Strategic Plan

2013-19

2 Strategic Plan 2013-19

Following extensive consultation within theUniversity and with our partners, our newStrategic Plan sets out the mission and goalsof the University over the next six years.

The University has achieved a great deal overthe last five years and in particular ourresearch strength - capped by the award byHer Majesty The Queen of a RegiusProfessorship in Political Science in 2013 - is something we all take a great deal of pridein. However, the external environment haschanged considerably, with the significantincrease in student fees, the deregulation ofundergraduate recruitment and greatercompetition for our fair share of talentedstudents. Our new Strategic Plan thereforefocuses on a very clear statement of ourmission to contribute to society throughexcellence in education and excellence inresearch.

All that we do will be examined through theprism of our excellence agenda and parity ofesteem in the twin purpose of our University. Inour education we aim to offer our students atransformational international educationalexperience. This encompasses both theacademic and the extra-curricular, whichprovides them with the opportunity to fulfil their

potential as individuals by developingthemselves within our living and learningcommunity as independent learners equippedto take responsibility for their personal andprofessional development throughout theirlives.

In our research we aim to make major scholarlycontributions in the disciplinary andinterdisciplinary fields in which our staff areengaged in research, and to develop theimplications of these contributions forimproving people’s lives in the UK and abroad.

Our ambition is that by 2019 we will beacknowledged nationally and internationally asa leading research-intensive university. As aresult of achieving this ambition by 2019 wewill be firmly established in the top 25 of UKuniversities, and all of the subjects offered bythe University will be ranked within the top 20per cent of their discipline within the UK.

We are a university that has grown significantlyover the last decade and now operating acrossthree campuses at Colchester, Southend-on-Sea and Loughton - and with a growing onlinepresence through University of Essex Online. Ifwe are to fulfil our mission of excellence, thisexpansion will need to continue. Our aim is to

Foreword

Our mission [is] to contribute to society throughexcellence in education and excellence in research.

Foreword 3

ensure that the University develops the criticalmass needed to create a sustainable institutionthat is able to invest in the delivery and supportof excellent education and research, and tostrengthen its ability to respond effectively topotential future changes to the externalenvironment in which it operates. By 2019 theUniversity therefore aspires to increase itsstudent numbers by 50 per cent, responding ina timely way to new opportunities whilstmaintaining our commitment to excellence.

In his 1963 Reith Lectures, our founding Vice-Chancellor, Sir Albert Sloman posited that 50years after the founding of the University, fewmight know of the hopes and ideals whichthose associated with the University’sfoundation cherished. As we approach our50th Anniversary in 2014, not only do wecherish these ideals, they also provide us aninspirational road map for navigating our nexthalf century.

Professor Anthony ForsterVice-Chancellor

Lord Currie of MaryleboneChair of Council

Lord Currie of MaryleboneProfessor Anthony Forster

4 Strategic Plan 2013-19

Purpose, values and vision

The purpose of the University of Essex is tocontribute to society through excellence inresearch and excellence in education. Inpursuing this mission the University’sactivities, behaviours and decision-making areunderpinned by the following core values, towhich all members of the academiccommunity that is the University subscribe:

n Excellence: achieving excellence in botheducation and research, and ensuring thatall of the University activities support thesetwo, equal priorities.

n Academic freedom: freedom within the lawto question and test received wisdom, andfor all members of the University to putforward new ideas including controversialor unpopular opinions, without placingthemselves in jeopardy of losing their jobsor privilege.

n Integrity: honesty and openness in all ouractivities, and behaving ethically in allsituations.

n Community: maintaining and strengtheninga community of students, staff and alumniwhere the pursuit and dissemination ofknowledge is valued for its own sake; thatprovides all members of the University withthe opportunity to fulfil their potential; andwhich develops and disseminates newknowledge and understanding that is ofwider cultural, economic and social valuenationally and internationally.

n Inclusivity: sustaining an inclusive anddiverse community that is open to all whohave the potential to benefit frommembership of it, which ensures equality ofopportunity for all its members and thattreats all its members with equal respectand dignity at all times.

n Innovation: harnessing the creativity of allstaff, students and alumni to deliverexcellence in education and research inways that address the new challenges andneeds of a rapidly changing world.

n Global outlook: engaging, collaborating andco-operating internationally, both

Strategic Plan

Alongside our commitment to producing outstandingresearch, Essex must continue to be a place of intellectualrigour, a teaching institution of the highest quality… [and]…it must stand for excellence. And this means change. Thetraditional ends will have to be sought by new means.Sir Albert Sloman, founding Vice-Chancellor of the University of Essex, A University in the Making (1963)

Purpose, values and vision 5

institutionally and as individuals, to ensurethat we draw on a rich diversity ofperspectives to inform our pursuit ofacademic excellence and thereby enrich ourown academic community and global society.

n Partnership: working regionally, nationallyand internationally with individuals, groupsand institutions within and outside theUniversity to develop partnerships, basedon trust and respect, which are of mutualbenefit to both the University and itspartners.

n Accountability: ensuring that responsibilityfor decision-making is located at the lowestappropriate organisational level within theUniversity, and ensuring transparency in,and accountability for, all decision-making.

