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UCD School of Medicine & Medical ScienceScoil an Leighis agus Eolaíocht an Leighis UCD

A WORLD CLASS MEDICAL SCHOOL

WITHIN IRELAND’S GLOBAL UNIVERSITY

Statement of School Priorities & Objectives

&

Alignment with UCD Strategic Plan 2015 – 2020

January 2015

UCD School of Medicine & Medical Science | Strategic Priorities 2015 – 2020

School’s Strategic Planning Process

Strategic Planning within the School is a process of continuous development and improvement of everything that we do, rather than simply the production of a landmark document. This process involves the articulation of clear School objectives that align with the University and College priorities, the deployment of resources consistent with these key priorities, the engagement of all relevant stakeholders to deliver our ambition, and the periodic evaluation of progress.

Our planning process seeks to reconcile internal and external perspectives and to establish a set of clear priorities that offers focus and certainty, whilst remaining responsive and flexible to the changing environment. These strategic priorities represent the collation of objectives and actions identified during routine School business, as well as during formal planning workshops.

We would like to thank most sincerely patients and their advocates, our students and staff, and other internal and external stakeholders who help us advance our current goals and we hope that they feel empowered to continue to help shape future strategic priorities.

Our School Plan is informed by Ireland’s Global University, the University’s strategic plan which articulates a clear vision for UCD over the next five years ; Our core values, mission, strategic objectives and programme initiatives will help deliver this vision. During previous University Strategic Planning cycles (2010-2014, 2005-2008), we have articulated biennial School-specific priorities (2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012). Building on our considerable success over this period and following the publication of the University’s strategic plan, the School has re-affirmed the following strategic priorities for the period 2015 – 2020.

Spotlight | Medicine in Society

In preparing our strategic plan and aligning our objectives with those of the University, we have considered a various perspectives on importance to the role of Medicine in Society. Specifically we have considered:

PatientWhat it means to be healthy and society’s expectations of modern medicine

Active participation in education and research

StudentMedicine and health science as a vocation and preparation for a career

Ireland’s role in internationally medical education

Practitioner The scientific basis for medicine and importance of critical thinking

Impact of globalisation on both medical education and on global health

SchoolEducation and research across the globe

Building a strong, sustainable community

To place our plan in context, we have articulated some of these perspectives throughout this document as ‘Spotlight’ features prior to articulating detailed strategic objectives.

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SCHOOL’S STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

The School’s strategic priorities have been refined in light of the University Strategic Plan and have been aligned with the strategic objectives articulated in the UCD Strategy 2015 – 2020.

In summary, the School’s strategic priorities include:

1. To substantially increase the quality and quantity of translational and clinical research in areas of national significance and global importance through internal re-focus and external collaboration.

2. To be internationally recognised as a leading European Medical School with a strong portfolio of professionally relevant undergraduate and graduate programmes that allow high calibre students reach their full potential as medical practitioners and healthcare leaders.

3. To innovate in teaching and assessment, and to undertake a comprehensive medical education research which impacts upon our programmes and which exploits research/education linkages.

4. To continue to attract and retain high calibre students and staff who are driven by the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research and clinical practice and who have clear pathways for individual progression.

5. To continue to attract a diverse cohort of international students and to offer elective opportunities around the world so that our graduates emerge competitive for careers in global healthcare leadership.

6. To maintain a strong scientific basis to internationally benchmarked programmes which support our ambition to produce graduates who are inquisitive, critical thinkers throughout their careers.

7. To build an enduring sense of community and proactive engagement with University business among our patients and clinicians, our biomedical science researchers, our alumni and other stakeholders.

8. To support our education and research endeavour on campus and across our clinical training networks by further strengthening educational and research infrastructure (including facilities and clinical networks).

9. To maintain a strong financial performance, diversified income and a resource allocation that is consistent with our School’s strategic priorities.

10. To consistently and constructively question our assumptions and collect appropriate key performance data that supports informed decision making and organisational development.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

School’s Strategic Priorities............................................................................................................3

Strategic Context............................................................................................................................7Our Vision, Mission and Values....................................................................................................7SWOT Analysis.............................................................................................................................7Accreditation and Quality Reviews...............................................................................................7PESTEL Analysis............................................................................................................................8

SPOTLIGHT | Health Through(out) Life........................................................................................10Living Longer with Disease.........................................................................................................10Towards Personalised Medicine.................................................................................................10

Objective 1 Increase Quality and Quantity of Research & Scholarship.......................................11Research Groups, Centres & Networks.......................................................................................12Research Supports......................................................................................................................12Measuring Research Productivity...............................................................................................12Research Innovation...................................................................................................................12

SPOTLIGHT | A Noble Purpose and Rewarding Career.................................................................13Our Raison d’être.......................................................................................................................13Making A Difference...................................................................................................................13Understanding Our Capabilities.................................................................................................13

Objective 2 Internationally Recognised Best Practice Educational Experience...........................14Education Strategy & Approach.................................................................................................15Maintain Existing Programme Excellence..................................................................................15Programme Enhancement.........................................................................................................15Clinical Training Network Development.....................................................................................16

SPOTLIGHT | Doing The Right Things and Doing Things Right......................................................17Scientific Foundation of Medicine..............................................................................................17Entry & Exit Options...................................................................................................................18

Objective 3 Consolidate and strengthen (Core) Academic Disciplines........................................19Fundamental Strengths..............................................................................................................19Strategic Recruitment................................................................................................................19Research & Teaching Linkages...................................................................................................19

SPOTLIGHT | Developing Global Citizens.....................................................................................21Global Need...............................................................................................................................21Proud International Tradition.....................................................................................................21

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Objective 4 Interdisciplinary Education & Research – National & Global Need..........................22Diseases of National & Global Importance.................................................................................22Research Evaluation Exercise.....................................................................................................22Inter-professional v Inter-disciplinary.........................................................................................22Grand Challenges & Opportunities.............................................................................................22

Spotlight | School’s International Priorities.................................................................................23International Leaders.................................................................................................................23Global Engagement....................................................................................................................23

Objective 5 Attract & Retain High Calibre Staff and Students....................................................24Staff Profile................................................................................................................................24CAO Student Preferences...........................................................................................................24Student Attrition........................................................................................................................24

Spotlight | Engaging and Being Engaged.....................................................................................26Our Community..........................................................................................................................26Connecting with Our Alumni......................................................................................................26

Objective 6 Local, National and International Engagement.......................................................27National & International Leadership..........................................................................................27Alumni Development..................................................................................................................27International Student Recruitment.............................................................................................27

Objective 7 Develop and Strengthen UCD Community..............................................................29

Objective 8 Establish and Maintain World Class Facilities..........................................................30

Objective 9 Effective Governance, Management and Budget Oversight....................................31Management & Governance......................................................................................................31Research Institute Relationship..................................................................................................31Capacity Planning......................................................................................................................31

Objective 10 Overcome Financial, HR & External Constraints......................................................32Financial Performance...............................................................................................................32Staff Planning.............................................................................................................................32Clinical Capacity Constraints......................................................................................................32Health Sector Attitude To Academia..........................................................................................32

Additional Documentation...........................................................................................................33

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS..................................................................................................34

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STRATEGIC CONTEXT

Our Vision, Mission and Values

Our VisionTo be internationally recognised as a dynamic, research-intensive Medical School fully integrated within Ireland’s global University and within Ireland’s leading academic medical centre.

Our MissionTo improve healthcare in Ireland and around the world by educating and training health professionals and biomedical scientists who together form a community that is driven by a commitment to service, enquiry, and continuous health improvement.

Our ValuesReflecting the University’s values, the School prioritises excellence, integrity, collegiality, engagement and diversity. In addition, the School commits itself to public service, clinical leadership and collaboration with its partners in healthcare.

