Welcome to Review, which showcases many of our latest achievements and developments. We’re really proud of our regional health partnerships which are enhancing career opportunities and helping to address some real skills shortages in health and social care.
These are just one example of how we are working with our community to make a difference to people’s lives. In this publication, you can also read about our research and our economic impact, and about our Civic University pledge which will drive our partnership work in other key areas such as culture, digital skills and sustainable growth.
At the heart of everything we do are our students, and we also highlight many developments focused on their learning, their university experience and their futures.
Every positive change we make is testament to the support and dedication of colleagues and our community partners. As I prepare to step down from my role in the summer, I would like to thank everyone who has supported me and our University over the past six years.
I am delighted to be handing over the reins to experienced Vice-Chancellor, Professor Jenny Higham, who will join us from St George’s, University of London at the end of August to drive forward our ambitious growth plans.
Professor Higham joined specialist university St George’s in 2015 as the first female leader in its 290-year history and has successfully driven major transformation.
I am really excited to be joining such a fantastic university. I have watched Suffolk’s development under Professor Helen Langton and the trajectory has been very positive. It has so much potential to continue to grow, to extend its research and its wonderful educational offer and further embed itself as an important partner in the success of the county.
I am looking forward to meeting staff, students and the University’s wider community partners to continue this wonderful journey.
And, on a personal note, having spent my youth in Norfolk, I am thrilled to be returning to the East of England, where I have many friends and family.
We are excited to introduce two new courses for 2025.
The first is a cutting-edge BA (Hons) Esports course providing students with a gateway into a rapidly evolving industry. The curriculum is being created in collaboration with industry experts and there are plans to develop a stateof-the-art esports lab, featuring high-spec gaming machines of an industry standard, able to host esports events and tournaments.
Work is also underway for a new BSc (Hons) Accounting and Finance course. The programme is being designed around several key themes, including Business Intelligence, and Environment, Social and Governance (ESG).
The team are working closely with current students, employers and professional bodies, including ACCA, ICAEW and CIMA to ensure a a fit-for-purpose, future-proofed programme of learning.
The development of The Place, the new £17m library and University Learning Centre in Great Yarmouth is currently on track to open early in 2025.
The regeneration plans are turning the former Palmers department store into the home of Norfolk County Council’s Great Yarmouth public library, registry office and other community services, including Citizens Advice.
The University Learning Centre will see East Coast College and the University of Suffolk offer degree and diploma courses, as well as access to Higher Education and adult learning.
The wider aim of The Place is to increase the number of people in Great Yarmouth who hold qualifications above Level 4, so they can obtain sustainable, high quality jobs.
It has been a year of firsts for our International team, as a number of key developments have been initiated to form the foundation for future global student recruitment.
The headline has been the launch of our Internationalisation Strategy 2023-2030, which aims to make Suffolk a destination of choice for international students.
The strategy takes a proactive approach to international partnerships, establishing our Ipswich campus as a significant community of students, celebrating our diversity in Suffolk.
Another crucial development has been the launch of a strategic partnership with Adventus.io – a student recruitment platform connecting universities with agents abroad. With an on-the-ground presence in India and Nigeria, this is a significant step towards scaling-up international admissions.
Reflecting the University’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint, staff from our International team have limited their travel to countries key for recruiting future students – India (pictured), Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, where they met with future students and overseas representatives. This work will be supported by the first digital advertising campaign across India to attract future Business
Management and Computing students to the University.
In addition, a suite of new, internationally popular, postgraduate programmes are being launched including MSc Advanced Computing, MSc Applied Cyber Security, MA International Relations, LLM Criminal Law and Justice, MSc Adult Nursing, MSc Diagnostic Radiography and International MBA.
The University also made the significant step of refreshing our overseas agent strategy, and in December signed the UK Agent Quality Framework, a sector-wide commitment, pledging to work responsibly to the highest standards when recruiting students with international agents.
As well as improving our presence abroad, the recruitment process itself has been simplified for both the University and applicants with the implementation of the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) Shield.
CAS Shield is a self-service portal that allows international applicants to progress their visa sponsorship at their own pace, guiding them through the information required, providing prompts for missing documents, and allowing them to track their progress.
