Professor Colin Bailey discusses some of the University's recent successes and key hires, the challenges we face in achieving our Strategy goals and sustainability, and supporting our staff through the cost of living crisis.
Dear colleague,
I hope this email finds you well. There has been so much to celebrate already this year, with 146 colleagues promoted through the academic promotions round and lots of new colleagues joining us through investments in science and engineering, humanities and social sciences, medicine and dentistry and our University Research Institutes, alongside some key hires in professional services and QMI. We have also won another accolade for our success in social mobility: we were awarded University of the Year in this year’s social mobility awards. Our research, and our research highways, continue to attract global attention: please do keep an eye on our news releases for the latest updates, with staff across the University promoting the excellent work that we carry out and the positive impact it has on society.
As we look forward to our first full year that is (hopefully) completely unaffected by the pandemic, it is timely to have a look at our University Strategy to see what we have achieved, what new opportunities and challenges have emerged and where, if at all, our focus needs to shift. The Senior Team addressed these questions at an away day earlier this week. Our primary attention remains on the core strategic pillars of excellence in research and excellence in education. There is still a challenge in achieving our goals in these areas and we must continue to strive to ensure we are serving our students as well as they deserve, and to ensure we maintain and improve the quality and impact of our research activities. There are new opportunities since we launched our Strategy, including innovation both in education and research. There are also new challenges, not least the ever-changing international and national political landscape, government funding cuts and global inflationary pressures. However, over the last five years we have increased our financial resilience. We are now in a stronger position than most other universities to withstand the significant financial challenges facing the entire UK Higher Education Sector, whilst continuing to drive forward our 2030 Strategy.
There is also a need to focus more closely on sustainability. We have stark, almost daily reminders of the impact of climate change, and of economic turmoil across the world. Our commitment to sustainability in every sense is core to who we are, and to our future. We will be looking to make that commitment more real and more impactful, through our research, our education and the way we act as an institution through this next phase of our Strategy.
Our University is our people, and hence supporting our staff and student communities is a constant thread through all these discussions about delivering our Strategy. The passion and commitment of all staff to support our students, and the world-leading research that helps shape our future society, is evident across the University. However, we know on a day-to-day basis the most pressing concern for everyone is the increasing cost of living. As a University, we have already implemented the pay increase in London Weighting, and continue to be aware of the ever-increasing financial pressure staff are under. As you know, pay awards are negotiated at a national level via the University and Colleges Employer Association (UCEA), based on a realistic assessment of what is possible for the sector. As a University we have supported UCEA’s proposal to bring the negotiations of the next pay round forward to address the current cost-of-living pressures, with the aim – if the proposal is supported by the sector – of awarding staff part of the next pay deal early in the New Year. I will keep you abreast of those sector level negotiations. On an individual level, there is advice and support available for anyone who finds themselves in financial hardship: please have a look at our employee assistance programme to find out more.
It is critical to the success of our Strategy that we support our staff and address, as far as is possible, these issues, and the issues that were raised through the staff survey. Improving staff engagement is important in itself, and underpins all our other aims. I have set out in a little more detail the goals for this next phase of our Strategy on Connected – do have a look, and please send me any feedback. We will also be sending, via the staff bulletin, updates on progress with delivering the Strategy enabling plans over the next few weeks.
Do please get in touch if you have any comments or concerns. I will write again when there is a further update to share.
Best wishes,
Colin