SWOT Analysis

A detailed School SWOT analysis was completed in April 2014 as part of the University strategic plan consultation. The School’s objectives and priorities are informed by this analysis and by the PESTEL assessment below.

Accreditation and Quality Reviews

Our priorities are also informed by internal quality reviews (UCD Quality Review of School 2009, UCD Quality Review of PMC, 2014) and by the regular reviews by external accreditation bodies such as the Irish Medical Council (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015), the Malaysian Medical Council (2014), and the Irish Institute of Radiography & Radiation Therapy (IIRRT).

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PESTEL AnalysisPolitical - GlobalHealth is a global concern given the exponential growth in healthcare expenditure, an ageing population that will increasingly live longer with chronic diseases, the increased incidence of conditions due to a sedentary, first world lifestyle and increases in communicable diseases arising from globalisation. Despite considerable political discourse, the health debate in Ireland, as it is around the world, is invariably simplistic in its analysis and is lacking in input from experienced healthcare leaders. Medical Schools and medical practitioners will increasingly be required to provide not only clinical but also political leadership in healthcare.

In recent years, in response to the question of efficiency of healthcare spend, there have been calls for increased focus on inter-professional education to ensure that healthcare professionals are trained to work in teams. While this makes intuitive sense, there is relatively little quantitative evidence that such approaches improve healthcare outcomes. Indeed there is a counter-argument that effective healthcare team work comes from having clearly defined professional roles who work together as an effective team. Perhaps more evident in Medicine has been a trend towards increased clinical sub-specialisation and a growing sophistication of treatment options in an era of personalised medicine. Healthcare professionals will thus increasingly take on specialist intra-professional roles and will also be expected to operate within multi-disciplinary teams.

Political - LocalSpecialist medical training in Ireland has traditionally been the domain of the postgraduate training bodies (ICGP, RCPI, RCSI) who are responsible for both access to and the training/accreditation standards of particular clinical specialties. Many of our affiliated clinicians also hold positions of responsibility within these bodies. However, society, funders and regulators increasingly focus on the continuum of medical education from undergraduate through to specialist training. The School will increasingly seek to develop complementary specialist programmes that exploit our specialist knowledge and research, in association with the postgraduate training bodies.

EnvironmentalHealthcare delivery is increasingly focused on the concentration of advanced activity within a smaller number of designated centres of excellence. This fundamentally changes the environment within which the traditional apprenticeship model of medical education operates. Indeed this educational model may need to be amended to reflect a new multi-tiered clinical environment.

Declining numbers of medical professionals with an increased workload, the European Working Time Directive and a growing adversarial relationship between practitioners and healthcare managers makes for an uncomfortable environment within which medical education must function. In an environment with many competing demands, it is inevitable that the urgent (clinical service) is increasingly prioritised over the important (resource development). The School must protect academic clinical resource and provide a constructive supportive environment that is attractive to the, at times, besieged clinician.

Internationally, healthcare systems are becoming increasingly community oriented and in Ireland, this is reflected in current national health policy. In addition, integrated care will result in closer alignment of primary and secondary care. Accordingly, our graduates will work in health systems where more activity is conducted in primary care and community settings, and where primary/secondary care are more closely integrated. Thus the School needs to further strengthen its capability to deliver education and research endeavour in primary, community and integrated care settings.

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Societal Most countries struggle to reconcile increasing healthcare expenditure with little apparent improvement in health quality, access or equity. Despite clear evidence for the value of proactive health promotion, the majority of expenditure remains focused on demand-led disease interventions with resources allocated according to the prevailing political ideology. Our graduates must continuously advocate for a holistic approach to healthcare, which recognises the value of a healthy lifestyle in preference to heroic medical intervention.

Society is increasingly demanding in its expectation of healthcare professionals. Increased awareness of professional regulation has seen a 10 – 15% p.a. growth in the number of complaints to the Irish Medical Council. At current levels, each year 1 in 45 doctors will be the subject of a formal enquiry arising from a patient complaint. Such environments risk the adoption of defensive medical practice. Our graduates will enter a more demanding and regulated healthcare environment than that experienced by their predecessors. They will need our support throughout their careers to continually act in their patients’ best interests.

TechnologicalWith advances in molecular medicine and an increased sophistication of therapeutic options, there is constant pressure on healthcare professionals to keep abreast of the current state-of-the-art. This knowledge growth will see increasing specialisation within medical and biomedical professions and demand a collaborative team-approach to healthcare provision. The days of the lone healthcare practitioner or an independent principal investigator are most probably over. Most doctors will become generalists and will refer their patients to teams of clinical specialists for specific interventions.

EconomicWith the introduction of student-funded graduate entry medicine (GEM) programmes, there is growing concern at the rise in cost of medical education relative to the remuneration potential of graduates. Some have predicted that the growth in GEM programmes worldwide will lead to an eventual oversupply of doctors with negative connotations for earnings. Those seeking to pursue a career in medicine or medical science will increasingly demand competitive, career-focused programmes that best prepare them for employment at internationally recognised healthcare centres.

LegalOur Medicine and Radiography programmes must meet strict external accreditation standards that ensure that our graduates are fit for clinical practice. Professional competence is a ‘must pass’ standard that cannot be met by compensation.

Despite increased emphasis on team-based approaches, our graduates will continue to be held individually responsible for healthcare outcomes and patient care. Continuous professional development and competency assurance will remain pre-requisites to a successful career in medicine, either as a clinical practitioner or as a medical scientist.

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SPOTLIGHT | HEALTH THROUGH(OUT) LIFE

Living Longer with DiseaseLife expectancy in Ireland and around the world is increasing such that 50% of the female children born today will have a good prospect of seeing their 100 th birthday and beyond1. Today there are 1.1 million people aged 60 and over on the island of Ireland. By 2041, this number will have more than doubled to 2.4 million, with senior citizens making up one third of the population2.

While people are living longer and many are living healthier lives into old age, as the population ages, the number of people living with disease and the impact of chronic disease will both increase. In addition to the conditions of decline associated with old age (cognitive impairment, frailty, etc.), the chronic diseases which impact upon society at all ages (cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, mental health disorders) will become an increasing feature of everyone’s life with a greater prevalence of co-morbidities.

Increased numbers of people living longer with disease will see a sustained demand for more effective and efficient healthcare delivery. The priorities will remain the prevention and treatment of disease, maintenance of health and well-being and the accommodation of independent living.

By focusing our efforts on chronic diseases of national importance, our research will continue to be highly relevant and impactful to the Irish healthcare sector and beyond.

Healthy ageing begins by ensuring healthy gestation, childhood and development. It continues with maintenance of health through effective public health promotion and adoption of healthy living strategies in adulthood. Chronic diseases must be tackled by prevention, early detection and effective treatment before they cause significant disability and ill-health.

Towards Personalised MedicineAs the cost of genotyping, next generation sequencing and other molecular characterisations falls and as therapeutic targets and interventions become increasingly sophisticated, the much heralded era of personalised or targeted medicine will become a reality. It is likely that medicines will be approved for use initially in narrow clinically defined populations and/or accompanied by a biomarker or theranostic (therapy and diagnosis) intervention. Genomics, proteomics and metabolomics will increasingly become the doctor’s point-of-care diagnostic companions (e.g. Herceptin) and intervention strategies will become increasingly guided by sophisticated diagnostic imaging.

Clinical research associated with target validation and proof of concept will require relatively small numbers of well phenotyped patients with detailed molecular profiling. Sophisticated data-mining and informatics-led approaches will increasingly be used in the study of disease aetiology and pathogenesis. Physician researchers will be required to be intellectually engaged in study design and evaluation, rather than being merely a passive recruiter of patient volunteers.

