Provost's Perspective: your year ahead at °×С½ãÂÛ̳
3 October 2014
Welcome to the new academic year at °×С½ãÂÛ̳.
As Provost, one of the ways in which I hope to involve you in university life is by giving you a bird's eye view of °×С½ãÂÛ̳ to complement all of your other sources of information. The academic year 2014-2015 is shaping up to be a momentous and exciting one for °×С½ãÂÛ̳ and I am pleased to keep you informed about some key 'big picture' issues, and what I see as being important, through this regular column. Ìý
Student Experience
I want first to highlight a particular priority for me in the year ahead - that of improving the student experience. The focus on building better student facilities is a key part of this endeavour. You will notice a lot of building and refurbishment work going on; much work was completed over the summer but a considerable amount is ongoing. All of this building work is part of a ten-year £1.2bn capital plan that will gradually transform °×С½ãÂÛ̳, while retaining our historic character. Returners to °×С½ãÂÛ̳ will hopefully be delighted to see that a new-look °×С½ãÂÛ̳U building has opened, as well as two new cafes in the Old Refectory and in the Jeremy Bentham Room. The Cruciform Hub has also opened, offering a blended library, teaching and learning space. In the coming weeks, two new pavilions will open in the Main Quad and the Japanese Garden, the latter of which will provide a social space for students to study, read and eat. Inevitably, there will be some disruption to the campus, but our plans have been designed to minimise any impact on you.
Integrating research and education
Another major focus for me is the fuller integration of research and education at °×С½ãÂÛ̳. As you'll know by now, °×С½ãÂÛ̳ is one of the world's leading research universities, and I want to ensure that as students, you play a central role in this great academic powerhouse from your earliest days with us. This means finding ways to better involve you in the academic research process, and to teach you the critical independent thinking skills and problem solving skills that will stand you in excellent stead on graduation. You'll be hearing much more from me on this subject in the year ahead.
Merger with the Institute of Education
A major development for 2014-2015 is the proposed merger of °×С½ãÂÛ̳ with the Institute of Education (IOE), with final decisions pending with both Councils (the overarching governing bodies of both institutions) this October. You may have passed the IOE headquarters just south of °×С½ãÂÛ̳ on Bedford Way. This merger is being driven forward for academic reasons; the main advantages to °×С½ãÂÛ̳ are the opportunity to add a key discipline, namely 'Education' to our breadth of activities, with all the pedagogic expertise that will bring, as well as real strengths in quantitative social science research. The merger should widen the resources and expertise in these academic areas for both students and researchers.
°×С½ãÂÛ̳ East
The other major proposal for
the year ahead is °×С½ãÂÛ̳'s ambition to develop new facilities and academic
activities at the Olympic Park, as a key player in the post-Olympic legacy. In
partnership with others, °×С½ãÂÛ̳ intends to create a new hub for Culture andÌýEducation. The final decision to go ahead will be taken by our Council at
their October meeting.
The current working plan is to create a 'campus of the
future' that will be designed to blur the edges between the space required for
education, research, innovation, entrepreneurship and public engagement. If the
proposals are agreed, it will be a historic moment for °×С½ãÂÛ̳ - although we have
research centres across London and beyond, the vast majority of our staff and
students have been confined to Bloomsbury up to this point.
To give some idea
of the scale of the plans, we anticipate an academic presence of more than
3,000 students and 450 academic and non-academic staff by 2025. The hub would provide some much-needed living
space for future generations of °×С½ãÂÛ̳ students, early career researchers and
junior academics. It will also have space dedicated for entrepreneurship and
innovation and to working with industry, including small- and medium-sized
companies from that part of London and beyond.
There are many other subjects I could address here, but I will cover these in future issues, along with updates on the initiatives here. I want to end simply by encouraging you to enjoy everything that °×С½ãÂÛ̳ has to offer, all of which will help you to develop to your full potential. Like anything in life, the more effort you put into your time here, the more benefit you will gain. ÌýThe very fact that you have been admitted to °×С½ãÂÛ̳ means that you are very talented and already highly successful in academic terms. If you work hard and join in with our university community with enthusiasm and commitment, then °×С½ãÂÛ̳ is a place that offers great rewards.
Michael Arthur
°×С½ãÂÛ̳ President & Provost