Since becoming Vice-Chancellor at the start of this year, I have continued to be inspired by the staff, students and alumni I’ve met who make up our university community.
Our brilliant graduates continue to be in high demand, with more entering highly skilled employment than any other UK university – a title we have held for the last five years. Our staff consistently deliver excellence in teaching and research, leading to us being ranked in the top 100 in the world in this year’s QS World University Rankings. We are joint sixth among our peers in the Russell Group of research-intensive universities for supporting local growth and regeneration and working with business (a number of these partnerships include alumni).
I firmly believe the University of Nottingham can build on these strengths and be even better. But first we need to respond to the external challenges that the whole of the UK higher education sector faces and ensure that we are academically and financially sustainable for current and future generations. This includes responding to student and employer demand and the changing global landscape.
Like most universities, we have been seriously affected by a fall in revenues and by rising costs. Nottingham has one of the biggest university estates in the country and is a major employer in the East Midlands with around 9,000 staff. While we continue to be a top choice for home students, recruiting almost 80% of our students from the UK, their tuition fees haven't kept pace with inflation for years and the current position is no longer sustainable.
The recent government commitment to increase tuition fees is welcome, as are plans to boost student maintenance grants. However, the proposed international student levy would wipe out any benefits we may have realised from this, meaning we cannot rely on this additional income.
Standing still is not an option: at the University of Nottingham, I am determined we will proactively shape our future rather than have circumstances shape it for us. This means thinking hard about how we operate and how we best provide an environment where we can deliver the highest academic standards, where students thrive and are equipped with the skills and motivation they need to make a difference.
We’re addressing these challenges through our Future Nottingham programme. This sets out an ambitious strategic vision for the university while being realistic about the financial environment we’re working in.
By restructuring and resizing our professional services and academic workforce we will be able to better focus our resources so we can build strategic areas of excellence and improve performance in both teaching and research. Our aim is to invest in our student experience and innovative learning environments as well as in our estate and our world-class research facilities in order to remain among the most attractive and world-leading universities.
To achieve our goal we will need to consider making some difficult decisions along the way, which could include reducing or stopping some things in order to grow the areas where we excel.