1 Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), 20142 Ireland North & South | Picture of Ageing Research Centre for Ageing Research & Development In Ireland, 2014.

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OBJECTIVE 1 INCREASE QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF RESEARCH & SCHOLARSHIPSchool Context

Despite the challenging research funding environment, the School has maintained a strong research profile over the past five years with an average of €12.5 million per annum in research income from a 260% increase in proposals to research funding agencies.

While academic staff numbers have declined, the number of research-active academics has been maintained with over half of the School’s staff classified by UCD Research as being ‘research active’. There are over 320 research staff with grants under management valued at approximately €80 million. Graduate Research student registrations are up by 75% over the past seven years and up by 30% since 2011, of which 62% are PhD students.

Research Proposals & Awards Source: InfoHub 2011 2012 2013 2014No. of Proposals 107 150 140 179Proposal Value* (€,M) €43.8 €46.8 €96.9 €156.7No. of Awards 67 57 74 93Value of Awards (€,M) €11.2 €9.2 €14.3 €16.3% Overhead 20.7% 15.9% 16.5% 20.0%

Research Staff Source: InfoHub 2011 2012 2013 2014Academic Staff FTE’s 110.8 96.1 95.6 102.2Research Active FTE’s 53.3 50.3 52.8 54.2% Research Active 48.1% 52.3% 55.2% 53.1%Total FTE’s 280.8 289.3 295.7 324.7

Research StudentsSource: InfoHub 2007 2011 2012 2013 2014PhD Students 93 111 136 149 176MD/MCh/MAO 50 61 64 69 71MSc 20 11 19 26 38Total 163 183 219 244 285

Sustaining this research activity in the face of reduced exchequer funding remains a key challenge. Our focus has been on building internationally competitive multi-investigator groups that can leverage non-exchequer / non-conventional research funding and maximally exploit our research strengths.

Nationally, research support resources are being increasingly directed towards competitive research groups, centres and networks that can leverage external peer-review funding. The School is keen to integrate associated research institutes and build better clinical research networks. It will seek to support disruptive innovation that will deliver improved healthcare outcomes.

School Strategic Objectives

1. Build and support high calibre Research Centres that pursue competitive translational and clinical research, and which have sufficient critical mass and output performance.

2. Establish the necessary Research Support Infrastructure and integrate existing School, Research Institute and University support units to provide a professional and responsive research environment.

3. Establish a strong International Research Profile through well-disseminated annual research reports, principal investigator profiles and high profile seminar series.

4. Develop new individual- and multi-investigator-led Research Programmes to improve health outcomes by exploiting our biomedical science and clinical expertise.

5. Develop a cohort of Translational Research Scientists who will establish Irish leadership in biomedical, biopharmaceutical and bioengineering research and innovation

6. Conduct an objective external Research Evaluation Exercise for main research groups and benchmark

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School’s research profile against leading international comparators.

Specific Actions

Research Groups, Centres & Networks

1. Encourage investigators in cognate research areas to align within focused Research Centres.

2. Align School research Infrastructure Supports as necessary to these key research centres.

3. Create an accessible inventory that describes our Research Portfolio to attract research personnel and facilitate international research collaborations.

4. Support targeted Research Grant Applications that are competitive, and which sustain research groups by securing non-exchequer revenues.

5. Establish a comprehensive Investment Plan for each main group, which provide the basis for external funding and/or continued School support.

Research Supports

6. Integrate School research support structures with those that exist in associated Research Institutes and across the University to maximise PI research productivity and facilitate industry collaborations.

7. Build a coherent and responsive Research Support Interface between UCD Medicine Research and central UCD Research, Finance, Legal and HR functions to support researchers and their teams.

8. Prepare a single School Annual Research Report which supports University research publications, builds our international reputation and which facilitates increased research collaboration.

Measuring Research Productivity

9. For each research group, identify top subject-field publications by impact factor, and target publications to high impact factor journals.

10. For each academic staff member, establish individual academic profiles in key research profiling instruments (e.g. Google Scholar, Research Gate, etc) to assist in the efficient collation of research performance data and to assist in global dissemination and School international profile.

Research Innovation

11. Encourage new output and entrepreneurship within existing research teams through strategic alignment and by supporting Disruptive Innovation to deliver a meaningful and measurable research impact.

12. Develop coherent and professional Clinical Research Units, Clinical Trials Networks and Primary Care Networks that align with and leverage the expertise and resources of the UCD Clinical Research Centre.

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SPOTLIGHT | A NOBLE PURPOSE AND REWARDING CAREER

Our Raison d’êtreDoctors, medicine and medical science exists for no other purpose than to provide the best possible healthcare to our patients and their families. It is patients, not government agencies, who commission healthcare services. It is they who will more rigorously judge our utility, not regulatory authorities or professional bodies. We are privileged to attend to them at their time of need and we are honoured to be given their trust. This role that society affords us brings many challenges and rewards. However, we must at all times remember our patients are the reason why our professions and our academic programmes exist.

Making A DifferenceGraduates of professional degree programmes are characterised by the importance, significance and challenge which their chosen career represents for them. In the case of healthcare professionals, this career choice is further underlined by a vocational imperative, often forged at a very early age. Our graduates select their degree programme so that they can pursue a specific professional career path but also so that they can satisfy an intrinsic desire – to care, to cure and to comfort.

Our education strategy is grounded in this fundamental dynamic which will sustain our graduates through difficult years of study and postgraduate training to emerge with the skills, attributes and confidence to make a difference.

The School takes immense pride in our students and staff achieving their full potential, following in the footsteps of the healthcare pioneers who proceeded them. We judge ourselves on the pursuit of excellence in teaching and research and on how we build on the School’s proud heritage.

Understanding Our CapabilitiesWith healthcare and medicine becoming increasingly sophisticated, complex and regulated, it is important that our students understand the limits of their capabilities and those of their colleagues. Both individuals and group must guard against the Dunning-Kruger3 effect and other cognitive biases whereby the relatively unskilled mistakenly assess their abilities beyond their capabilities, and the relatively skilled mistakenly assume that their competence is shared by less experienced colleagues.

For 160 years, the School has sought to produce technically proficient, competent professionals who lead and deliver healthcare in Ireland and around the world. The School will continue to make a difference by educating and training both health professionals and biomedical scientists to achieve and maintain the highest international standards. We will deliver this mission by:

Offering high quality educational programmes that support career-long learning Producing graduates who deliver fully on their potential and on their personal mission Retaining staff who are passionate about education and who feel supported in their ambition to

deliver enhanced teaching and learningWe encourage our students and staff to challenge constructively their behaviours and attitudes, and those of our colleagues to ensure that we remain true to our intrinsic values.

Our graduates will be individually and collectively impactful by delivering their full potential as doctors and radiographers, paramedics and scientists. Our staff will be individually and collectively impactful by inspiring, mentoring and motivating our students to achieve their full potential and will in the process enhance the School’s reputation for excellence in medical education and pedagogical research.

3 Dunning-Kruger Effect: “The mis-calibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the mis-calibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others”. 1999, Cornell University.

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OBJECTIVE 2 INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED BEST PRACTICE EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE

School Context

The School has a strong tradition of educational innovation as demonstrated by continuous programme development, multiple curriculum improvements and the adoption of new pedagogical methods and learning technologies. Our programme portfolio has grown by 25% over the past five years, with a concomitant increase in income to the University.

Our 44 programmes comprising over 460 modules are delivered to over 2,400 students (1,800 FTE’s) across more than 25 locations, under the direction of 125 academic and 365 adjunct staff. Our programmes continue to enjoy strong endorsement by our graduates, employers and external accreditation bodies.

