78006 NeUni p4 gi:78006 NeUni p4 gi 05/06/2009 Frida, 5 ......03 Vision and Mission In Newcastle and...

A world-class civic universityVision 2021

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Foreword

Olivia GrantPro-Chancellor and Chairmanof University Council

2021 represents alandmark anniversary inthe long and successfulhistory of NewcastleUniversity when it will then

be 150 years since the establishment ofthe College of Physical Science, whichjoined the earlier College of Medicinefrom which our present institutiondeveloped.

In formulating a new strategic vision for the University in 2009, this 150thanniversary seems far off. However, inspite of the pace and uncertainty of change in English higher education, this document confirms the core values,ambitions and objectives that will sustainand drive forward the University over thisperiod.

Our vision statement informs both ourimmediate planning horizon and our long-term ambitions. Our strategic vision recognises the breadth of ouracademic purpose, our current andaspirational strengths, and our pivotalposition in society.

While universities are complex and diverse,our principal objectives are expressed froma high-level perspective to give a clearoverview of our ambition. Operationally wesupport this through detailed plans andtargets for all our academic andprofessional service units.

The vision must be owned by theUniversity; and its development hasrequired engagement with its purpose and commitment to its delivery. We arefortunate and grateful that the process hasbenefitted from extensive consultation andparticipation from the wider Universitycommunity.

Newcastle University remains a greatcivic institution, being a major force inthe social, cultural and economiclandscape of our city, the northernregion, and the nation. We play avital role in the development of theknowledge-based economy andincreasingly occupy a position ofglobal prominence. Our vision to2021 confirms our presentstanding, but more importantlyit endorses our desire andability to progress.


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Vision and MissionIn Newcastle and the North East ofEngland, as in many industrialisedregions, the economic drivers havechanged, and with them the demographic,social and cultural circumstances of civilsociety. Employment opportunities havediversified. The age demography ischanging. Sustainability in terms ofenergy, infrastructure and environmenthas become a universal quest. Societalchallenges are manifested both globallyand locally. In consequence, theknowledge business of research anddevelopment, education and skills, isbecoming more important.

These changes, which require bothreflection and adjustment, are oftensummarised by saying that we aremoving into a knowledge-basedeconomy. But knowledge has alwaysbeen our business. Newcastle University,in its various earlier shapes and forms,has since the heyday of the industrialeconomy always been focused both onacademic excellence and on the impactof its academic work. With the coming ofa knowledge economy, the potentialimpact is magnified. Clearly, in thesenew circumstances the long-held idealsof Newcastle University are morerelevant than ever. These ideals defineour vision for the University – the kind ofuniversity we wish to be.

Our vision is of Newcastle as a civic university with aglobal reputation for academic excellence.

As a civic university, we need to beresponsive to the needs and demandsof civil society for knowledge that willaddress societal challenges. As a world-class university, we must be active andinternationally competitive at the supplyside of knowledge creation and knowledgedissemination. These needs define ourmission statement – what we aim to do.

We aim:

l to be a world-class research-intensive university

l to deliver teaching andfacilitate learning of thehighest quality

l to play a leading role in the economic, social and cultural development of the North East of England

Professor Chris BrinkVice-Chancellor


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Principles and Values

There are certain fundamental valuesshared throughout the higher educationsector to which we are committed,including: academic freedom; the pursuitof knowledge and understanding; a soundacademic disciplinary base; amethodology based on reason andevidence; social responsibility; andtransparency.

In addition, we:

•are committed to excellence•value diversity• respond to societal challenges•accord parity of esteem toresearch and teaching

•educate for life•are globally ambitious andregionally rooted

• invest in excellent staff

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Newcastle University developed as a civic university, in response tothe regional demands of the industrial economy. Since the early daysof the origin of a College of Medicine in 1834, through the foundationof a College of Physical Science in 1871, and its successorArmstrong College, to the eventual formality of receiving its ownUniversity Act in 1963, it has maintained strong and productive linkswith civil society in its city and region. For a long time the North Eastof England was a powerhouse of the industrial economy, and thevarious shapes and structures of what eventually became NewcastleUniversity provided the intellectual underpinning for the economicand industrial activities of this important region. The first Chairs atthe Colleges were not only in fundamental disciplines such asMathematics, Chemistry, Physics, Arts and Literature, but also in theregionally important applied sciences such as Geology, Mining, NavalArchitecture, Engineering and Agriculture. ‘Newcastle’ became abrand name worldwide, known as a hub of industrial activity, with astrong civic university as its intellectual underpinning.

