A message from Professor Sir David Greenaway, Vice-Chancellor

Dear colleagues

This spring we reviewed and refreshed our Global Strategy 2020, with many of you adding your voice to the consultation process — thank you for your insightful and valuable contributions. Together we’ve made great progress since we launched our strategy in 2015. But we can’t stand still. We must continually review our activity, plans and ambitions to secure our long-term success and to ensure we remain competitive.

Over the coming months, UEB and the senior leadership team will be putting a plan in place to help you understand the vital part you play in helping achieve our strategic aims and objectives. We’ll also share our progress and good news stories more frequently as part of our plans for greater staff engagement.

Review and refresh — what you told us

• Be innovative
• Continue to focus on our students
• Work better with our partnerships and enhance our links with industry
• Integrate activities between UNUK, UNNC and UNMC more effectively
• Develop digitally, use systems and technology better
• Increase the opportunity to study or work abroad
• Set realistic targets in our research environment, and allow you the time and space needed to think and work creatively
• Understand our students better
• Improve our older buildings, ensure more central and shared spaces for both staff and students
• Prioritise and stabilise our financial position in light of Brexit, fees, and inflation
• Significantly enhance how UEB and senior leaders engage with colleagues across all job families and levels, and how you engage with our strategy

The results of the recent Staff Engagement Survey and the GS2020 review and refresh show that we as a leadership team need to work harder to ensure you understand the part you play in our overall strategy, and better recognise your contributions and achievements.

We have started addressing these concerns, developing action plans at an institutional and departmental level that encourage every member of our University to play their part in ensuring you and your colleagues feel valued, supported, and have opportunities to develop. Heads of teams and engagement champions will be in touch over the coming months to ask you to be a part of this process. Please take this opportunity to contribute to improving your working environment for the better. Engagement is everybody’s responsibility and we all have our part to play.

We have summarised the outputs of the review in the GS2020 review and refresh brochure, which also highlights our collective achievements to date and looks ahead to the future. Please take the time to read this through and visit the GS2020 Workspace for more information. Please note, you need to log in to Workspace to access the brochure.

Finally, life at a large and complex organisation is not without its challenges, but the fact that 61% of you engaged in the Staff Engagement Survey and many more engaged in the GS2020 review indicates to me a desire from you for all of us to get this right and to improve how we work together as a University community.

Thank you for your input and support as we strive to improve our working environment for all of us.

Professor Sir David Greenaway

Vice-Chancellor