Our immediate focus is to continue to deliver this large portfolio of specialist training to the highest academic and professional standards, maintaining academic coherence whilst supporting effective programme development that embraces educational best practice.

Our major educational priority is to maximally support academic staff who invest the majority of their time in this domain. We encourage the University to reconsider promotion criteria and/or establish a senior teaching career pathway to recognise the educational imperative which fuels our research ambition. The recognition of teaching achievement will significantly accelerate the following strategic educational objectives.

Adjusting the balance between small and large group instruction in the early years of our medicine programmes has been identified as a critical strategic objective and a major focus for the School in the coming years.

The early clinical stages (Clinical 1) is being redesigned to improve our students’ confidence and preparedness for clinical practice and to make optimal use of the full clinical training network beyond our two principal acute teaching hospitals. We will deliver a series of activities that will act as a call to action to staff and students to ‘make a difference’.

We will continue to collaborate with patient advocate groups to ensure that our students are attuned to the needs of the population they will serve.


1. To be nationally and internationally recognised for our strengths in module design and programme development that address the healthcare needs of society.

2. To empower staff to be passionate about education, and to support them in their ambitions to enhance teaching & learning.

3. To have demonstrated an ability to enhance and grow high quality educational products in response to changing societal needs.

4. To ensure that every student in each programme will be supported in reaching their individual potential.

5. To ensure that our clinical partners are fully integrated as part of our academic community.

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Specific Actions

Education Strategy & Approach

1. Continue to offer a comprehensive portfolio of high quality undergraduate and graduate taught programmes that are informed by the latest research, and which prepare our graduates to achieve excellence throughout their careers.

2. Foster a critical and scientific attitude to learning, and through student-centred teaching ensure that all aspects of our students’ education needs – clinical, practical and interpersonal skills – are addressed.

3. Undertake a series of focused education development projects to provide the evidence base for continuous programme development.

4. Maintain a network of clinical training sites with sufficient capacity to provide a high quality educational experience for essential clinical skills teaching and for experiential learning.

5. Establish strong and clear affiliation arrangements to ensure that there is appropriate oversight of both the physical facilities and of student rotations.

Maintain Existing Programme Excellence

6. Continue to deliver our undergraduate programmes to the highest educational standards.

7. Build and maintain a comprehensive portfolio of professionally relevant graduate taught programmes.

8. Identify opportunities to support career-long continuous professional development.

9. Proactively seek to engage research staff as appropriate in teaching programmes.

10. Increase the proportion of small group academic-led educational encounters and cohort-specific modules to support the increased student intake to our twinning programmes and ensure that our international students are appropriately prepared for return to their native healthcare systems.

11. Ensure that there is adequate oversight of external teaching staff contributions.

Programme Enhancement

12. Generate annual Key Performance Indicators for programme applications, preferences and registrations, financial income, and accreditation returns.

13. Deliver excellence in all aspects of Penang Medical College operations including corporate oversight, student recruitment and admission, and programme outcomes.

14. Build effective relationships and engagements across our affiliated hospital and primary care networks to support:

Restructuring of Clinical 1 Engagement of Primary Care in Medicine degree programmes Development of best practice KPI’s for clinical allocations International recruitment to radiography, BHLS and graduate taught & research programmes

15. Maintain evidence base to support existing external accreditation (Medical Council of Ireland, Malaysian Medical Council, Irish Institute for Radiography and Radiation Therapy).

16. Establish a clear educational role in CPD and Specialist Training. Develop a symbiotic relationship with postgraduate training bodies (ICGP, RCPI, RCSI) & hospital groups. Improve search and display functionality for educational offerings Proactively market key GT/CPD programmes for reputation-building and revenue generation

17. Further develop our innovative Patient Education initiative.

18. Further develop inter-professional education activities e.g. Emergency medical science skills (Basic Life Support) Patient engagement in educational development Integrated Primary and Community Care

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Clinical Training Network Development

19. Identify an appropriate academic leader for each key clinical training facility / teaching network.

20. Build effective relationships with key personnel at each site to ensure that local staff are aware of educational objectives, curriculum developments and have an opportunity to participate fully in School business.

21. Introduce periodic clinical site inspections and practice support visits that allow quality assurance of clinical training, the learning environment and facilitate ongoing dialogue between the site/practice and School.

22. Assess capital investment needs to maintain or develop the appropriate teaching environment.

23. Map typical student rotations so that all School staff and students have a better appreciation of the contribution of each training site to our programmes.

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SPOTLIGHT | DOING THE RIGHT THINGS AND DOING THINGS RIGHT

Scientific Foundation of MedicineMedical doctors have statutorily conferred powers and are afforded a professional protection by Government acting on behalf of society. These powers are given because society believes that appropriately educated doctors will make decisions about patient treatment and the deployment of healthcare resource on the basis of rational evidence derived by the scientific process. Historically, this arose because prior to such regulation “quacks” were defrauding people and causing them actual harm solely in the pursuit of their own enrichment.

As a result of this legally protected position, doctors have an implicit contract with society. Society rightly expects that this privileged position brings with it particular responsibilities greater than those required of other citizens. Society requires certain services; these services require particular skills and knowledge. Hence Society has set up structures that ensure that a certain cohort of individuals have these skills and knowledge and will apply them for the benefit of Society in particular ways (including by acting ethically).

The document “Medical professionalism in the new era: A physician’s charter” 4 lists the responsibilities of doctors the result from their special position. This identifies three fundamental principles and ten specific responsibilities or duties of doctors resulting from the fundamental principles of the Profession/Society ‘contract’ i.e. the primacy of patient welfare in the doctor-patient relationship, the ultimate autonomy of the patient and the principles of societal justice.

Fundamental Principles Professional Responsibilities

Primacy of Patient Welfare 1. Professional Competence

Patient Autonomy 2. Honesty with Patients

Social Justice 3. Patient Confidentiality

4. Maintaining Appropriate Relations with Patient

5. Improving Quality of Care

6. Improving Access to Care

7. Just Distribution of Finite Resources

8. Scientific Knowledge

9. Managing Conflicts of Interest

10. Commitment to Profession

Of the ten identified responsibilities of the doctor, nine can easily be claimed by any group of individuals purporting to deliver healthcare, even those whose treatment is based on false premises e.g. homeopaths respect patient confidentiality and are committed to maintaining appropriate relations with patients. However, the responsibility to base treatment on scientific knowledge sets modern medicine apart and is the keystone of the “deal” with society. Patient treatment must be based on scientifically rational, empirically proven concepts that are firmly based in the Natural Sciences. When Society knows that all doctors behave in this way it can be confident that individual doctors are not practicing “quackery”. This commitment

4 Medical Professionalism Project, Annals of Internal Medicine (2002) Vol. 136 No. 3 page 243-246

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to scientific knowledge cannot be claimed by homeopaths, faith healers, and many other ‘alternative’ medicine approaches.

This must not be taken to mean that the other 10 responsibilities are not important. These are self-evidently crucial to the “deal”; however in isolation from scientific knowledge they become meaningless. What patient would knowingly agree to be harmed and defrauded as long as it is done confidentially, in the absence of physical assault and with the opportunity for all members of society to have equal opportunity to be similarly harmed and defrauded?

If we wish doctors to behave in a scientifically informed manner throughout their professional career they must understand the scientific process. It is extremely important to distinguish between the scientific process and knowledge derived though the scientific process.

