University strategy Jan 2012 update

Our core strategies

Our strategic priorities Our strong academic brand will make us a leading modern university for applied research and transformational education We will develop leaders who aspire and achieve at the highest levels Our core capacity in applied research and enterprise will achieve new levels of impact We will thrive on our strengths in collaboration and partnership- working Our sustainable business model will support our achievement of excellence

Our objectives To maintain and grow our excellent reputation for graduate employability To promote our national profile in applied research that impacts on policy and practice and develop new areas that meet contemporary challenges, To continue to offer a demand-led portfolio To maintain staff pride in working for the University and to contribute to its successful future, Reputation for excellence in top quality student performance while maintaining our access mission (1) Our strong academic brand will make us a leading modern university for applied research and transformational education

(2) We will develop leaders who aspire and achieve at the highest levels Our strategic priorities To support achievement of student personal best To shape the learning experience to supporting students to develop key attributes and skills of enquiry, collaboration and enterprise in context of their ambitions and expertise To implement a Charter for students –, and offering professional support for students who experience difficulty, to maintain their aspiration and their development To extend opportunity through new growth in part-time, CPD, work-based learning and other flexible options To maintain our investment in world-class facilities to support the student experience, and to make high-level use of technology for active engagement in a wired world To develop our staff as leaders – in research, in teaching and in achieving their personal career ambitions in support of University objectives

(3) Our core capacity in applied research and enterprise will achieve new levels of impact Our strategic priorities Innovation and enterprise are core activities that inform our research and teaching. Increase inworld-leading research in areas relevant to the communities and economies we support New areas of interdisciplinary research expertise responsive to the key global challenges of social and demographic change, economic competition and the sustainable development of organisations and communities. a national reputation for technological, social and educational innovation to enhance individual opportunity, social policy, business practice and leadership capacity. To develop, through our curricula, a set of core graduate skills and attributes supportive of individual and organizational enterprise To embed enterprise as a core activity of our community, at individual, team and institutional levels.

(4) We will thrive on our strengths in collaboration and partnership-working Our strategic priorities To extend our hub-based strategy in the UK and overseas and expand the range and reach of our activities within each hub To formalise our collaboration with employers and professional bodies in the delivery of cutting-edge curriculum To maintain our role in providing health, education and other professionals through a range of routes that maximises access to professional careers and the supply of a diverse well-qualified workforce To embed collaboration and partnership within the student experience, providing all students with opportunities to develop mentoring, coaching and volunteering expertise To implement a new model of partnership with our students, through UBSU and student representatives across our hubs, that delivers sustainable enhancement in quality of community experience To model creative partnership-working as the core characteristic of our delivery of excellent service quality to internal and external customers and partners

(5) Our sustainable business model will support our achievement of excellence Our strategic priorities To grow our student population, taught and PGR, and our range of teaching activities To enable diversification of income by making enterprise core to our recruitment, our planning of individual and team activity and our performance management and reward To ensure our staff fulfill their potential and meet the challenges of change through coaching and CPD and improved performance management To sustain capital investment in infrastructure to maintain a high-quality estate and technology provision. To maintain efficient operations through collaboration and partnership and flexibility and openness to change. To be an exemplar of sustainable development that recognises and meets the challenges of sustainable development and leads thinking.

Sample targets (brand success and recognition) Achieve and maintain top NSS ranking and top i-grad ranking among universities of similar profile in our travel corridors, i.e. Bucks New, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Northampton, Anglia Ruskin (Cambridge), London Met, Oxford Brookes. Graduate outcomes – Student employability - 95% post-graduation employment 60% good degrees (currently 50%) and 60% among SEC groups % course endorsement by one or more of: PSRB, other external organisation, 12% alumni re-registration Research quality (REF)

Sample measures of capacity and capability – building the brand 90% academic staff consistently active in research and enterprise at a recognised level, and 40% qualified for PGR supervision Recognition of inter-team working and communication Average £500 pa per staff member enterprise income

30000 students (headcount) – currently on-campus PT per annum (1200) 3000 partner college students (2000) 2000 distance learning & WBL students pa (new activity) 30-40% of new on-campus registrations are o/s students per annum 636 PGR (Average of 1 PGR per academic FTE – 60% increase) Plus TNE income - £8m pa (currently about 2.5m pa) £5m CPD income pa Scale and sustainability – supporting the brand