These crucial steps will create a great foundation to make Ipswich and Suffolk a truly international destination and we are looking forward to welcoming new students from overseas this September.
We are enormously proud of our modern, waterfront campus – but that doesn’t mean we’re happy to stand still.
Over the last year, we have delivered a number of significant projects across campus, both large and small.
An investment of £4.7m has allowed us to develop our new dental facilities, including a state-of-the-art teaching laboratory for our new BSc (Hons) Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy course and ten, fully equipped dental surgery units for the University of Suffolk Dental Community Interest Company (Dental CIC) to provide high-quality NHS dental services.
We have also made progress in our commitment to supporting students’ health and wellbeing. In partnership with Ipswich youth charity, Inspire, we have delivered new sports facilities at their Lindbergh Road site. These include an all-weather 3G pitch meeting BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) standards, and two floodlit grass pitches. As well as benefiting students, the facilities will also be available to the community to help improve access and participation in sport.
In addition, we are opening a pop-up gym at Athena Hall exclusively for students. The gym
will initially be managed in partnership with Ipswich Borough Council with the aim for it to be run independently in the future.
Our eagerly awaited Enterprise and Careers Zone opened for the 2023-24 academic year and provides a dedicated space for students to explore career opportunities and learn new skills to help their progression into the jobs market.
Staff and students on-campus have benefited from new food and drink offerings. MIX Café + Bar, located on the ground floor of the James Hehir Building is being run as a partnership between our Students’ Union and Lowestoftbased Access Community Trust CIC. Since its launch, MIX has been able to host a variety of activities for both Freshers and Refreshers Week as well as weekly social events for students.
On the north side of our campus, we have welcomed Coffee Cat Café to the ground floor of The Atrium Building for both staff and students to enjoy.
As our waterfront campus continues to grow, we are excited by our plans for the future.
For several years, sustainability has been a key part of our growth strategy and our ambitions for a greener university.
Our aim is to deliver against key performance indicators to address resource usage and drive down carbon emissions and energy consumption.
Retrofit and upgrade programmes for heating, lighting and electrification of the estate have been a significant stream of work, with cost and carbon savings intertwined.
Within the last 12 months, we have attained the number one position for decarbonisation of scope 1 and 2 emissions against our baseline data within the higher education sector. We received the Suffolk Greenest Business Award and secured a top ten position with People and Planet for our waste management and recycling programme.
We are proud that less than 10% of our waste goes to landfill, with the majority being reused, or repurposed through collaborations with new external partners and charities.
Our aim is to minimise the creation of waste and, along with a carbon reduction strategy, this approach is enshrined in our responsible procurement policy.
Further, habitat transformations continue as we increase our green and biodiverse nature spaces including our new wellbeing allotment at the heart of the campus. This is thriving and enjoyed by students and staff, strengthening the community experience and generating cultural change.
The power of such cultural change is not to be underestimated and it is this, the greatest transformation of all, that continues to profoundly shape our sustainability journey in 2024.
As part of our ambition to bolster access to health apprenticeships, we have joined forces with key regional partners to launch an innovative new approach.
The East of England Centre of Excellence for Health Apprenticeships (CEHA) is identifying gaps in the health and social care workforce in the region to develop new apprenticeship programmes, due to launch over the next 18 months.
The partnership will include the University working with the College of West Anglia, East Coast College and Suffolk New College, and
the Integrated Care Boards for Norfolk and Waveney, and Suffolk and North East Essex.
As well as providing a clear landscape of progression opportunities for learners from Levels 2 to 7 (the equivalent of GCSE qualifications through to Master’s degree apprenticeships), it will also provide a onestop-shop for training and upskilling staff in the NHS and social care.
It marks a crucial response to the wider, national issue of recruiting and retaining NHS and social care workers as part of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.
The Integrated Care Academy (ICA), brings together the University, Suffolk County Council, Healthwatch Suffolk, the Integrated Care Board for Suffolk and North East Essex, working together to promote co-ordinated care.
A key element is the Co-Production Hub with over 200 members, which brings together professionals and people with lived experience to share challenges and improve learning.
In January 2023, a cohort of 18 students completed their Suffolk Executive Postgraduate Certificate (PgC) in Business Administration (for the Integrated Care pathway), and in Spring 2024 the MA Professional Practice commenced with 15 scholarships awarded.