Knowledge previously derived through the scientific process is essential for the vocational practice of medicine e.g. to interpret a CT scan a doctor must know the fundamentals of Anatomy. To use drugs rationally and understand efficacy, side effects, toxicity and dosing in the presence of disease, doctors must know about receptors, second messengers, metabolism, hepatic function, renal function etc. However such knowledge can be delivered as “received wisdom” such that it becomes a matter of “faith”. Such faith without rational scientific understanding will not last throughout a career and leaves the doctor without a basis to distinguish “quackery” from other forms of practice.

Doctors must learn the scientific process as well as the necessary scientific knowledge. It is important to realize that learning and understanding the scientific process as relevant to medicine, does not mean that a doctor has to understand in detail the scientific process underlying each piece of vocationally essential knowledge they require. This is a crucially important point for medical education. One may understand the scientific process in general by studying one area of knowledge scientifically. This area may be different for different students.

Entry & Exit OptionsFollowing the modularisation of existing programmes and the development of new undergraduate and graduate degree programmes, much attention within the School has been paid to the mechanics and logistics of programme admission, progression and completion.

We have developed, defended and maintained 4-, 5- and 6-year Medicine programmes, have delivered an innovative inter-disciplinary science degree (BSc. in Biomedical, Health & Life Sciences) and have introduced numerous new programmes at certificate, diploma and masters level in areas which exploit our academic strengths and which support continuous professional education of the healthcare practitioner.

Less attention has been given to the changing patterns of education consumption, either options to exit the degree before completion (e.g. exiting Medicine with B.Med.Sci. degree, transferring from BHLS to Graduate Entry Medicine), intercalated degree options (e.g. MB BCh BAO / MSc) or continuous professional development.

Society will continually challenge us on how modern education should be delivered and consumed. We will leverage the full power of the UCD Horizons curriculum by articulating multiple, distinct pathways through our degree programmes that best equip our graduates for their chosen careers.

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OBJECTIVE 3 CONSOLIDATE AND STRENGTHEN (CORE) ACADEMIC DISCIPLINES

School Context

Fundamental Strengths

Our medicine programmes offer integrated systems-based curricula which combine fundamental scientific knowledge with essential clinical and technical skills. Our physiology and BHLS degree programmes also exploit this scientific knowledge base and provide a platform for research and education linkages. Our Diagnostic Imaging group is the national training centre for Radiography and boasts a strong international reputation which has placed them at the centre of several European research collaborations.

Strategic Recruitment

Over recent years, strategic research-led recruitment has seen an increase in multi-disciplinary expertise (genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and systems pharmacology) at the expense of fundamental core disciplines (anatomy, pathology, physiology, microbiology and clinical pharmacology). Key academic expertise is further fragmented with several core disciplines of importance to our medicine programmes residing in the UCD School of Biomolecular & Biomedical Science (biochemistry, genetics, pharmacology, and neuroscience), the UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Systems (health systems) and the UCD School of Public Health, Physiotherapy & Population Sciences (biostatistics, epidemiology).

Through School-led strategic recruitment and by building strong and respectful collaborations with other Schools, research institutes and centres, the School will seek to strengthen the core disciplines which are fundamental to our programmes and support impactful interdisciplinary academic activity.

The School welcomes the University’s focus on strengthening core academic subject areas, which we believe can be achieved in a balanced way that will support high impact multidisciplinary research collaborations. We will contribute constructively to the University discussion in this domain.

Research & Teaching Linkages

We expect our academic staff to contribute strongly to both teaching and research domains and, arising from their professional responsibilities, to be healthcare leaders. However, we believe that it is important to recognise equally the core disciplinary domain in which an individual excels.

To promote integration and collaboration, the School will seek to identify areas of expertise where shared appointments will be pursued with other Schools and Colleges and proactively seek to resource such posts.


1. Strengthen fundamental subject areas through Prioritised Recruitment ensuring that all new staff align to a core teaching subject.

2. Maintain mutually supportive and Collaborative Relationships with partner Schools across UCD.

3. Establish collaborative appointments in cross cutting areas of expertise with other Schools.

4. Build Multidisciplinary Research Collaborations with other Schools across the University and with international collaborators.

5. Contribute constructively to the University Discussion on consolidation of academic disciplines and support the outcome of those deliberations.

Specific Actions

1. Re-state School’s multi-annual Staff Plan on an annual basis following consultation with Section Leaders and Head of School on current teaching and research priorities.

2. Ensure that all academic staff are assigned to an agreed Subject Area and encourage good discourse between staff within subjects and between cognate subject areas.

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Specific Actions

3. Establish collaborative appointments in cross-cutting areas of expertise with other Schools.

4. Seek to attract and retain High Calibre Staff within core subject areas or within strategically important inter-disciplinary areas.

5. Build and maintain effective and mutually rewarding Inter-disciplinary Collaborations with other UCD Schools, research institutes and centres and with national and international partners.

6. Continuously question the Resourcing and Performance of Subject Areas within the School or of relevance to the School’s degree programmes to ensure that these remain internationally competitive.

7. Promote Academic Staff Engagement in the development and support of academic subject areas.

8. Continuously promote the importance of Strong Academic Disciplines within the University and benchmark key School subject areas with international comparators.

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SPOTLIGHT | DEVELOPING GLOBAL CITIZENS

Global Need As former Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan observed in 2000, "the greatest challenge we face today is to ensure that globalization becomes a positive force for all the world's people, instead of leaving billions of them behind in squalor.”

Despite significant trans-national economic activity, fundamental health inequalities remain around the globe. Large numbers continue to live in extreme poverty with little access to basic healthcare or sanitation. High childhood mortality in developing countries has prompted large family sizes, placing further burdens on those countries’ health and education sectors through rapid population growth. As countries develop economically, ‘diseases of affluence’ also become increasingly relevant. With increased transportation and greater migration of peoples, communicable diseases have become an increasing health concern to the developed world.

Nevertheless, focused and strategic interventions are making a difference around the world. The number of children dying before the age of five has halved in 20 years. Over the same time period, deaths from malaria have fallen by 75% within eight sub-Saharan African countries. With 83% of deaths among children around the world due to preventable disease, further progress is not only possible, it is an imperative.

For many years, many of our students and graduates have undertaken volunteer work in developing countries on an individual basis or with local organisations. While such opportunities provide valuable experience to our students and staff, it is important that our assistance is done in partnership with local health agencies to ensure that sustainable and impactful change occurs.

Proud International TraditionThe School is proud of its long tradition of international participation. We have welcomed overseas students to our programmes from the earliest days and during the course of their studies, many of our students will travel to our international partners. We currently boast over 50 different nationalities among our student and staff cohort. Our alumni live and practise across the world and many of our academic and clinical staff have worked in international healthcare organisations bringing back experience, knowledge and a global perspective.

The cultural diversity of our student body greatly enriches our School and creates the crucible within which our global citizens are formed. They provide a compelling reminder of our role as engaged global citizens. We have a particular duty to our international students to assist those who wish to return home to practise within their native healthcare systems.

As the School has done since its inception, we must look to international trends in healthcare and benchmark ourselves with best practice around the world rather than be content with national leadership. This global perspective informs both education and research and demands that we remain engaged with international stakeholder groups.

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OBJECTIVE 4 INTERDISCIPLINARY EDUCATION & RESEARCH – NATIONAL & GLOBAL NEED

School Context

Diseases of National & Global ImportanceAs a professionally-focused, internationally-orientated School, it is imperative that our education and research addresses diseases of national significance and/or global importance. The School will support investigator-led studies into diseases of relevance to Irish patients by building patient registries and bioresources.

By engaging biomedical and clinician scientists, the School will support research, which aims to translate fundamental understanding of disease aetiology, pathogenesis and treatment into actionable clinical investigations and advance clinical observations into routine practice.

