Case for Support - Creating Tomorrow's Leaders

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CREATING TOMORROW’S LEADERS

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A TRADITION OF LIFE-CHANGING OPPORTUNITIES The University of Westminster has been making an impact on the world through its progressive, inclusive education and ground-breaking research for over 175 years. The challenge ahead is to ensure today’s students and researchers can fulfil their potential by ensuring they have the resources and every opportunity to acquire the skills, knowledge and experience needed to become the leaders and innovators of tomorrow. Your support can help our diverse body of students, including those with limited access to life-changing opportunities due to financial constraints, by continuing a proud tradition of developing inspired globally-engaged citizens ready to make a difference.

“I WOULD LIKE TO INVITE YOU – OUR ALUMNI, FRIENDS AND PARTNERS, TO SUPPORT THE UNIVERSITY TO ENHANCE THE OPPORTUNITIES WE OFFER STUDENTS AND CONTINUE CHANGING LIVES.” Professor Geoffrey Petts Vice-Chancellor and President

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FIRST BEGINNINGS The Westminster story can be traced from our founding as the UK’s first polytechnic in 1838, which later became the home of Quintin Hogg’s Young Men’s Christian Institute (soon known as the Regent Street Polytechnic), and the creation of the Polytechnic of Central London (PCL) in 1970. Granted university status in 1992, the heart of our institution still occupies the same historic headquarters at 309 Regent Street, in the centre of the world’s premier global city. The roll call of Westminster ‘firsts’ is long and diverse; from starting the first commercial photographic studios in Europe, to hosting the first moving picture show in the UK for a fee paying audience and pioneering further education classes for women, to becoming the first modern Higher Education institution to win the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade, and the UK’s first ever UN Habitat Partner University, there are countless examples of Westminster leading the way. The values of our 19th-century founders have remained central to the University. Sir George Cayley created the Polytechnic to stimulate innovation, and demonstrate how it could be applied to change people’s lives, whilst the philanthropist Quintin Hogg championed the expansion of educational opportunity to the widest possible audience – regardless of background or financial status. Today, Westminster has a reputation as a place for invention and creativity alongside excellence in education, accessible for all.

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MEETING TODAY’S CHALLENGES Throughout its history, the University has educated and enriched the lives of thousands of people from all walks of life, many of whom continue to be involved with Westminster today. You – our alumni, friends and partners – are critical to this ongoing success. Now, you can help advance further this richly-grounded, progressive and ambitious, global institution, and enable the University of Westminster to: • Create global citizens, professional leaders, and lifelong learners, capable of using interdisciplinary approaches to understand and resolve the evolving intellectual, professional and business challenges of the 21st-century • Continue growing as a rich, dynamic, and inspirational university based on world-leading research, absorbing teaching, and enterprising education for all • Provide our students and staff with high-quality facilities with a modern, technologically-advanced infrastructure that also honours our commitment to the environment.

Read on to find out how and where you can make a difference.

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MOST INTERNATIONALLY DIVERSE UNIVERSITY IN THE UK. Hotcourses Diversity Index (HDI)

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EDUCATION AND ACCESS FOR ALL STILL OUR FIRST PRIORITY Building on the principles of our founders, we continue to make Higher Education accessible to people from all walks of life. The University is engaged with a range of activities to encourage all of our stakeholders to become part of the University community. One of the ways we do this is through special programmes and engagement activities held at the Regent Street Cinema.

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“ONE OF THE BEST UNIVERSITIES FOR STUDENTS WHO WOULDN’T OTHERWISE BE ABLE TO AFFORD HIGHER EDUCATION.” Professor Moorad Choudhry Alumnus and donor

Westminster’s Outreach initiatives and Skills Clubs help and inspire many in their first steps towards higher-level education. Providing access to the University through informal learning and practical activity on-site and in schools, enables primary and secondary pupils to raise aspirations towards achieving their potential and fosters creativity alongside the development of core skills such as literacy. Westminster students are already participating in volunteering or work experience with local communities, through activities such as our pro-bono Law Clinic, which benefits anyone who would not normally have access to professional legal advice, whilst enhancing students’ professional skills and helping their future careers. Others act as ambassadors for Schools or Community Engagement activities such as the matinee classics programme at the Regent Street Cinema.

Your support will help more students make a difference to themselves and others; core funding is needed to sustain these important projects, as well as bursaries to enable participation in challenging but rewarding opportunities. 7


INSPIRED, HIGHLY SKILLED GRADUATES FIRST CHOICE FOR EMPLOYERS Today’s graduates are facing a much tougher, more competitive employment market with less job security than their forebears. To ensure Westminster students can gain the necessary skills and life experience to get ahead, they need personal and professional development opportunities and extra support to help them become rounded globally-engaged citizens who can make a difference.