On the research side, fundamental studies have been taking place through the World Health Organisation’s Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) project on digitised care planning. The work has supported over 230 adults aged 75 and over in Suffolk.
In addition, the leadership programme has launched two fully-funded coaching and mentoring offers – a network to support managers and leaders commissioned by the Suffolk Mental Health Committee, and a leadership project for 13 lead cancer nurses across the East.
In February 2024, we welcomed our first cohort to the new BSc (Hons) Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy course. The 24 students (pictured) are the first to use the brand-new teaching facilities that include cutting-edge dental care patient simulators, also known as phantom heads, which allow students to practice “hands on” treatments and procedures.
Led by course leader, Catia Marques, and lecturers Stacianne Tennant and Yasmin Ryan, the students will eventually help fill gaps in dental care provision. Long-term, the aim is to
develop a sustainable and multi-skilled dental care workforce that’s fit for the future with cutting-edge training and education.
Through their studies, students will benefit from placements both in the University’s Dental Community Interest Company and dental practices across the county.
Course Leader, Catia Marques, said: “We are thrilled to have started the course, welcoming our first cohort at the start of this year, who will lead the way to improve oral health in Suffolk and beyond.”
A flagship new dentistry facility providing NHS dental appointments to the local community in Suffolk and North East Essex has progressed rapidly in recent months.
Building work for the University’s new Dental Community Interest Company (Dental CIC) facilities finished in January. The oral healthcare team is currently being recruited and getting ready to begin delivering vital NHS dental care this year.
Based in the James Hehir Building on Ipswich Waterfront, the Dental CIC has been awarded an initial five-year contract to deliver around 18,000 additional hours of NHS-only dental appointments for adults and children in Suffolk.
In addition to providing essential oral healthcare for those in greatest need in the county, placements will also be available for local dental nurses, dental therapists and hygienists who are training or recently qualified.
The new Dental CIC marks a significant commitment to the local community and will deliver a workforce for the future thanks in part to the dental teaching facilities for our new BSc (Hons) Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy course.
Our University plays a significant role in the economic growth of the county, and a new independent study has demonstrated the sizeable impact it has across the region.
Our Economic Impact Study, commissioned from BiGGAR Economics, has reported that the University delivered £859m in Gross Value Added (GVA) to the UK, supporting more than 13,500 jobs in 2021-22.
GVA measures the monetary contribution to the economy from our operations and includes financial impacts from things such as employing staff, spending with suppliers, capital investment, student income, collaborative knowledge exchange work and graduate impacts.
The £859m includes £236m GVA and 1,660 jobs in Ipswich; £331m GVA and 2,720 jobs in Suffolk (including Ipswich); and £482m GVA and 3,740 jobs in the East of England (including Suffolk and Ipswich).
The latest total marks a sizeable increase of £496m since the previous study measuring
impact in 2017-18, with an increase of 1,470 jobs generated.
The increase in the number of students studying Suffolk degrees, coupled with a significant expansion in knowledge exchange and business engagement activities, has helped deliver the growth.
It means that for every £1 of income received by our University, it supports £6 in GVA across the UK.
Significant expansion since being established in 2007, and ambitious growth plans for the future will create opportunities to further boost impact locally, regionally and nationally.
In addition, the figures demonstrate the key role we have played in the redevelopment of Ipswich, as well as driving broader social impacts, attracting and retaining talent in the region, widening participation in higher education and contributing to innovation, skills and research.
Our University has made a significant pledge to foster collaboration with the community and the wider world after signing a Civic University Agreement.
Developed in collaboration with community organisations and key stakeholders, and formally launched with invited partners at a special event on campus, the pledge reaffirms our commitment to contribute to the wellbeing and prosperity of people in Suffolk. The agreement, underpinned by evidence, prioritises the economic, social, environmental, and cultural life of local communities.
The pledge’s themes are linked to our areas of expertise – preserving and celebrating the culture and heritage of Suffolk; fostering sustainable economic growth and regeneration; enhancing skills and aspirations beyond traditional higher education; addressing the health challenges of the region and harnessing digital innovation.