Our ambition is that by 2019 we will beacknowledged nationally and internationallyas a leading research-intensive university. Thisstanding will be based on a reputation foracademic excellence that recognises thetransformational educational experience theUniversity provides for its students through itsdistinctive living and learning community, andthe excellence, scope and impact of theresearch carried out by the University.Achievement of excellence in education andexcellence in research will be the University’stwo equal priorities. We will achieve this

ambition by building on our existing strengthsin the social sciences, humanities andsciences and by developing cross-disciplinaryresearch between the sciences and the socialsciences and humanities. We will ensure thatall activities are focused on delivering thisacademic excellence, that we maintain thefinancial sustainability required to support this,and that staff and students of the Universityare supported to deliver this excellence. As aresult of achieving this ambition by 2019 wewill be firmly established in the top 25 of UKuniversities, and all of the subjects offered bythe University will be ranked within the top 20per cent of their discipline within the UK.

The University recognises innovation and supportiveteaching through Excellence in Teaching Awards

The Gateway Building at our Southend Campus

6 Strategic Plan 2013-19

Institutional size and shape

Over the last decade the University has grownin size through a range of innovativedevelopments, and an increase in theUniversity’s academic partnerships within theUK. If we are to fulfil our mission ofexcellence this expansion will need tocontinue, to ensure that the Universitydevelops the critical mass needed to create asustainable institution that is able to invest inthe delivery and support of excellenteducation and research, and to strengthen itsability to respond effectively to potentialfuture changes to the external environment inwhich it operates.

Consequently in the period to 2019 theUniversity aspires to increase its studentnumbers by 50 per cent, responding in atimely way to new opportunities, in order toachieve significant growth in student numberswhile recognising that the precise rate ofgrowth it will be able to achieve will bedependent on the way in which the rapidlychanging higher education market developsover the next six years. This growth in the sizeof the University will be based on theUniversity’s over-riding commitment toacademic excellence: new initiatives mustsupport the excellence agenda, and as studentnumbers rise there will be an associatedincrease in staff numbers to ensure that thequality of the educational experience theUniversity offers is maintained. Additionallysuch growth must also support the on-goingfinancial sustainability of the institution.

Almost 2,900 students collected awards at Graduation2013

Essex was ranked ninth in the UK for the quality of ourresearch in the most recent national assessment

7Excellence in education

Excellence in education

Our aim is to offer our students atransformational educational experience,encompassing both the academic and theextra-curricular, which provides them with theopportunity to fulfil their potential as individualsby developing themselves within our living andlearning community as independent learnersequipped to take responsibility for theirpersonal and professional developmentthroughout their lives.

The basis of this transformative educationalexperience is the partnership of students andstaff that comes from their joint membership ofthe internationally diverse living and learningcommunity that is the University, and a sharedcommitment to the University’s aim ofachieving excellence in education. From theirentry into the University our students are

expected to take responsibility for their ownholistic development as learners and globally-engaged citizens. At the same time, Universitystaff are committed to achieving excellence inthe educational opportunities and support theyprovide students. On the basis of thispartnership the University providesintellectually-challenging and stimulatingprogrammes of study that are research-led innature, and which are based on creativeapproaches to learning and teaching thatreflect our commitment to innovation incurriculum design and delivery. Alongside thiswe provide our students with extensive anddiverse extra-curricular opportunities that allowthem to gain experience and develop theirknowledge, skills, confidence and abilities. As aresult, all graduates of the University will beequipped to succeed in further study and/orfuture employment, whether in the private,enterprise, public or not-for-profit sectors.

Excellence in education at Essex encompasses individual study, large lectures and small tutorial groups, as well as extra-curricular opportunities

A university, we believe, is a community where the studentis guided in the first stage of a life-long task of self-education,a community whose concern is not just with pursuit oflearning but with the fulfilment of lives.Sir Albert Sloman, founding Vice-Chancellor of the University of Essex, A University in the Making (1963)

8 Strategic Plan 2013-19

In order to achieve this aim, we will:

1. Recruit students with the merit andpotential to take full advantage of theeducational opportunities offered by theUniversity, irrespective of socio-economicbackground or ability to pay.

2. Provide intellectually stimulating andchallenging programmes of study that giveour students the opportunity to bothdevelop detailed and advanced knowledgeand understanding of their chosensubject(s), and to develop the skills andattributes that will allow them, as activecitizens, to make significant positivecontributions to the development of society.