Improvements in healthcare combined with an ageing population will likely see more people live longer with chronic diseases. Increased globalisation will see greater emphasis on communicable diseases and on global health. The emergence of personalised medicine and increased patient stratification using diagnostic, prognostic or predictive biomarkers will place a premium on multidisciplinary approaches to both education and research.

Research Evaluation ExerciseOur research strategy has initially prioritised the creation of multi-investigator groups. The next phase must be to critically evaluate research productivity and international competitiveness to drive higher impact outputs.

Inter-professional v Inter-disciplinary A number of the School’s programmes are suitable for inter-professional training. Nevertheless we recognise that opportunities are limited within large Medicine or Nursing programmes. Current research collaboration with Physiotherapy could support innovation in the area of Connected Health, which is a priority research domain of the College of Health Sciences. The School envisages focused inter-disciplinary research collaborations with other UCD Schools including, for example, biomedical engineering (anatomy / surgery / engineering), healthcare economics (medicine / business / public health) and advanced medical imaging (diagnostic imaging / computer science). The School envisages significant opportunity for impactful research collaboration involving fundamental researchers and clinicians in an era of personalised medicine (computational biology/informatics/genomics & proteomics/clinical phenotyping).

Grand Challenges & Opportunities

Looking forward it is essential that lead clinical specialists identify the unmet clinical needs and grand challenges. Similarly, those undertaking fundamental research and technology development need to highlight emerging scientific opportunities for innovation. However clinical care must remain driven by patient need rather than led by technological capability.


1. Proactively support high quality impactful research programmes that address diseases of national significance (e.g. cystic fibrosis) and/or global importance (e.g. diabetes).

2. Undertake a formal research evaluation exercise to benchmark current research activity against international competitors.

3. Develop focused modules which support inter-professional education.

4. Undertake a formal foresight planning exercise to identify the grand clinical challenges and emerging scientific opportunities.

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SPOTLIGHT | SCHOOL’S INTERNATIONAL PRIORITIES

School Context

International LeadersWhile many of our staff are engaged with academic partners across the globe, the School coordinates its formal international activities through the International Team within the School Office. Led by the Associate Dean for International Relations, this team works closely with the academic leaders of various internationally-focused programmes, the UCD Health Science Programme Office, UCD International, and UCD Alumni Relations.

Global EngagementThe School supports the University’s global engagement strategy and our international recruitment efforts will be boosted by the institution’s growing international profile. Coupled with improved connectivity with our alumni, this international profile will drive and demonstrate meaningful global engagement.


1. Engage with key strategic partners and networks to sustain and develop our international presence.

2. Lead a professional campaign of international student recruitment across a range of markets.

3. Promote and communication the School’s current international activities and global engagement to support future international recruitment to both the School and the University.

4. Develop strong mutually beneficial relations with our alumni and recent graduates to maintain knowledge of international healthcare trends and build elective opportunities for future students.

Specific Actions

Strategic Partnerships & International Recruitment

1. Proactively support sustainable student recruitment into Penang Medical College, engaging with parents and sponsors to demonstrate the value of our twinning programme.

2. Continue to work collaboratively with the Irish Universities Medical Consortium to recruit international students from South East Asia into our medicine degree programmes.

3. Maintain strong and diversified international student recruitment from North America in association with Atlantic Bridge and the UCD International Office.

4. Develop strong and productive collaborations with Shenzhen University in both education and research.

5. Maintain a diverse international intake from other Asian countries and from other regions including the Middle East, Africa and South America.

6. Play a lead role in the Health Sciences Group of the Universitas 21 network and other similar international multi-institutional collaborations.

7. Promote increased international recruitment into graduate taught and graduate research programmes.

Supporting Our International Ambitions

8. Develop our online international profile and region-specific marketing collateral.

9. Work with international partners to ensure that collaborative recruitment, projects a strong and accurate image of the School and the University.

10. Reflect the School’s long international tradition of the School by celebrating the achievements of our international graduates and alumni.

11. Expand the range of education, clinical training and research electives overseas with reciprocal inbound

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Specific Actions

elective opportunities as appropriate for our international partners (Universitas 21, HENRE, etc).

OBJECTIVE 5 ATTRACT & RETAIN HIGH CALIBRE STAFF AND STUDENTS

School Context

The School boasts large and internationally diversified student and staff cohorts with over 2,400 students, 360 staff, and 365 adjunct faculty comprising 49 nationalities (students) and 29 nationalities (staff). The School has a long tradition of recruiting international students from North America (predominantly Canada) and South East Asia (predominantly Malaysia).

Staff ProfileAcademic staff have worked in UCD for on average 8 years. The average age of School staff is 41 years, reflecting the significant loss of experienced staff over recent years. Less than 6% of academic staff will reach retirement age over the next five years, however, 42% of these are employed on temporary contracts. Many of these ‘temporary staff’ are in fact recent recruits to continuing posts as a result of the necessary application of the Employment Control Framework which has prevented appointment on an indefinite basis.

There is good gender balance among academic staff (45% female ; 55% male). However, as with the University profile, males occupy a larger proportion of senior academic staff positions relative to their female colleagues. Only 20% of professorial positions are held by women while they hold 45% of senior lecturer posts. There is a significantly higher proportion of females among research (62%) and academic support roles (78%).

CAO Student PreferencesThe number of CAO applications to all Irish medicine programmes has increased by 70% over the past ten years, with a 25% increase in applications to Graduate Entry Medicine programmes since their introduction in 2008. UCD Medicine has maintained its market share leadership with the largest share (20%) of total Medicine preferences. With 27% of first preferences, our intake to direct and graduate entry programmes provide near optimal programme offerings. As a result, our GEM programme captures 40% and our undergraduate programme receives 26% share of first preferences.

Student AttritionWith the exception of our BHLS degree which loses some students to Graduate Entry Medicine programmes prior to the completion of a four year degree, our programmes have very low levels of attrition. We are, however, not complacent and continually assess our selection criteria, recognising that all our programmes are significantly oversubscribed.


1. Maintain a compelling and competitive offering to North American and other International Students for career-relevant medical education.

2. Be recognised as the medical school of choice for Irish/EU students with the largest possible share of first and total preferences in each of our programmes.

3. Maintain a Diversified Student Recruitment profile, minimising exposure to systemic political and economic risks.

4. Be recognised as the Medical School of Choice for faculty and staff, so that all recruitment is competitively sought.

5. Empower students to take responsibility for their education and career development.

6. Empower staff to take responsibility for academic programme performance, development, and student support.

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7. Provide Irish students with international elective opportunities to prepare them as global leaders in healthcare.

8. Support the re-integration of our international medicine students into their native healthcare systems by making them competitive for top internship and/or residency-matching programmes.

9. Expand international recruitment focus beyond undergraduate medicine to include graduate taught and graduate research opportunities.

10. Be differentiated as a School in which our Students and Staff strive continuously to Make a Difference.

Specific Actions

1. Lead a series of Marketing and Student Recruitment activities that support both the School’s and University’s international ambition to attract high calibre international students.

2. Maintain existing international student numbers and continue to Diversify Intake as appropriate to reduce reliance on single economic areas or funding sources.

3. Provide Irish students with International Elective opportunities to best prepare them as global leaders in healthcare.

4. Support our International Students Re-integrate into their native healthcare systems by making them competitive for residency-matching programmes.

5. Expand International Intake into other undergraduate programmes (BHLS, Physiology, Radiography, EMS) and into both graduate taught and graduate research programmes.

6. Provide English language support for international applicants with an IELTS below 7.5 on entry.

7. Advocate for a University pathway through which staff who are predominantly engaged in teaching can achieve promotion on the basis of excellence in teaching.