A series of consultation events were held with the public, stakeholders, staff and students to help inform the agreement’s guiding principles, which are about community roots and engagement; embedding the Civic University principles into teaching and research; bringing organisations together; and improving communication and visibility. This commitment reflects our recognition of the importance of balancing local responsibilities with aspirations to contribute to national and global initiatives.
That local impact will include engaging in partnerships and projects that directly benefit Suffolk, as well as collaborating with local business, government bodies and non-profit organisations to address regional issues, host community events and provide educational and cultural resources.
For teaching, the Civic University ethos is set to be embedded into our courses to promote social responsibility among students and allow them to apply their learning to realworld challenges and projects. We have already demonstrated these values to-date, with courses and research institutes fostering relationships with local organisations such as councils, charitable organisations, businesses, and NHS health and social care employers.
Elsewhere, events such as our Spotlight Suffolk evenings (pictured) and Open Lecture Series have brought the public on-campus for topical debates, and a busy programme of conferences has helped the sharing of academic expertise within industry and social settings.
An action plan is being developed over the coming months, so keep an eye on our website and social media for more details in the near future.
Our University has enjoyed a growing research presence over the last year, which has seen our income from research increase by more than half a million pounds on the previous year.
Our research institutes in Social Justice and Crime; Health and Wellbeing; Digital Futures; Suffolk Sustainability Institute; the Centre for Culture and Heritage; and the Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching, have secured funding from local, regional and national organisations such as the Leverhulme Trust, Suffolk County Council, Innovate UK and West Midlands Police, among many others.
These partnerships demonstrate the widening reach of the academic expertise of our researchers, addressing issues as diverse as palliative care in Norfolk and Waveney, police investigations into serious sexual offences across England, the provision of music education in Suffolk, and the history of libraries in colonial Latin America.
Ongoing research projects include studies in areas such as the managers’ sense of belonging in hybrid working environments, the nutrition of adults in Suffolk, and wildlife in the Amazon.
The University made our first submission to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) for 2021 – a benchmark which evaluates the quality and impact of a university’s research – and work is well underway in developing a strategy for our submission for REF 2029.
Since REF 2021, our research team has expanded to well over 100 academic staff and we were visited in November by the Director of Research England, Dr Steven Hill, for our annual REF event.
Providing research development opportunities has been an important focus. Vitae, a global leader in professional growth of researchers, reaffirmed the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award which the University has held since 2017, as public acknowledgement of our research commitment.
In addition, our Suffolk Doctoral College continues to grow with more than 100 research students on PhD programmes and work in this area was recognised with a ranking of sixth in the country for PhD supervision in the annual Postgraduate Research Experience Survey.
Our University continues to grow and we are committed to showcasing our high standards by putting ourselves forward for sector awards.
For our ongoing commitment to gender equality, we were awarded an Athena Swan Bronze award.
Athena Swan is a framework used globally to support and transform gender equality within higher education and research.
As part of our submission, we identified a number of priorities, including addressing inequalities across the institution at all levels, identifying further opportunities to develop and promote a culture of inclusion and belonging, and supporting diverse gender identities. As we embed these priorities across the organisation, we are aiming to build on our strong foundation to reach the Silver standard at the next assessment in five years’ time.
The second award we are striving for is the Engage Watermark, which is assessed and awarded by the National Co-Ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (NCCPE). For universities, this covers a range of types of engagement including collaborative research, knowledge exchange, student engagement, and civic and community engagement. The Engage Watermark process lasts for around 12 months, with the outcome expected in October 2024.
We are continuing to work hard to grow our student numbers through a range of different activities. This year we rolled out a new marketing creative for the 2025-26 intake which focuses on people and places, encouraging students to “See it your way.”
The new creative is being used at UCAS Discovery events and across the UK and International marketing campaigns.
We have also been working with schools in Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Cambridge, Kent,
London, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Hertfordshire, Peterborough and Lincolnshire to deliver presentations and course specific activities. Since the start of this academic year, there have been approximately 140 school interactions, with many more to come!
On campus, our Open Days continue to grow while taster days and conferences continue to be popular.
Our University announced two exciting new partnerships in early 2024, securing multi-year tie-ups with Ipswich Town Football Club (ITFC) and the music festival, Brighten The Corners.
