(Updated July 2008)
"The University of Nottingham shares many of the characteristics of the world's great universities. However, we are distinct not only in our key strengths but in how our many strengths combine: we are financially secure, campus-based and comprehensive; we are research-led and recruit top students and staff from around the world; we are committed to internationalising all our core activities so our students can have a valuable and enjoyable experience that prepares them well for the rest of their intellectual, professional and personal lives."Professor David Greenaway, Vice-Chancellor
The University of Nottingham aspires to be among the world's greatest universities and distinguished for its international reach, its commitment to learning and its world-class research.
Research excellence lies at the core of our mission because we believe this defines a world-class university and provides the best context for excellent teaching. We will attract and retain staff committed to exemplary teaching and knowledge discovery focused on world-changing initiatives.
We are committed to a varied, accessible and stimulating learning environment, capable of developing students' knowledge, skills and employability, and will educate the very best students, regardless of country of origin or financial need, and offer a global learning experience.
We will remain focused on being truly international because we believe that in the 21st century this will be the key to success in terms of the quality of our research and our graduates. As a result of our international approach to research and teaching we will be a significant catalyst for improvement in the quality of life across the world.
Nottingham is one of the UK's leading universities and our distinctive research mission is well known internationally. We excel in knowledge transfer, have a long history of excellence in teaching, and our international strategy sets us apart in its ambition, depth and achievement.
Our strength is confirmed by external assessments, especially the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise and the 2005 QAA Institutional Audit, and our growing success in securing peer reviewed research awards. We are especially proud of Professor Keith Campbell in the School of Biosciences, who has been named joint winner of one of the most prestigious scientific prizes in the world, the 2008 Shaw Prize for Life Science and Medicine, for his pioneering work in stem cell research. He joins distinguished researchers including Professor Sir Peter Mansfield and Professor Sir Clive Granger, who both won Nobel Prizes in 2003, and who spent much of their careers at Nottingham and remain closely connected to the University. Our international strategy has its most visible successes in the two international campuses in Malaysia and China and this was recognised by the THES Higher Education Institution of the Year Award in 2006.
The environment we operate in has become more challenging. Student recruitment has become more volatile both for home and international students. In the longer term, international markets are likely to become more competitive as countries develop their own higher education systems and new educational providers enter the field. Research funding and the cost of equipment and facilities affect competitiveness, especially in science, engineering and medicine.
Like other leading UK research universities, the Government's Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) is our single largest source of income. Their policy is to keep public funding for universities stable in real terms. However, given other Government priorities public funding probably won't increase in the near future. We support the Government's ambition to encourage a wider range of people to attend university, to give students more flexibility in how they study, and for employers to be more involved in the development and delivery of courses.
Nottingham is well placed to prosper in this more competitive environment. We have a very broad range of disciplines, so we can adapt to changing patterns of student demand, and have recently extended our academic coverage, notably in veterinary medicine and sciences and Chinese studies. Despite heightened competition for international students, we increased the number of international students we accepted for three consecutive years. In research, we received record levels of new funding in the last few years and remain highly successful in attracting income from industry. Our campuses attract many students, and the international campuses give us a unique way to enhance the learning experience of students on Nottingham-based courses. In the longer term this will help us to remain competitive despite a fall in international demand.
The higher home undergraduate fee from 2006 means the University's income from UK students increased, as they make up most of our student body. Since 2005, the Government has changed the way it funds research with the introduction of full economic costing, which to date has had a substantial positive impact on our research income. These changes will help to secure our financial base.
This plan sets out our strategies for meeting these challenges over the next few years. They will improve our position in the core areas of research, knowledge transfer, the student experience and internationalisation and help us realise our ambition to be recognised as one of the leading universities in the world.
Research excellence drives our reputation and international standing. It also underpins excellence in teaching, which allows us to attract the best staff and students who, in turn, maintain the University's quality and contribute to society and to wealth creation.
We believe the best research comes from scholars who are strong in their own disciplines, though an increasing amount of our activity takes place in initiatives that combine several academic fields, where we have focused recent investments. These include academic appointments, improved IT infrastructure and a spending programme of more than £50 million. Postgraduate students also make a vital contribution to research and we intend to increase substantially their number and provide greater support through the Graduate School.