3. Ensure that all our academic provision isunderpinned by a commitment toresearch-led education in all its forms,allowing all our students to develop thecritical thinking, intellectual independenceand thirst for knowledge that characterisean Essex graduate.

4. Work with our students from their arrival atthe University to develop their skills andabilities so that once they have graduatedthey will be able to enter into employment,entrepreneurial activity and/or future studywith the knowledge, confidence,characteristics and capabilities to enablethem to succeed.

5. Foster the development of globally-engaged and inter-culturally awaregraduates, through the provision ofinternationalised educational opportunitiesthat enhance the learning experience of allour students.

6. Enhance and promote the opportunitiesfor our students to participate in arts,culture, sport and volunteering, and theopportunities for undertaking placementsand study years abroad, working in closecollaboration with the University of EssexStudents’ Union to maximise both therange and value to students of suchopportunities.

7. Deliver to our taught and researchstudents a postgraduate studentexperience that through the intellectualchallenge presented by the academicprogrammes, and the opportunitiesprovided for skills and personaldevelopment, allows our students tomaximise their potential.

8. Ensure that the academic and extra-curricular aspects of the University’seducational provision combine with theexperience of being a member of ourUniversity community in order to provideour students with living and learningexperiences that enrich their personaldevelopment.

93 per cent of our students expressed overall satisfaction with their course in the 2013 National Student Survey

Excellence in education 9

9. Underpin the learning, teaching andassessment of all of the University’sprogrammes of study with relevantpedagogical research and practice, andensure that the development of theUniversity’s learning resources is driven bythe needs and nature of the educationalprovision.

10. Explore the potential for new and innovativemodes for the delivery of educationalprovision, in particular maximising thepotential of our campuses at Southend andLoughton through the development of new,distinctive and different types of provision,and expanding its provision of online andblended learning in order to make thebenefits of an Essex education more widelyavailable and accessible.

11. Support our students in fulfilling theirpotential while studying at the University by providing appropriate induction,academic guidance, pastoral support andemployability advice/support andopportunities that allow our students totake full advantage of the educationalopportunities provided by the University.

12. Develop our capacity to investigate,develop and deploy a range oftechnologies in the service of learning andteaching, both within the University andwith partners nationally and internationally,ensuring a greater degree of consistencyin provision, reaching out to communities of

learners beyond our campuses, creatingnew modes of educational co-operationand engagement, and enriching theeducational experience of our students.

13. Work with the University of Essex Students’Union and ensure that at all organisationallevels the University’s processes for thegovernance and management of educationincorporate and respond to the studentvoice.

14. Put in place appropriate policies andprocesses to recruit, support and retainstaff (academic and professional)committed to, and able to deliver,excellence in teaching and education, andensure that appropriate mechanisms arein place to recognise and reward staff forachieving excellence in relation toeducation.

15. Establish a clear set of expectations(relative to disciplinary norms) for all ourstaff whose contract includes therequirement to undertake teachingensuring that appropriate support isavailable to allow these staff to maximisetheir potential, and putting in place robustmechanisms to assess performance inrelation to these expectations.

16. Develop a portfolio of partnerships thatsupports the University in meeting itscommitment to academic excellence in itseducation.

An Essex education is underpinned by a commitment to research-led teaching

10 Strategic Plan 2013-19

Excellence in research

Our aim is to make major scholarlycontributions in the disciplinary andinterdisciplinary fields in which our staff areengaged in research, and to develop theimplications of these contributions forimproving people’s lives in the UK and abroad.

We have a long-standing record for researchexcellence that has repeatedly been confirmedin external peer assessments of researchquality. The University includes among itsmembers academic staff who areinternationally recognised for undertaking andpublishing research that transforms ourunderstanding of the world around us.

Research at the University not only addressesnational and international research agendas; itdefines them, and it will continue to do so. Weare committed to sustaining and building onour research excellence, and to increasing theUniversity’s research intensity and the benefitsto the wider world outside the academy thatresult from our research. We will also ensurethat the research undertaken within theUniversity adds value to the experience of ourstudents. Our research methodologies andinsights will inform our educational provision,and our graduates will understand how toundertake research and have had theopportunity to do this as part of their studies.

A primary function of a university must be to engage inresearch … It has always been the special quality of auniversity not only that its teaching is informed and vitalisedby the discovery of new knowledge but that it counts amongits members the most original and fertile minds in allbranches of learning.Sir Albert Sloman, founding Vice-Chancellor of the University of Essex, A University in the Making (1963)

Essex researchers have developed a mobile app thatturns an iPhone into a new type of hearing aid

Research facilities include our state-of-the-art HumanPerformance Unit

Excellence in research 11

In order to achieve this, we will:

1. Maximise research quality and intensity ineach of the University’s researchspecialisms, maintaining a diversified andbroad range of academic specialismswhile additionally investing selectively in alimited number of peaks of excellence.

