer science, this event delivered fresh meaning to the works of philosopher and social reformer, Jeremy Bentham. It was part of the wider Bentham Project, which is putting together a new edition of the works and correspondence of Jeremy Bentham. Improving child dental health Playbrush motivates children to brush their teeth by making it exciting through a fun app that is connected to a beautifully designed add-on for conventional toothbrushes. The idea came from UCL alumni Paul Varga and Toulope Ogunsina. In 2014, Paul entered the UCL Innovation & Enterprise Bright Ideas Awards with Playbrush and won a £5,000 Bright Ideas Award for investment in the new company, as well as office space and one-to-one business advice.
Playbrush in action. Credit: Playbrush Ltd
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UCL East In the single biggest development since we were founded, UCL is expanding to east London. Our new campus, UCL East, will make its home on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, alongside new spaces for the V&A, Sadler’s Wells and London College of Fashion. In 2018, the Mayor of London granted outline planning approval for our campus. The UCL East masterplan, outlined in the application, determines how UCL East will be developed, the look and feel of our buildings, and how our campus will connect with its surroundings. UCL is also set to receive £100 million towards building our campus, with HM Treasury having approved the Outline Business Case and funding for the Olympic Park’s culture and education district.
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The Global School for Health Leadership Educating the future leaders, managers and innovators of healthcare worldwide
•
The Global Future Cities Co-Labs Exploring the approaches that make cities more sustainable and equitable
•
The Advanced Propulsion Lab Looking at the decarbonisation of our transport and championing new propulsion technologies
•
Nature Smart Focusing on the interplay between ecological health and human wellbeing
•
Culture Lab London Memory Archive, Conservation Institute, Media Lab, cinema, SLADE studio and public exhibition spaces
With participation from seven faculties, and support from over 100 UCL academics, UCL East will feature: •
The Global Disability Innovation Hub Improving the lives of disabled people worldwide through collaboration, study and creative thinking
•
The Centre for Innovative Finance Providing leadership and training for future financial and business leaders, and testing new financial models
•
The Manufacturing Futures Lab For manufacturing research, focused on (bio)pharmaceuticals and next generation materials
•
Institute of Making Big A multidisciplinary research club for those interested in the made world
•
Robotics and Autonomous Systems Developing new robots and looking at how they are best designed for their environments
•
Real Estate Institute Rethinking the traditional view of real estate.
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Construction will start in 2019, with the first building opening in 2021.
The Olympic Park, site for UCL East. Credit: Matt Clayton
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London A world-leading university in a global city is a powerful and inspiring combination. UCL reflects London’s strengths, and we make significant contributions to London’s impact on the UK, Europe and globally. Our staff and students benefit from being in one of the world’s most celebrated and diverse cities, and they give back by making a real difference to London’s people, economy, communities and culture. To create this impact, we work in partnership with a wealth of organisations and individuals, including central government, the professions, the NHS, the Greater London Authority, schools, further education colleges, businesses, charities and many more, carrying out interdisciplinary research on subjects as diverse as housing, public policy, transport, education, health and wellness, migration and culture. Tackling air pollution Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, visited UCL to mark the launch of his ‘T-charge’ and promote action to tackle London’s air quality. UCL is committed to supporting the Mayor and the GLA on improving the city’s air quality, and is working in partnership with community groups, charities and businesses to develop solutions to deliver a better environment for Londoners. For example, in September 2017 UCL’s Energy Institute and Institute for Environmental Design & Engineering collaborated with Public Health England to launch a new, fully-funded PhD studentship that will model the exposure of children to air pollution in deprived communities. 26