The combination of being globally ambitious and regionally rootedunderpins Newcastle University’s vision for the future. We seeourselves not only as doing high-quality academic work, measuredand judged against the best done anywhere in the world, but also aschoosing to work in areas responsive to large-scale societal needsand demands, particularly those manifested in our own city andregion. We believe in, and strive for, world-class academicexcellence – but excellence with a purpose. We work not only on thesupply side of knowledge creation and dissemination, but alsorespond to the demand side of societal challenges. We are not only alarge employer and a magnet for tens of thousands of young people,but an integral part of civil society. That is the hallmark of a civic university.

We believe that our success as a civic university will in itself becomean exportable commodity, since the search for such a combination ofglobal excellence and local relevance is one replicated in manyplaces in the world.

There are many conceptions of what a university is and should do,and many attempts at capturing the essence of a university whileallowing for diverse manifestations. Indeed, in outlining our visionfor Newcastle University as a world-class civic university we addanother such characterisation. Undoubtedly a university is aboutknowledge, but, as J H Newman argued, and many others haveechoed, knowledge is produced by people. We would also add thatknowledge is produced for people.

A shorter characterisation is that a university is a place wherestudents and academics congregate, and are supported byprofessional support staff, buildings and equipment, to engage in

the creation and dissemination of knowledge, the facilitation oflearning and the inculcation of skills. We see our distinctivenessas a civic university in adding the further dimension of engagingwith civil society in the question of what knowledge and learning isfor, and who it is for.

Newcastle University, therefore, gives pride of place to our people.Our academics, our students and alumni, and our support staffare part of a single knowledge community, participating inresearch and innovation, teaching and learning, and engagementwith civil society.

Newcastle upon Tyne is one of the oldest university towns in England in the sense that there hasbeen teaching in it for an internal university qualification for longer than in any English town exceptOxford, Cambridge, London and Durham. It is also the only town in England where universityteaching began in the faculty of Medicine.

… In a practical every day sense, its history is in outline very similar to that of the other nineteenth-century English foundations such as Manchester, Liverpool or Bristol. Like them, it was establishedas one result of the growth of population in a clearly defined region. To some extent it grew as theregion grew and in its early days its main, though not exclusive, function was to supply trained menand women to the industry and the professions in the four northern counties of England.E M Bettenson The University of Newcastle upon Tyne: A historical introduction 1834–1971

A university is a place … whither students come from every quarter for every kind of knowledge; …a place for the communication and circulation of thought … It is a place where inquiry is pushedforward, … discoveries verified and perfected, and error exposed, by the collision of mind with mind,and knowledge with knowledge. … We must consult the living man, and listen to his living voice …John Henry, Cardinal Newman The Idea of a University, 1852.

History

Our Students and Staff


Functions and Structures

Arising from the three elements of themission statement, we have three coreacademic functions:

• research and innovation• teaching and learning, and the studentexperience

•engagementStrategic leadership of each of theseareas is provided, on a university-widebasis, by a pro-vice-chancellor. Deliveryof the core functions occurs in our threecore academic structures, which are thethree faculties, each of which is also ledand managed by a pro-vice-chancellor:

•Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

•Faculty of Medical Sciences•Faculty of Science, Agriculture andEngineering

Each faculty consists of a number ofacademic units, typically a school or aresearch institute, each led and managedby a head. The core functions and corestructures combine to form the academicmap of the University, in which weenvisage the faculties as vertical columns,with the core functions as cross-cuttinginstitutional activities. Interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary activities are co-ordinated and supported by thefunctional pro-vice-chancellors, whileacademic staff are line-managed withinthe faculties.

The academic enterprise is supported bya number of corporate activities withinthe professional support services, led andmanaged by the Registrar.

The University is led and managed by the Vice-Chancellor and Executive Board, consisting of the three FacultyPro-Vice-Chancellors, the threefunctional Pro-Vice-Chancellors, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Planning andResources, the Registrar, the ExecutiveDirector (Finance) and the ExecutiveDirector (Human Resources). ExecutiveBoard functions to an agreed set ofprinciples, and each year agrees a set of recurrent and project-relatedresponsibilities.

The University Council is our governingbody, Senate is the academic decision-making body, Court is an advisory body,Academic Board represents our academicand professional staff, the Union Societyrepresents our students, and Convocationrepresents our alumni.

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We have a Strategic Plan for theUniversity, which describes how we aimto realise our vision and mission. Theimplementation of our Strategic Plan, andour day-to-day operations, are rooted inour principles and values. We unpack thevision and mission into a number ofinstitutional objectives, categorised interms of our core functions, corestructures and corporate activities. TheStrategic Plan articulates the strategieswe follow to achieve these objectives.Each strategy, in turn, cascades down to more detailed goals and targets.