In February, we became the Official University Partner for ITFC. Agreed for an initial threeand-a-half years, the partnership includes unique opportunities for students to get involved in placements at the club, and visitors to Portman Road will have noticed the highlyvisible presence of our brand.
Professor Gurpreet Jagpal, Pro Vice-Chancellor Business and Entrepreneurship, said: “The University has a central role to play in building the success and community of Ipswich and Suffolk and we are proud to support our county’s leading football club.”
Katie Pickard, President of Activities at the Students’ Union said the partnership will be an attraction for future students, while ITFC Chief Executive Mark Ashton added that both the football club and University share many of the same values and take great pride in showcasing the best of the county.
In March, a three-year partnership was unveiled with Brighten The Corners, a multivenue, two-day festival in the heart of Ipswich.
The University sponsored the successful 2023 event, and the new, three-year agreement marks a larger collaboration promoting the cultural offering in Ipswich and Suffolk.
This year’s festival is on 14-15 June with stages at The Baths, The Smokehouse, St Stephen’s Church, Corn Exchange and Cornhill, and the partnership will provide plenty of opportunities for students and staff to get involved in the festival itself.
Tim Greenacre, the University’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “We hope to expand our involvement in the festival, and establish a year-round collaboration which will not only support the town’s night-time economy, but also help to promote Ipswich as a fantastic destination to study, live and work.”
Brighten The Corners Chief Executive, Joe Bailey, added: “Partnering with the University opens up new avenues for us to expand our reach and bring the joy of music to a broader audience.”
It proved to be a busy year for our Careers, Employability and Enterprise team in 2023, with the headline being the opening of our brand-new Enterprise and Careers Zone in September.
Providing a friendly space for students to drop in and talk to the team, the new facility is equipped with a featured jobs board, meeting area, a comfy corner packed full of resources, and soundproof pods that have been designed for confidential conversations, online interviews and one-to-ones.
The team offers a range of support services for students. To help with their career aspirations and transferable skills, the team facilitates paid work Micro-Placements across campus and secures work experience opportunities in which students can get involved. Handshake – the fresh new careers system with a virtual jobs board that was also launched in September – provides another invaluable way of connecting students with employers.
A further exciting development this year has been the team’s work with virtual reality (VR) headsets, used to expand students’ soft skills, like giving presentations and practising job interviews. Building on the two VR headsets already with the team after an earlier collaboration with Bodyswaps, the University has been selected as one of 25 institutions in the UK and US to join the Soft Skills Education Research Project for Business Schools, run by Bodyswaps in partnership with Meta.
The programme not only provides more headsets, but also includes free access to VR and business-related modules for six months.
Additionally, the new ‘Gateway to Graduation’ package will launch soon, aimed at helping final-year students prepare for life after university with careers meetings, CV sessions and workshops. This will run alongside the team’s continuing work offering social enterprise bootcamps to help students, alumni and the wider community kick-start their business ideas, with the next one lined up for this summer, and regularly bringing scores of employers onto campus for careers and part-time jobs fairs.
“My 30-hour Micro-Placement in the social media team was hands-on in a live, working environment, and it gave me great experience of content research, filming and planning for advertising. I really benefitted from it and I use what I learned on a weekly basis.” Joel Tuddenham, Year 2, Business Management
MA Creative and Critical Writing students released their third anthology of Suffolkinspired original short stories last year, and the fourth volume is set to be published later this year.
Following on from Suffolk Folk and Suffolk Arboretum, Suffolk Reflections was published last year and features stories on the theme of lakes, rivers and waterways in Suffolk.
The 26 tales were each inspired by a real body of water in Suffolk, including the River Waveney, Orford Ness, and Ipswich’s Neptune Quay. The book was accompanied by an interactive map, allowing readers to find the spot that inspired the story.
Now, work on the fourth volume – Suffolk Haunts – is progressing, with publication planned this autumn. It will continue the visual style of the previous three editions and again, include an interactive map.
Students enjoyed a series of workshops, including a spooky evening at Christchurch Mansion, to inspire their work.
The project allows students to explore the county’s myths and legends and provides a unique opportunity to get hands-on
experience of the publishing industry including writing to deadlines, proofing, rewrites and editing.