While we actively support curiosity-driven fundamental research, we are also committed to applied research to create wealth and for the public good. Some 15% of our research income comes from working with industry and businesses, and will develop these links further to ensure research innovation is moved rapidly to the market place. We are also a leading supporter of student enterprise, since we want to be sure our graduates are equipped to succeed in an entrepreneurial and commercial world.
In spring 2008 we launched a comprehensive review of our Research and Knowledge Transfer portfolio to ensure we are appropriately positioned to succeed in a rapidly changing research environment. This will report in late autumn 2008 and will bring forward recommendations on our key medium term research priorities and the policies and investment required to succeed in delivering them.
In 2005 the government named six Science Cities, including Nottingham. With this title came opportunities to improve networks between research, industry and services, and to create new jobs and revenue. This gave the University the opportunity to link our teaching, research and knowledge-transfer activities to the wider issues of science, community and business. The University of Nottingham Innovation Park, which opens in 2008, will complement BioCity and become a key point of access to the research base of the University for businesses. It will maximise the chances that our science finds business support and a practical use to encourage regional innovation and new business ventures.
| Item | Baseline | Actual | Objective | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 |
| Research fellows returned in the HEFCE Research Activity Survey | 35.3fte | 57.23fte | 50fte | 60fte |
| Research awards | c £125m | £130.1m | £135m | £150m |
| Cumulative investment in the spin-out portfolio | £7.5m | £13.5m | £16.5m | £19.9m |
| IP related income | c £3.9m | £7.2m | £4.7m | £5.2m |
| Total value of regional funding awards | £5.0m | £13.2m | £6.1m | £7.3m |
| Postgraduate population | 3,847 | 6,103 | 4,250 | 4,450 |
| Commercially exploitable disclosures | c 75 | 93 | 95 | 105 |
In addition to progress against the objectives above, the following performance indicators, showing trends and Russell Group benchmarking, will be reported to Council.
Our sight is fixed on offering the highest quality experience for students at all of our campuses, from their first contact with us, through learning, social, community and sporting activities, to graduation and beyond. This takes place in and is enhanced by attractive campus environments. As with research, an excellent student experience helps to attract the best staff and students and is essential to ensuring our quality and reputation into the future.
As reflected in the University's Learning and Teaching Strategy, our teaching has three main strengths: it is set in an international context, makes increasing use of modern technologies and most importantly is based on our research. At undergraduate level, the goal of our teaching strategy is to develop graduates who have a thorough grounding in their subject of study, are aware of research, have a critical approach to knowledge, can study independently, and have the skills and attributes to be successful in employment. At postgraduate level, our objective is to take students to the limits of their subject and to develop research skills so they are equipped to become leaders in their field. The University embraces new technologies for improving the learning experience at all levels.
Teaching is based on research in two ways. First, nearly all teaching is led by staff who are themselves active researchers and who bring that experience to their teaching. Second, teaching is informed by research into teaching itself. Through the four Centres of Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETLs), funded by HEFCE, and the Institute for Research into Learning and Teaching, we help to ensure that we provide the best possible teaching across the University.
A distinctive feature of Nottingham's diversity is our commitment to a rich international dimension to the University, which is increasingly built into the curriculum, and experienced through the range of nationalities and cultures across the University.
We continually work to ensure our teaching is supportive and inclusive so all students can succeed. We offer a broad range of services, to give a good support network for undergraduate and postgraduate students, both academically and for their general welfare. By providing a range of accommodation, sporting, cultural and social facilities, and a wide variety of opportunities to interact with and within the local community, we want to create the best possible student experience and, as a result, the best possible graduates. Some of the services and opportunities are delivered in partnership with the Students' Union, which has a distinctive and crucial role in this area. At Nottingham we listen to our students, and obtain their views through a variety of feedback mechanisms, such as the National Student Survey, because we believe they make a valuable contribution to policy development.