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COMMITTED TO DEVELOPING THE RANGE OF INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCES FOR STUDENTS.

The 125 Fund* offers students the chance to unlock their potential, - enhancing their employment prospects by supporting the costs of extra equipment; personal and professional development; or funding for projects (both course-focused and extra-curricular). Unlike traditional grants and bursaries that off-set living costs or tuition fees, this special fund acts as a catalyst for unleashing creativity and enterprise skills more relevant than ever in today’s job market. In addition to domestic opportunities, we are committed to further developing the range of international experiences on offer. Experience programmes will afford students the opportunity to immerse themselves in a new country and culture and to hone skills that will help to prepare them for an increasingly interconnected world in which an international outlook is necessary. * The 125 Fund is generously match-funded by The Quintin Hogg Trust.

Your support will enable even more students to achieve their exciting ambitions whilst they are at Westminster and set them off on their careers with a head-start.

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INNOVATION, CREATIVITY AND HIGH-IMPACT RESEARCH FIRSTS THAT CHANGE LIVES Today’s uncertain economic and political climate creates pressure on the increasingly scarce financial resources that Westminster needs to attract and support academic leaders and enable them to develop original, value-adding research. Maintaining our collaborative and entrepreneurial approach will deliver results that keep us at the forefront of innovation.

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Across disciplines a rich and diverse profile of high quality research and innovation supports practice-based teaching methods, exposing students to contemporary real-world problems to help them develop skills and apply their learning ready for the work-place and wider world.

“WE ARE PROUD TO LEND OUR SUPPORT TO THIS VALUABLE WORK.” Dr Geoffrey Guy, GW Pharmaceuticals plc Donors to The Research Centre for Optimal Health

In the life sciences, Westminster is advancing diagnostic techniques for the Ebola virus in West Africa; examining the impact of a range of lifestyle factors on breast cancer development; and undertaking ground-breaking research to create practical solutions for living a long and healthy life at the Research Centre for Optimal Health. Beyond the traditional sciences, Westminster Institute for Advanced Studies is raising challenging questions on the complexity of interactions between digital/social media and society, whilst clinicians at the Centre for Resilience work with the Business School to apply cross-disciplinary approaches to the study and practice around improving individuals’ responses to stress.

Your support for these valuable areas of our leading-edge work can ensure Westminster research will go on making an impact on the world.

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OUTSTANDING FACILITIES TO ENABLE SUCCESS FIRST CHOICE DESTINATION To ensure that the facilities we offer remain relevant to the demands of emerging technologies and learning methodologies, and that they provide both stimulation and enhance the well-being of our students, Westminster requires a sustainable programme of investment aimed at creating inspirational spaces across its campuses for study, collaboration and recreation.

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Westminster continues to showcase and celebrate its heritage through our landmark buildings. The Regent Street Cinema enables film students to present their work in the first venue where moving images were shown to the UK paying public; architecture and the built environment students trial technical skills in the Fabrication Laboratory; and psychology students benefit from the award-winning social learning space at our Cavendish campus, promoting student and staff collaboration.

Your support towards the facilities and fabric of the University will deliver the environments in which success blossoms, and ensure the long-term future of Westminster.

With projects in development such as the Soho Poly Theatre as a venue for our creative writing courses and exhibition space, to the modernisation of sports facilities at Chiswick and Harrow, and upgraded Library facilities in the West End, our environment matters to those learning and developing research for the future.

THE HISTORIC QUINTIN HOGG MEMORIAL SPORTS GROUND AT CHISWICK, ESTABLISHED FOR THE BENEFIT OF STUDENTS AND MEMBERS.

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THE REGENT STREET CINEMA: BIRTHPLACE OF BRITISH CINEMA – BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE WITH GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM THE QUINTIN HOGG TRUST, THE HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND AND MANY OTHER SUPPORTERS.

Thank you – on behalf of our students, and all those who benefit from the impact of our life-changing work.

westminster.ac.uk/support-us

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westminster.ac.uk/support-us

Development and Alumni Relations Office University of Westminster 1st Floor Cavendish House 101 New Cavendish Street London W1W 6XH +44 (0)20 7911 5741

The University of Westminster is a charity and a company limited by guarantee. Registration number: 977818 England Registered Office: 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW

development@westminster.ac.uk

8081/10.16/JW/SPM

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