Dr Amanda Hodgkinson, Associate Professor in Creative Writing and founder of the Talking Shop Press, which publishes the anthologies, said the previous books have already attracted interest from literary agents.
She added: “Suffolk is so famous for its arts and the MA anthologies are building a body of literature that adds to the cultural landscape of the county. These are the new writers of tomorrow.”
Suffolk Folk, Suffolk Arboretum and Suffolk Reflections are available to buy online and from booksellers in the county.
Four Adult Nursing students, Lucy Turner, Ana Borges, Melissa Delgado and Donna Lunt, made the journey to Keio University in Tokyo, one of Japan’s leading research institutes, making the most of an incredible opportunity.
Ana said: “I have had the best cultural, professional and educational experience I could have asked for, made incredible memories that will last a lifetime and am excited to put what I learned into practice.”
Joined by students from America, South Korea, China and Singapore, the students saw first-hand how Japan’s healthcare is developing to cater for an ageing population.
Gillian Heard, Senior Lecturer in Adult Nursing, said: “This insightful exchange trip gave an understanding of healthcare delivery in Japan – particularly for older people.
“The students worked in groups, sharing ideas and learning from one another.”
Pitching ideas to a top national brand might seem daunting, but for a group of firstyear Business students, the opportunity to showcase ideas to meal-kit company HelloFresh at their headquarters was a unique insight into the competitive world of digital marketing.
In line with their ‘Principles of Digital Marketing’ module, they were challenged to develop innovative marketing campaigns for the student demographic.
The HelloFresh senior marketing team, including the Chief Marketing Officer and Director of Brand and Communications, gave the students a tour of their kitchens, feedback on their ideas and an insight into how their marketing strategies are developed.
Senior Lecturer, Claire Culley, commented on the experience: “This was a fantastic opportunity and I was incredibly proud of the students for stepping up to the challenge.
“This invaluable experience has hugely boosted the students’ confidence in their marketing ideas.”
The Students’ Union (SU) plays a huge role in supporting students to get the most out of their experience at the University of Suffolk.
Over the last year, the SU has been running a ‘Home Away from Home’ campaign to support those students who may suffer from social exclusion. The campaign has brought students together, providing opportunities to socialise, meet new people, access groups and clubs and tackle issues around the cost of living.
Overall, the campaign has engaged over 600 students through a variety of events from dog walking, lamb cuddling, liberation lunch and learns, and an SU dinner club.
The SU have a number of exciting plans for the future and these will be driven by the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chair of the Board (COB).
Incoming CEO, Dionne Walton, has a track record in educational and charity senior leadership and is joining from the Teenage Cancer Trust, where she was Deputy Director.
Deputy Director of the NUS Charity, Sam Harris, will join as Chair of the Board, bringing with them a wealth of knowledge, particularly in organisational development, leadership, learning and development, and governance.
We look forward to continuing to work closely with the whole SU team to support our student community.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Helen Langton MBE retires this summer after six years spearheading the University’s transformation from newcomer to a driving force in the economic, social and cultural development of Suffolk. Below she reflects on the successes and challenges.
Professor Helen Langton spent her childhood visiting Suffolk and has known the county all her life.
When she was appointed to lead the University of Suffolk in Spring 2018, it was proudly celebrating its university status and the power to award its own degrees, conferred less than two years previously.
Helen reflects: “We’d made it to the starting line. That was great, but the hard work was just beginning.”
She knew that to succeed as a university, we needed to transform the student experience and attract students from across the UK and beyond. We needed to develop a strong and distinctive research portfolio, reach out to business and community organisations, and to make a difference for the people of Ipswich, Suffolk and beyond.
The University had been established with the support of the Suffolk community, now we needed to be at the heart of its ongoing development.
Major transformative partnerships followed. Uniting the young university with worldleading telecommunications company BT, our DigiTech Centre was established at Adastral Park.
Allowing our students to study industryconnected computing, data science and cyber security courses in specialist laboratories, the Centre also works closely with employers on site to deliver degree apprenticeships.
This is one of the many ways the University now supports businesses in the region, which also include collaboration with our Digital Futures Institute and Suffolk Sustainability Institute, vital research centres established under Helen’s leadership.