8. Identify opportunities to engage Students and Staff in Leadership Roles so that they deliver their full potential.

9. Identify an academic lead to develop and implement an International Exam Preparedness Programme that ensures the annual pass rate to routinely higher than 90% for all steps in major international qualifying exams (e.g. USMLE, MCCQE, etc)

10. Collect data on, and evaluation performance of our students in Canadian Qualifying Exam (MCCQE).

11. Assess, as relevant, our student performances in Chinese Medical Qualifying/Licensing Examinations.

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SPOTLIGHT | ENGAGING AND BEING ENGAGED

Our CommunityScale is perhaps the School’s biggest strength ; However it is also our ‘Achilles Heel’.

Our large class sizes deliver an impactful volume of graduates ensuring that our programmes are of national significance. However, unless we work proactively on student engagement, individuals can feel anonymous and isolated. Our large academic and clinical faculty provides a range of specialist expertise that is unrivalled across the country. However, the size of the School means that we need to work to ensure that there is effective staff engagement. The volume of research programmes, modules, and graduate students demands a distributed but coordinated model of oversight. As we increasingly seek to engage patients and patient advocate groups in our education and in our research programmes, these also form another sizeable and dispersed cohort.

Connecting with Our AlumniReflecting the long standing tradition among Irish graduates to continue their professional training abroad, our 8,000 alumni live in 60 countries across the globe. It is their career success which defines our global reputation. Many have risen to senior positions within academic and clinical centres of excellence. They represent a pool of experienced healthcare professionals that can offer insightful strategic advice to the School and provide a connection for current students who wish to follow in their footsteps.

Creating a sense of community and maintaining meaningful engagement with these stakeholder groups will remain formidable challenges for the School. However, we have the potential to harness a powerful dynamic if we can identify sustainable ways of building and maintaining mutually rewarding connections.

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OBJECTIVE 6 LOCAL, NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENT

School Context

Our students, staff and alumni have a long tradition of local, national and international engagement. By necessity of clinical training, our School is engaged with over 25 acute, general or specialist hospitals in the Leinster region and over 150 primary care centres nationwide.

National & International Leadership

Our graduates forge national and international leadership roles in healthcare and provide an important network for current undergraduate students. Our researchers are engaged in numerous international collaborations, and we see increased collaboration as the key to sustaining research programmes and building our international profile.

As with many UCD academics, our staff are active citizens supporting postgraduate training bodies and leading national clinical transformation programmes. Our students are engaged in University life and with professional bodies at all stages in their chosen career pathway.

Alumni Development

The School’s alumni development strategy prioritises intellectual engagement with our graduates over philanthropic opportunities. Through their experience and positions of influence, they can be more impactful as mentors and role models for current students and new graduates.

International Student Recruitment

We expect that the UCD Global Centres will support further diversification of our international recruitment efforts and that our existing School-led international activities will complement the University’s global ambitions.


1. Develop an additional Medicine Twinning Programme in collaboration with a US healthcare institution.

2. Develop an additional Medicine Twinning Programme in Asia and/or in Europe.

3. Increase the number of Distance Learning-enabled graduate programmes in Medicine, Diagnostic Imaging and Emergency Medical Science.

4. Increase the number of programmes with international students.

5. Establish research and educational initiatives within the U21 Health Sciences network for which the School is currently the lead organisation.

6. Audit, present and publish SMMS international engagement initiatives.

7. Facilitate the development of a University programme on Global Health.

Specific Actions

1. Establish US and Asia twinning or joint programme search teams for a 12 month period, with the specific task of identifying new twinning opportunities for Medicine, Biomedical Science and Diagnostic Imaging.

2. Establish a dedicated budget for international travel, administrative support and/or external consultancy as appropriate.

3. Identify one research theme and one educational research/development theme that SMMS could lead and propose to the U21 Health Science Executive and the U21 Leadership team.

4. Identify an Academic Lead to collate and encourage the growth and dissemination of social, research or educational initiatives of positive impact within international communities.

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Specific Actions

5. Build a number of international electives in the developing world (with UCD VO, MSOR and Irish Aid).

Alumni Strategy

6. Establish appropriate and enduring Connectivity with our alumni at home and abroad through individual advocates and alumni groups (e.g. North American Medical Graduates Association).

7. Deliver a manageable number of highly professional, engaging Alumni-focused events which sustain career-long engagement with the School, support individual mentorship and which will assist, initially, access to international clinical electives and, in time, philanthropy.

8. Maintain effective operational relations with UCD Alumni Relations to support the School and University’s strategic international objectives.

9. Collect key information about our graduates, their career progression and their achievements.

10. Undertake specific campaigns and projects that support and demonstrate improved alumni engagement.

11. Leverage the experience, expertise and connections of our extended alumni network in support of the School’s strategic priorities and future development.

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OBJECTIVE 7 DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN UCD COMMUNITY

School Context

The School has defined a series of communities with which it engages including, but not limited to, our students, our staff, our alumni, patients and society, as well as our University and clinical colleagues.

With large class sizes, geographically distributed and culturally diverse, building a sense of community requires proactive engagement of individuals and groups in appropriate collaborative activities.

Maintaining a strong University connection with students and staff who are located off-campus remains an ongoing challenge and is a major focus of communications and organisational development.

The School has prioritised strong engagement with both patients and patient advocate groups to ensure that our teaching and research programmes remain fit for purpose and that our clinical research activities are strongly supported.


1. Establish meaningful, regular connections with our students, staff and alumni through appropriate communications channels.

2. Build and maintain strong mutually rewarding relationships with UCD Alumni to support the School and University’s strategic objectives.

3. Demonstrate the School’s impact in medicine and healthcare by showcasing Our Graduates’ Achievements.

4. Extend and strengthen the UCD Clinical Community within the Ireland East Hospital Group and primary care networks to build a meaningful sense of connection to affiliated clinical staff (who may not be UCD graduates).

Specific Actions

1. Establish suitable operational routines to capture relevant information on our graduates, their career progression and achievements.

2. Build and maintain a sense of enduring connection between our students and their alma mater.

3. Establish an appropriate two-way communication with our alumni through key groups (NA MGA, MGA) and individuals.

4. Deliver a management number of highly professional engaging alumni-focused events which support career-long engagement with the School.

5. Leverage this connection with our alumni to create early clinical elective and mentoring opportunities for our students.

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OBJECTIVE 8 ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN WORLD CLASS FACILITIES

School Context

The School enjoys an extensive range of modern, high quality teaching and research facilities within UCD Health Sciences, Systems Biology Ireland, Conway and Charles Institutes. It has carefully managed space utilisation within those areas under its direct control. However as student and faculty numbers have grown there is increasing pressure on both small group teaching and office space.

For the past eight years the School has maintained a detailed assessment of capital development priorities across both the University and our clinical affiliate sites. Our immediate priorities include:

Education Innovation Hub with satellite connections to key clinical training sites Graduate Entry Medicine Building Clinical Academic Hub at Mater Misericordiae University Hospital Clinical Academic Hub at St Vincent’s University Hospital Primary Care Teaching & Research Networks and Centres


See School’s Capital Development Priorities document.

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OBJECTIVE 9 EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE, MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET OVERSIGHT

School Context

Management and Governance

The School’s management structures support strategic oversight, operations management and programme/organisational development across a large geographical area and academic domain.

Our faculty are aligned within one of six academic sections, which incorporate a number of subject areas. Each Section has a Leader (and in the case of large sections, deputy Section Leader) who is responsible for staff management and budget management. Section Leaders report to the Head of School who is supported by a School Management Team and a School Executive Management Committee with representatives drawn from across the School.

Associate Deans have been established to lead academic activity in the domains of Programmes & Educational Innovation, Research & Innovation and International Relations. Academic leads have been established in each clinical site.