As a university, our institutionalobjectives are to achieve:

l top 20 in the UK for research quality and power

l student satisfaction ratings of 90% or better in all subjects

l a focus on selected societal challenge themes

l a significant international profile

l financial and environmentalsustainability

Institutional Objectivesand Strategy

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Core FunctionObjectives

Our overall institutional objectives are defined in terms of our three core functions.

Research and InnovationOur overall objective is to be a world-class research-intensive university. Under this heading we group objectivesregarding the classic conception of blue-sky research, the idea of researchresponding to societal needs andchallenges, the promotion of aninterdisciplinary approach in doing so, the application and commercialisation of research, and the broad ideas ofinnovation and entrepreneurship,including the engagement from ourresearch base with business and industry.

Our Research and Innovation Strategyspecifies the following objectives:

• to grow areas of strength and addressareas of weakness to achieveinternational excellence in all we do

• to identify institutional challengethemes responding to societal needsand demands

• to develop an innovation cultureembedded throughout the University


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Teaching and Learning, and the Wider StudentExperience Our teaching and learning philosophy isbased on the concept of education for life.By that we mean two things: providingknowledge and understanding that willlast a lifetime, and providing knowledgeand experience relevant to life and theworld around us. As emphasised in ourLearning and Teaching Strategy we wishto deliver teaching of the highest quality,and to provide an environment withinwhich effective learning can take place as part of an enjoyable and formativestudent experience. We will:

• deliver research-informed teaching andtraining in a professional, challengingand engaging way

•deliver curricular and extra-curricularprovision, which ensures graduates arewell equipped for further training,research or workforce needs

• create opportunities for students’personal and professional development

•deliver all modules and programmes to agreed specifications

•ensure that our programmes meetrelevant accreditation and qualitystandards

• foster a culture of independentlearning, critical thinking andenterprise

• conduct an active programme of raisingaspirations and widening participation

Students are at the centre of the learningexperience, and their feedback lies at theheart of our future strategy. Our studentsare therefore encouraged to be activeeducational citizens. In addition to anexcellent education, informed by leading-edge research and scholarship, we provide a wide variety of enterprise andvolunteering activities, student societiesand an active presence in recreational andcompetitive sport. Key enablers for thisare our ncl+ programme, with its coremessage that a degree alone is notenough, and an active Students’ Union.

As a research-intensive university werecognise and value the importance ofgrowing our postgraduate studentcommunity. Training high-qualityresearch students is vital not only toreplenishing the academic base, but alsoto maintaining the flow of graduates tostrengthen our regional, national, andglobal knowledge economy. We value our international students for theircontribution to the University and thediversity of backgrounds and ideas theybring.

As a civic university we contribute to theregional and national skills base throughour high proportion of professionallyaccredited degree programmes, andthrough a portfolio of courses ofcontinuing professional development.

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Engagement As a world-class civic university, ourengagement with civil society is integral to ensuring that our academic andprofessional activities have genuineeconomic, social and cultural benefits:

• regional: contributing to harmoniouscommunity relations whilst promotingdiversity in North East society; andcontributing to the economic resilienceand success of the region

•national: configuring our activities toenrich intellectual culture, influencepublic policy development and promotecommercial enterprise

• international: using our teaching andresearch activities to address globalsocietal and economic challenges andpromote intercultural understanding,under the leadership of academics whoenjoy the highest ranks of esteem intheir respective professional academies

Our engagement activities, while carriedout in the sense of good citizenship, arefirmly and specifically based on ouracademic expertise and experience. Inconsequence, all our academic units areexpected to build up an engagementportfolio based on their research andteaching activities. Likewise, student andalumni activities form an important part ofour institutional engagement profile.Within the city of Newcastle we have twobroad thrusts of engagement: cultural andscientific.

Our Engagement Strategy specifies thefollowing objectives:

• to attract top talent to settle in theNorth East

• to develop and implement the conceptof Newcastle Science City

• to contribute our facilities, knowledgeand skills to support healthy growth of civic and regional culture

• to use our global standing andintellectual capital to influence andinform national and internationaldebate

• to implement strategic partnershipinitiatives to address major globalchallenges relating especially to health, wellbeing and sustainable development

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All our work in our three core functionsis carried out within the academic unitsmaking up the faculties. This is wherethe academics work, and the studentsstudy. The faculties are operational andmanagerial entities and while wearticulate our institutional goals in termsof the three academic core functions, wecarry them out within our academicunits. Accordingly, each faculty has itsown strategic plan on how to support andattain our institutional goals in thecontext of its own disciplinary clusters.