Sponsoring education in Camden The UCL Academy is a mixed nonselective school sponsored by UCL in the London Borough of Camden. The first UCL Academy students to sit GCSEs achieved impressive results, performing well above the national average. In English nearly nine out of 10 students achieved the equivalent of an A*–C with 13% achieving the highest new grading of ‘9’. Over 100 students sat Mandarin GCSE with 71% achieving an A*–C. A successful Ofsted inspection in 2016 judged the Academy to provide an ‘excellent climate for learning.’ UCL’s Grand Challenges, which draw together UCL’s research activities to address societal concerns, are used to guide the school’s curriculum. Improving London’s wildlife In London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, scientists from the UCL Centre for Biodiversity & Environment Research are monitoring bat life to help answer questions about what makes a park good or bad for wildlife. The researchers are monitoring the activity of bats in real-time using new, automated smart detectors that have been developed and installed by UCL and Intel scientists in collaboration with Arup, the Bat Conservation Trust and the London Wildlife Trust. The data the researchers collect will help the park’s management make decisions that are better for biodiversity, as part of a new project called Nature Smart Cities, which will operate from the new UCL East campus.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, visiting UCL Nursery
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Transforming UCL From our foundation in 1826, UCL has had a proud tradition of building innovative and high-quality buildings, many of which have broken new ground in university architecture. Transforming UCL is the largest capital programme in our history. It will see substantial investment of over £1.25 billion to refurbish and develop some of our most iconic buildings and bring forward new world-class buildings, supporting the university’s growth as we continue to build now and for the future. Enhancing our central campus The Wilkins Terrace and Lower Refectory opened for the new academic year in September 2017 and have been popular spaces for students, staff and visitors to socialise, eat and relax. The completion of the Wilkins Terrace marked a major milestone in the Transforming UCL programme – creating a new east-west connection across the campus between Gordon Street and Gower Street. These spaces will be complemented by the new Student Centre, which will transform the student experience at UCL by creating a bespoke building designed with student learning and welfare in mind. As well as 1,000 study spaces, individual and collaborative learning spaces, social areas (including a roof garden) and cafes, the centre will deliver student support services all under one roof. The centre will open in early 2019.
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Refurbished student accommodation We are also investing in our residential estate. The newly refurbished Astor College is due to reopen its doors in autumn 2018, creating welcoming, fit-for-purpose accommodation to support the best possible student experience. Developing world-class teaching and learning spaces Creating rich and dynamic learning spaces for students is the focus of much of the Transforming UCL programme, and new facilities opened this year at 1–19 Torrington Place, and the refurbished Faculty of Laws building at Bentham House. Refurbishments to the Institute of Education at 20 Bedford Way are ongoing. These projects represent an impressive 23% increase in teaching space over that available the previous year. Further developments Other award-winning developments we’ve completed include the Kathleen Lonsdale Building (KLB), home to UCL Earth Sciences and groups from Chemistry, Astrophysics and Mathematics; the Courtauld Building, a new home for the MRC Prion Unit; Charles Bell House, a new institute for collaboration between Life and Medical Sciences and the Engineering Sciences; and the second phase of the new Dementia Research Institute (UK DRI) in the Cruciform Building. The refurbishment of the Bloomsbury Theatre will create high quality performance spaces for our students, local communities and our community of academics, artists, performers and creative industry professionals.
Professor Paul Bown and Sir David Attenborough at the KLB opening ceremony Credit: Kirsten Holst
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UCL in London
30
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Financial Summary for the Year Ended 31 July 2017 Consolidated Income & Expenditure Account Tuition fees and education contracts
2017 ÂŁm
2016 ÂŁm
460.6
421.1
Funding body grants
194.6
192.1
Research grants and contracts
459.8
530.4
Other income
185.4
181.2
6.4
6.9
20.6
25.1
NET INCOME
1,327.4
1,356.8
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
1,255.2
1,233.9
Loss on disposal of fixed assets
(0.2)
(1.0)
Gain on investments
12.2
6.2
Share of operating loss in joint ventures and associates
(1.8)
(3.1)
-
(0.1)
Taxation
(2.1)
(3.9)
TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE INCOME FOR THE YEAR
80.2
121.0
Intangible assets
16.4
-
Fixed assets
1,707.6
1,600.5
Investments
222.4
206.3
Net current liabilities
(38.6)
(82.1)
1,907.8
1,724.7
Non-current liabilities
(483.5)
(373.4)
Pension provisions
(150.3)
(158.0)
(6.4)
(5.9)
1,267.6
1,187.4
111.4
100.9
1,156.0
1,086.3
0.2
0.2
Investment income Donations and endowments
Actuarial loss in respect of pension schemes
Total assets less current liabilities
Other provisions TOTAL NET ASSETS Represented by: Endowments Reserves Minority interest 32
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