Research Institute RelationshipAs is the case across the University, the relationships between the School and research institutes and other cross-institutional organisations needs to be clarified as a matter of priority. As currently constituted, research institutes can operate independently of the School, which is responsible for underwriting unfunded activity. This creates an unhealthy dynamic, and misses an opportunity for Schools to become actively engaged stakeholders.

Capacity PlanningThe School has undertaken an extensive review of resource allocation with the preclinical medicine programme (as a priority area for maximum revenue growth and increased research productivity). This exercise needs to be extended into the clinical arena to inform our resourcing decisions with respect to clinical sites, and to address current and knock-on bottlenecks through targeted investment.


1. Further empower Section Leaders to take responsibility for programme operations, staff development and budget management.

2. Highlight key management structures to ensure new staff and staff elsewhere within the University or our affiliated hospitals engage appropriately and effectively with the School.

3. Build consensus among key University stakeholders so that the governance relationship between Research Institutes and Schools is clarified and supports effective operations.

4. Undertake a detail capacity planning exercise across clinical programme and affiliated clinical sites with a view to optimising clinical education experience and optimising teaching capacity.

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OBJECTIVE 10 OVERCOME FINANCIAL, HR & EXTERNAL CONSTRAINTS

School Context

Financial Performance

The School has consistently exceeded its financial targets over the past eight years, growing profitability by approximately €1 million per annum and diversifying revenues year-on-year through new programme development. In recent years, the School has had to make financial provision for unfunded research staff, previous University strategic investments and increased overhead charges. Recent year budget targets have been achieved by deferring essential recruitment and/or capital development. This situation cannot continue, as the quality of our teaching programmes, student satisfaction and research productivity are each being impacted. Continued growth of research activity in the absence of a sustainable funding model is resulting in increased subsidisation by teaching incomes, and is compromising opportunities for further teaching revenue growth.

The School continues to seek new revenue growth through higher value programmes that exploit existing expertise and teaching capacity where it exists. Clinical site constraints limit both medicine and radiography programme expansion. Consequently the School has prioritised twinning programme developments. Increased graduate taught programmes and industry-funded clinical research remain potential areas for growth provided they are appropriately resourced.

Staff Planning

The School maintains a rolling 5-year staff plan, which forms the basis for our annual budget submissions. While detailed business plans have been developed for each new programme, various University recruitment embargos and Employment Control Framework considerations have prevented the planned resource from being delivered. Many academic staff exceed the current academic workload model. Increased student numbers and timetabling constraints have forced a reduction in the use of small group teaching, or an increase in teaching group sizes.

Clinical Capacity ConstraintsThe capacity of our clinical training network is limited by the number of engaged clinical staff. The depletion of non-consultant hospital doctors within the hospital system and increased clinical service demands with declining resource has significantly impacted upon our teaching programmes. Clinical staff have little protected academic time to undertake research and, despite their goodwill, may not be in a position to continue to support teaching activity.

Health Sector Attitude To AcademiaNot surprisingly, clinical service and service development has been consistently prioritised over education, research and staff development. The Health Service Executive has no discernible research strategy and has only resourced modest health services research and/or clinical audit exercises. The organisation has substantially reduced the amount of funding it devotes to staff development and diverts the majority of this funding to the postgraduate training bodies.

The challenge for the School is to demonstrate how academic and clinical research can pay dividends to the health service in terms of improved outcomes, greater quality of care and reduced costs through more targeted interventions and reduced lengths of stay.

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1. Maintain strong, diversified teaching programme revenues to secure our position as a research-intensive Medical School.

2. Appropriately balance the operational needs of our existing academic activities with due regard to individual staff development, effective succession planning and organisational development.

3. Maintain a rewarding work environment for all staff which supports academic excellence, fosters innovation and retains high calibre personnel.

4. Ensure that the School’s programme of activities is appropriately matched with available resource and that there is a fair, equitable and transparent distribution of duties across all staff.

5. Strive to make the School a ‘Great Place to Work’ and to be recognised as a highly respected collaborative partner.

ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION

Reference Documentation

1. School SWOT Analysis & Critique of College of Health Science SWOT (April 2014)

2. School Research Strategy 2011 – 2014 (January 2011 ; Reviewed June 2013)

3. School Education Strategy (January 2015)

4. School Education Development Key Performance Indicators (August 2014)

5. School International Priorities (2014)

6. School Communications & Marketing Priorities (February 2012)

7. School Alumni Development Priorities and Objectives 2014 - 2016

8. School Capital Development Priorities (September 2013)

9. School Strategic Priorities 2012 – 2015 (March 2012)

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KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Section under development – To be discussed with Academic Sections

Research and Innovation

Key Performance Indicators & Metrics

Research Resources

1. Total value of research grants under management as a PI and as a co-applicant/collaborator

2. Number of research-active staff and % of staff who are research active as defined by UCD Research

3. Total number of funded research fellows and postdoctoral scientists

Research Funding

4. National : Proportion of, and total value of research funded by national agencies and %change Y-o-Y.

5. Regional : Proportion of, and total value of research funded by European agencies and %change Y-o-Y.

6. International : Proportion of, and total value of research funded by non-EU agencies and %change Y-o-Y.

Research Outputs - Publications

7. Total number of publications in peer-reviewed journals.

8. % of publications in journals with above average impact factors / top 10% of journals.

Research Outputs – Students & Trainees

9. Number of Graduate Research Students (PhD, MD, MSc) Registering & Completing.

10. Number of Graduate Taught Students (Grad Certificate, Grad Diploma, MSc) Registering

11. Number of Graduate Taught Students (Grad Certificate, Grad Diploma, MSc) Completing.

Research Outputs - Impact

12. Number of invention disclosures filed and number of patents registered.

13. Number of licence agreements issued.

14. Number of start-up companies created.

15. Number of national policy documents/guidelines that either cite research or are authored by School staff.

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Teaching and Learning


1. Staff : Student Ratio (Overall)

2. Staff : Student Ratio (excluding Research staff)

3. Incidence of small group teaching & Size of tutorial groups

4. Diffusion of technology to enhance learning

5. % of programmes accessible by distance learning

6. % of academic staff with formal teaching and learning qualifications

7. Total number of clinical teachers who have completed at least three hours of faculty development (research/education) per annum

8. Total number of site visits conducted by the School which involved meeting with adjunct staff about engagement in School-related education/research activities

An extensive Educational KPI document has been established and associated performance data is being captured.

Additional Notes for School Purposes Only

Our Direct Entry Medicine programme attracted 23% (highest) of CAO medicine applications in 2013.

GEM applications increased by 9% and first preferences increased by 39%.

2013 Income from our 39 graduate taught programmes increased by 29% compared with 2012.

Reference: Education Development Key Performance Indicators 2014

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Strengthening Academic Disciplines


1. International benchmarks including Subject Ranking indices.

2. Number of peer reviewed publications which include collaboration with other UCD Schools.

3. Number of funding proposals which include collaborations with other UCD Schools.

Staff and Student Metrics


1. CAO First, Second, Third and Total Preferences and %Share of 1st Preferences.

2. Average/Median GAMSAT and MCAT intake scores.

3. Student progression and student retention.

4. Performance in external examinations including licensing examinations.

5. Student Satisfaction.

6. Staff Retention.

7. Staff Satisfaction.

8. No. of Staff with higher degrees (PhD, Teaching Qualifications, etc).

International Relations


1. Number of twinning / joint programmes led by SMMS.

2. Number of programmes with international students.

3. Number of international students taking campus-based programmes.

4. International fee revenues.

5. Product of International Fee x International Student Number per programme.

6. International student satisfaction with academic experience and student support.

7. Number of papers and grant funding arising from U21 collaboration.

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