The three faculties jointly subscribe to thefollowing core strategic objectives:

• to achieve and sustain researchexcellence

• to deliver a high-quality studentexperience on all programmes

• to embed the drive, ambition andcapabilities needed to excel in bothteaching and research

• to strengthen and deepen ourinternational activities and reputation

• to expand postgraduate recruitmentbased on an international reputation forexcellence

• to make a distinctive contribution to thedevelopment and delivery of societalchallenge themes

Within the context of faculty plans, eachacademic unit has its own strategic plan.Each head of an academic unit isresponsible for implementing an annualworkload allocation model, to deliver onthe core functions. We have a genericAcademic Job Summary describing themutual expectations between theUniversity and the individual academic.Each academic member of staff isexpected to update his/her CurriculumVitae on a regular basis, using our onlineMyProfiles system, not only to listresearch publications but to give arounded description of their activities ineach of our core functions, as well asservice to his/her academic unit and theUniversity generally. Drawing on thisdata, each academic unit produces anannual report every year.

Reflecting their distinctive academic fociand current priorities, the three facultieshave established specific strategicobjectives.

The Faculties

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The Faculty of Humanitiesand Social Sciences (HaSS)•use the University’s major culturalinvestments for the academic benefit ofthe Faculty and wider community

• establish an internationally renownedBusiness School

• realise the full potential of establishedand emerging capabilities in distinctiveareas of creative practice

• reconfigure the Newcastle Institute forthe Arts, Social Sciences andHumanities (NIASSH) to serve as anengine for interdisciplinary enquiry

• leverage our leading-edge research,focusing in particular on the Faculty’srole in shaping professional practice, in the analysis and formation of policy,and enhancing the quality of life


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The Faculty of MedicalSciences (FMS)• lead the University in developing ageingand chronic disease as a societalchallenge theme

•develop our cutting-edge research inageing, cancer, genetics and stemcells, molecular and cell biology,neuroscience and health servicesresearch to become a world-classcentre for Translational MedicalResearch

•work with stakeholders including theNHS and other employers, professionalbodies and sponsorship agencies toensure that graduates are fit forpurpose and that our programmesmeet workforce needs

• facilitate, guide and ensure thedevelopment of the MBBS (Malaysia)programme

• increase partnerships with companiesthrough collaboration based on skills,know-how and inventions as a majorcontribution to Newcastle Science City


The Faculty of Science,Agriculture andEngineering (SAgE)•become a world-class research centreby leveraging our top-ten RAE 2008status in Engineering and Agriculture

• from a sound disciplinary base, developinternational excellence in teaching inall our Science, Technology,Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)subjects

• increase engagement with the publicand private sector throughcollaboration based on skills, know-how, inventions and knowledgetransfer, thereby making a majorcontribution to Newcastle Science City

• develop significant partnerships withselected international academicestablishments to globalise ourteaching and research, including in-country delivery such as the MarineEngineering programme in Singapore

• lead the University in developingsustainability as a societal challengetheme

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Enabling Objectives We do not regard the University in thefirst place as a business, because ourprimary motive is not profit but academicexcellence. However, we endeavour to bebusiness-like in our enabling activities inorder to attain our academic goals.

Our business-like approach requiresfocus on the following key issues, forwhich we identify specific objectives andoperational actions and performancemeasures.

These are:

• the student experience•human resources • financial control and sustainability • strategic positioning• information technology and resources• the estate•environmental sustainability

Risk Management Risks are potential events that mayprevent us from reaching our strategicobjectives. We follow an approach ofbeing risk-aware rather than risk-averse.The corporate risks are identified andreviewed each year for the year ahead inour Corporate Risk Register, and are theresponsibility of members of ExecutiveBoard.

Key Performance Indicators Key performance indicators (KPIs) are ameasure of progress towards meetingour institutional strategic objectives. Wereport to Council on each KPI at leastonce per year, the report being deliveredby the relevant member(s) of ExecutiveBoard. We benchmark our performanceagainst a Comparator Group of city-based and civic-oriented universities.

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A world-class civic universityVision 2021


Newcastle UniversityNewcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RUUnited Kingdom

www.ncl.ac.uk

Details contained in this brochure are for information and guidance purposes only.

We would like to thank the following for the use of theirillustrative material: Chris Auld; Bond Bryan Architects;Colin Cuthbert; John Donoghue; Jim McAdam; North News and Pictures; Keith Pattison; Print Services,Robinson Library; Simon Veit Wilson.

Designed by Smith Creative, Newcastle upon Tyne.Printed by Potts.

© Newcastle University, 2009.The University of Newcastle upon Tyne trading asNewcastle University.

This brochure is printed on Greencoat 55 Silk (inset) and Greencoat 80 Velvet (cover), which are combined FSC and 55% and 80% recycled fibre respectively.


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