An essential step forward was appointing a Pro Vice-Chancellor to head-up our transformation into a respected and innovative researchbased university.
“The outcome of our first submission into the national Research Excellence Framework (REF) was stunning,” Helen explained.
More than two-thirds of the University’s research submitted in 2021 was rated as worldleading or internationally excellent, creating a strong platform to build further collaboration.
“It demonstrated just how much we were maturing,” Helen added. “Likewise, building our graduate school from a handful of PhD students to more than 100 has been a significant achievement.”
Collaboration has been key to Helen’s approach and nowhere more so than in working to transform health outcomes for the region.
From investing in our Health and Wellbeing Building, creating nursing, midwifery, radiography and paramedic facilities to match any university, to launching the Centre of Excellence for Health Apprenticeships alongside further education partners, the University has built its health portfolio, underpinned by burgeoning partnerships with NHS health providers.
Housing the Integrated Care Academy on campus and providing a home for the new University of Suffolk Dental Community Interest Company, have put health partnerships at the heart of the University.
The University’s agility and innovative approach also stood us in good stead when faced with the biggest challenge of Helen’s custodianship, the Covid-19 pandemic. “I was watching the news on a weekend in March 2020 when the realisation hit me that we were going to be locked down within a week,” Helen said.
The next day, working hand-in-hand with the senior team and the Students’ Union, Helen issued the instruction to teaching staff to move all teaching, learning and assessment online. Teaching was cancelled for just four days to prepare for this unprecedented shift.
“Our staff worked incredibly hard to support our students, enabling them to keep going, make progress and achieve. We went online, delivering online teaching within a week. I’m really proud of how everybody pulled together.”
This dramatic transformation led to the development of the University’s unique block and blend teaching model, which has positively impacted on student outcomes and attracted the interest of other universities.
Throughout our hard-earned climb up the university league tables – in the Complete University Guide, the University has climbed 46 places in two years and climbed 50 places in the Guardian league table – we have stayed true to our mission of raising aspirations and providing educational opportunities for Suffolk. The ongoing partnership to develop a University Learning Centre in the heart of Great Yarmouth will bring opportunity to an area with historically low educational attainment.
While Helen has focused on building the University’s reputation and partnerships, so critical to the county’s success, this has been underpinned internally by transforming our culture and values. The core values have been embedded in the University’s vision, mission and decision-making process.
Helen concludes: “When I look back, we have changed beyond recognition. I know I have pushed a hard pace, but if we didn’t change, we wouldn’t succeed. We have to remain agile, especially as the higher education sector faces unprecedented and ongoing financial challenges.
“I am proud that we’ve matured into a university that colleagues, students, the county and beyond can be proud of, and one that makes a difference. Suffolk is a special university in a special county.”
We are grateful that we have an engaged group of supporters and alumni who contribute to the University regularly. The donations we receive are used in different ways to support the students who need it most to fully embrace their university experience and allow us to deliver our mission to transform lives through education. This includes providing targeted guidance and financial support to care-experienced and estranged students to help them develop the skills they need to be ready for their life and career after graduation. We have also supported a number of sustainability Micro-Placements, giving seven students from underrepresented groups the opportunity to deliver a sustainability project, which will not only benefit their personal development but also contribute to our green agenda.
Our Laptop Loan Scheme for students with disabilities has been particularly popular and we are grateful for the donations that have allowed us to grow this initiative.
The Alumni Relations and Development Team continues to work with students, alumni, and staff across the University to understand the changing needs of our university community, so it can deliver significant and enduring impact where it is needed the most.
Looking to the future, we are committed to understanding the changing needs of our community and we are currently exploring opportunities to support a brand-new fund which will help students facing additional barriers to their education.
Top 5 for Career Prospects
(WhatUni Student Choice Awards 2023) and Top 20 for Graduate Prospects
(The Times Good University Guide 2024) Research income growth of more than £500k from 2022-23
6th in the UK for Postgraduate Research Supervision
(Postgrad Research Experience Survey 2023)
68 places climbed over three years in Complete University Guide
4th overall in the UK for Feedback and Assessment Quality
University of Suffolk Waterfront Building
email: communications@uos.ac.uk
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