convocation report by the vice-chancellor 15 june 2013 1
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Convocation
Report by the Vice-Chancellor 15 June 2013
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Context over the past year: New Fee Regime, and Deregulation of Student Numbers
• Our recruitment effort under heading of Project 2012 • First cohort of students under new regime arrived Sept 2012 • “Core & Margin” model: strong competition for AAB+ students• Outcome:
– Slightly increased our AAB+ proportion, to 56.22%– Stable numbers in overall full-time intake – In the sector: Some surprising ups and downs
• Widening participation outcome: – Overall WP performance very similar to 2011– Excellent WP profile for students from North East (ahead of benchmarks)
• International Students outcome: – Undergraduate intake increased by 22.4%
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Learning and Teaching
• Continued progress in student experience (Project 2012): – 10,000+ lectures recorded for re-access by students (“Recap” facility) – One million page-views per week on “Blackboard” electronic facility – Funding from Higher Education Academy for “Parity of Esteem” project
• 2013 Access Agreement approved by Office of Fair Access • Deregulation of numbers at ABB+ for 2013 entry • Student experience indicators
– National Student Survey overall satisfaction score stable at 89%; ranked 14 th in UK – Ranked 14th in Times Higher Student Experience Survey: 17th in Sunday Times
University Guide – International Student Barometer: 1st/15 RG for library, learning technology, careers
advice, work experience, eco-friendly attitude, living costs and support overall
• Employability performance improved – 95.2% of 2012 graduates employed – 80.4% in graduate level jobs
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Research
• Research income: a slight decrease, ~2.5%, to ~£86M• Research awards: a 5% increase, to ~£97M• 7th out of 101 institutions in UK for number of Knowledge
Transfer Partnerships• Excellent progress in European awards
– Both Framework7 and ERC grants
• Signal Successes – Neptune National Centre for Offshore and Subsea Engineering, £7m – Drug Trials, with NHS Trust: Ariad & CRUK, £21.9m over 10 years– Prof Sugata Mitra wins TED Wish: $1m for “The School in the Cloud”
• “REF” preparation main current focus (Submission in November)
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Engagement and Internationalisation
• 3 Societal Challenge Themes launched and operational – Ageing (Prof Tom Kirkwood) – Sustainability (Prof Phil Taylor) – Social Renewal (Prof Mark Shucksmith)
• British Science Festival, Newcastle Sept 2013 – 40% of programme Newcastle University
• Science Central ‘open for business’ • Working with Newcastle City Council to mitigate culture cuts• Regional developments: MoU with Northumberland Council• First ever Chinese Graduation ceremony – Shanghai• 2 Overseas campuses fully operational
– Singapore (Engineering) – Malaysia (Medicine)
• Launched: Xiamen Univ Partnership and Confucius Institute
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Hitting the Headlines
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Financial sustainability
• 2011-12 a difficult year– 7% (£8m) reduction in HEFCE grants, cuts in operating costs recovery on
research and pressure on our costs reduced surplus by 43%– However work in earlier years enabled us to absorb the bad news
• 2012-13 is proving rather better– Significant growth in research income (up 12% year to date)– Good result on student recruitment– Better than expected HEFCE funding
• 2013-14 looks reasonable– Opportunity to invest in academic and IT infrastructure
• Long term funding concerns– Increasing dependency on achieving student recruitment targets– Further rounds of public expenditure cuts likely in 2015-16 and beyond– Need to convince BIS and Treasury that we deliver value for money – Forthcoming Treasury Spending Review
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Environmental Sustainability
• People and Planet Green League 2013: First Class Award, 15th in UK (up from 26th in 2012), 2nd in Russell Group
• Dual accreditation - Platinum EcoCampus and ISO140001
• Completion of £4.4m boiler scheme saved 1,500t CO2
• Energy consumption contained despite new buildings
• Water use reduced by a further 3.9% - 23.9% since 2008/9
• Recycling rates ca 93%
• Proportion of staff travelling to work by car reduced from 40% in 2004 to 20% in 2012
• Biodiversity projects, including reduction of pesticide / herbicide use and creation of allotments, woodland corridors and wildlife friendly areas.
• Launched Green Impact awards
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Estate
• New Student Forum, completed July 2012• More students living on campus
– INTO Teaching Building and Residences (543 beds), completed Sept 2012 – New build on Park Terrace, and redevelopment of Kensington Terrace (June 2014) – Refurbishment of Grand Hotel (August 2013)
• Libraries: – 24/7 term-time opening in 2012/13 – 300 Additional study spaces in Walton and Robinson Libraries
• Armstrong Building refurbishment, Phase 2 completed June 2013
• Fine Art refurbishment – complete Jan 2013
• Science Central development: video
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Thank you to all staff, students, alumni, donors and supporters for the successes
enjoyed by the University
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Questions to the Vice-Chancellor
• From Mr Horace Regnart:
“What can our immigrant Vice-Chancellor do to restore intellectual sanity and exorcise bigotry in respect of the misclassification of overseas students as immigrants?”
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Armstrong Building Redevelopment
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Spence Watson Lecture Theatre
Armstrong Building Redevelopment - Phase 1 (2011)
New Seminar Room
Computer Cluster
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Armstrong Building Redevelopment - Phase 2 (2013)
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Entrance to Fine Art