Our Access Agreement with the Office for Fair Access sets out our scheme to provide bursaries to undergraduate students from lower-income backgrounds. The scheme has been successful in attracting more low-income students and will be reviewed in 2008-09 to ensure that it remains appropriate to students' needs. Our commitment to a clear, fair bursary scheme, along with initiatives such as the award-winning Certificate in Health Sciences partnership with the University of Lincoln, reflect the importance we attach to the diversity of the student community and the contribution it makes to the overall student experience.
| Item | Baseline | Actual | Objective | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 |
| Nottingham Student population | 30,395 | 30,455 | 32,849 | 34,100 |
| Reduce the number of discrete taught modules run by Schools by 8% by 2009-10 |
3,704 | [3,704] | 3,630 | 3,408 |
In addition to progress against the objectives above, the following performance indicators, showing trends and Russell Group benchmarking, will be reported to Council.
Nottingham is helping define what it means to be an international university. For us it means doing research that addresses global human concerns and social problems, attracting dedicated staff and top students from around the world, and having our own campuses in several countries.
The main purpose of our internationalisation strategy is to provide globally excellent and internationally relevant teaching, research and knowledge transfer activities to our key external stakeholders. The strategy emphasises breadth and diversity of activity and seeks to embed an international dimension across the range of University activity. In achieving these purposes, our internationalisation strategy will establish the University of Nottingham as a leading global university and give us a competitive advantage over universities in the UK and Europe.
We believe that being truly international will be a key to success in the 21st century, so we invested in this area with greater depth and imagination than most universities worldwide. This is most visible in the large numbers of international students at Nottingham and our two international campuses in Malaysia and China. We are justifiably proud of the international campuses, which have established a new model for the globalisation of university education. If we look across all of our campuses, more than a third of our thirty-six thousand students are from outside the United Kingdom. These campuses provide Nottingham staff and students with a range of study and travel opportunities. Through traditional forms of recruitment, we provide study opportunities for UK students to gain experience of working with colleagues from around the globe. Programme mobility and distance learning enable us to deliver specific educational programmes in a number of locations to better serve less mobile students.
By recruiting permanent and visiting international academic staff and incorporating globally relevant content and skills into our curriculum, we will ensure that students receive a genuinely international education that gives them a unique opportunity for success within the global employment market. Our involvement in networks such as Universitas 21 allows us to work with the world's best scholars across all areas of activity, and we intend to develop and enhance such teaching and research partnerships.
Finally, we take our broader social responsibility as an international university seriously. We will continue to contribute to the development of the higher education capacity within the developing world through a variety of activities including scholarships, flexible programme delivery, research partnerships and expert volunteering.
| Item | Baseline | Actual | Objective | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 |
| Students at international campuses | 3,772 | 5,402 | 6,800 | 8,200 |
| Non-UK students at UK campus (year on year growth) | 6,965 | 7,495 | 7,875 | 8,425 |
| EU (non-UK) students at UK campus | 1,692 | 1,950 | 2050 | 2,150 |
| Students undertaking some form of outward mobility | 17% | 17% | 19% | 22% |
In addition to progress against the objectives above, the following performance indicators, showing trends and Russell Group benchmarking, will be reported to Council.
To support our research and teaching we need well managed and up to date buildings, equipment, and communication networks. Developing the University's estates is also important to us because they improve the quality of life of our staff and students.
Over the last decade we invested more than £320 million in new buildings and facilities and redeveloping old buildings and facilities across all of our campuses to improve research, teaching and support facilities. There have been several notable developments over the past year, including:
On the Jubilee campus in July 2008 we opened 'Aspire', Britain's tallest free-standing work of public art, which is about the University and the city making a bold statement about its future.
At Nottingham our commitment to the environment is more than symbolic. In recent years we have invested in new initiatives to support energy management, traffic management and recycling across all of our campuses and this is set to continue. One major project is that we will develop a transport strategy and car park charging programme in response to the city's plans to implement the Nottingham City Workplace Parking Levy in 2010.