2. Foster and promote cutting-edge researchat and across disciplinary boundaries.

3. Ensure that the full benefit of theUniversity’s research to the world outsidethe academy is realised, and thatacademic staff are expected to engagewith knowledge exchange activity and aresupported in this work.

4. Identify at an early stage those of ourresearch projects that have potential forsocietal and/or commercial impact, andensure that the researcher (or researchteam) engages, and is supported inengaging, with relevant companies/organisations at both an early stage andon an on-going basis.

5. Establish a clear vision for the KnowledgeGateway research campus, which ensuresthat this development increases the widerimpact of the University’s high qualityresearch at the same time that itestablishes relationships and partnershipsthat support and sustain such research.

6. Increase the volume of research fundinggained by the University, the diversity offunding sources and the rate of costrecovery on research funding.

7. Create a Research Capital Infrastructureand Equipment Fund to cover newequipment needs, including thoseresulting from matched equipment grantsfrom research councils.

8. Establish a Research Seedcorn Fund tosupport new research initiatives eitherwithin or across departments.

9. Enhance the University’s research profilenationally and internationally, in order tomaximise the impact of the University’sresearch.

10. Increase our engagement with, andinfluence on, key national andinternational bodies responsible forsetting research agendas and forawarding research funding.

11. Take a strategic approach to theestablishment, maintenance anddevelopment of University researchcentres and Doctoral Training Centres (orequivalents), so that we are not solelyreliant on external funding.

12. Put in place appropriate policies andprocesses to recruit, support and retainworld-leading and rising star researchers,and ensure that appropriate mechanismsare in place to recognise and reward ourstaff for achieving excellence in relation toresearch.

13. Establish a clear set of expectations(relative to disciplinary norms) for all ofour staff whose contract includes therequirement to undertake research,ensuring that appropriate support isavailable to allow these staff to maximisetheir potential, and putting in place robustmechanisms to assess performance inrelation to these expectations.

14. Develop a portfolio of partnerships thatsupports the University in meeting itscommitment to academic excellence in itsresearch.

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Supporting excellence ineducation and research

Our aim is to ensure that those Universityactivities that are not themselves education orresearch are focused on supporting thedelivery of institutional excellence ineducation and research, and that theseactivities are demonstrably effective insupporting the University in achieving its twocentral strategic objectives.

Our priority is the delivery of excellence ineducation and research, and to achieve thisaim the University has a range of assets,provides services and engages in a number ofactivities all of which are crucial to supportingthe achievement of this excellence. Effectivemanagement, support and deployment of theUniversity’s human, physical and financialassets is a sine qua non if the University is toachieve its vision of demonstrable academicexcellence, and supporting institutionalexcellence in education and research is theprinciple that governs all supporting activity.

In order to achieve this, the University will:

1. Manage our finances in order to maintainthe financial sustainability of the University, generate levels of resourcesufficient to meet the University’s financial obligations and supportinvestment in the continual development of the human, physical and intellectualresources of the University.

2. Recruit, develop, retain and motivateacademic staff, professional staff andgovernors of the numbers and with theexpertise, skills, aptitudes andcommitment necessary to deliverexcellence in education and research.

3. Match the capacity of the University’sestate, plant and equipment to itsstrategic requirements and environmentalobligations, and enhance the functionalsuitability of the University’s spaces,places and facilities for the delivery ofexcellence in education and research.

4. Build the information and libraryresources, tools and facilities necessaryfor students and staff to achieve excellenteducational and research outcomes.

5. Project the role, work and value of theUniversity in a manner that builds itsreputation and differentiates it positivelyin the eyes of stakeholders; employers;funders; past, present and futurestudents; and the public.

All the different branches of university administration,whether estates and planning, or finance, or academicbusiness, require nowadays specialised skills and techniques.Sir Albert Sloman, founding Vice-Chancellor of the University of Essex, A University in the Making (1963)

A range of services and facilities provide students withthe support and equipment they need to succeed

Strategic Plan 2013-19 13

About this document

This document was produced in consultationwith the University community and wasapproved by the University’s Council in July2013. It has been submitted to the HigherEducation Funding Council for England.

The Strategic Plan will be updated on a three-year cycle; the next revision taking place in2016.

For further information about this document,please contact:

Dr Sonia VirdeeDirector of Strategic Planning and ChangeUniversity of EssexWivenhoe ParkColchesterCO4 3SQ

T 01206 874681/2F 01206 874498E svirdee@essex.ac.ukessex.ac.uk

© University of Essex 2013Designed by Print Essex at the University of Essex