Information services are an essential part of a modern university, just as much as buildings and open spaces. Maintaining a robust and leading-edge technical network and making sure that people can access information in traditional and electronic forms are vital for teaching and research. Our recent investments total more than £13 million over three years and include over £1 million on setting up a new Primary Data Centre and a similar amount on a new Manuscripts and Special Collections facility. We have also invested heavily in upgrading our information network, developing new technologies such as portals and mobile computing, and providing access to major electronic collections of historical works. We actively explore new technologies to enhance the learning environment such as online collaboration and social networking facilities. We are also redeveloping several library sites to provide state-of-the-art flexible learning and research environments, which benefit from the latest technology.
| Item | Baseline | Actual | Objective | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 |
| Total energy consumption | 186 GWh | 181 GWh | 181 GWh | 177 GWh |
| Proportion of waste recycled | 25% | 30% | 35% | 40% |
This plan covers the period 2008-2010, but in the longer term the University is committed to establishing itself in the top tier of global universities. This means maintaining the leadership, governance and financial strength needed for a secure future.
Our ability to provide excellent research and teaching depends on our people, and we attribute much of our success to the quality of our academic and support staff. The trends identified elsewhere in this plan, towards increased demands from Government funding bodies, our focus on developing international links, and more competition, mean that more than ever, we need to attract, retain, and motivate staff of the highest calibre. Support for curiosity-driven research, an innovative promotion strategy, competitive salaries and the opportunities offered to support the local community are among the features of life at Nottingham that staff particularly value. Some of our people will develop into the next generation of leaders and we will need to identify and prepare them so we can respond as an institution to the challenges we will face.
The way we secure funding is expected to change in the next few years. The increased fee for UK undergraduate students, together with predicted increases in international students, will increase the proportion of income from tuition fees. This in turn will increase the importance of recruiting high quality students each year. Additional income will come from the recently established School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, the Campaign for Nottingham and external income associated with the Innovation Park on the Jubilee Campus. Full economic costing of research has so far had a substantial positive impact on our research income. Meanwhile, our international campuses will start to make a net profit over the next few years. The Government may tighten higher education funding, and there is significant risk that the competition for international students will increase. This reinforces the need to maintain a strong underlying financial position.
Equality and diversity are important for a vibrant scholarly community and for their own sake. We value and respect all individuals in the university community and will do our best to create conditions in which all members of staff and students are treated solely on the basis of their merits, abilities and potential. This applies throughout the University, from the admission of undergraduates to the retirement of staff.
| Item | Baseline | Actual | Objective | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 |
| Surplus (before international campuses & asset sales) | £(2.3)m | £4.5m | £8.0m | £11.6m |
| Borrowing level (year end level) | £56m | £56m | £53m | £51m |
| Strategic funds | £11.9m | £11.1m | £11.7m | £12.3m |
| Net capital expenditure | £12.3m | £26.1m | £17.7m | £20m |
| Development campaign income | £4m | £7m | £10m | £11m |
We have always been strongly committed to the City of Nottingham and to our local communities. We have responsibilities that come with a high level of public funding, but individual members of the University also give their time to promoting the public good.
Our campuses in general and the attractive 330 acre University Park in particular, are popular areas for recreation, both for those at the University and the local community. It is important that that the whole community takes pride in our environment. We recently won several awards for maintaining and improving our environment, including our fifth Green Flag Award (a national award given to the best public parks and green spaces), a Royal Horticultural Society Public Park Award for University Park and The Times Greenest Buildings citation for the Jubilee Campus.
We make links with the local community at many levels. The Active Communities initiative, together with Student Community Action, encourages staff and students to support their local communities through volunteering. We have introduced a Staff Volunteering Policy to encourage this. We support local people who want to continue their learning through an extensive programme of outreach activities. We encourage local involvement in the arts through the Lakeside Arts Centre. Because we accept that the increasing number of students who live off-campus may create some difficulty for local residents, we devote resources to make sure that we identify the concerns of local residents and create positive relationships between student and non-student residents. Working together with the Students Union, we hold meetings with residents' associations, local councils, the police and other agencies.
We are the first university in the U.K (and in the Russell Group) to sponsor a City Academy, the Nottingham University Samworth Academy in Bilborough, which opens in 2009. The Academy will be a model of good practice in education and a centre for local community activities. We will continue to use research-based evidence to improve the quality of education throughout Nottingham and beyond, working with the Local Authority. In the year leading up to the Academy's opening we will work closely with them to provide exciting opportunities for learning.