Foreword

Universities aim to make the world a better place and transform lives through both their teaching and research.

The University’s new strategy, the Road to 2030, clearly sets out how we will focus on excellence in both teaching and research, making us a dual-intensive institution. Further, we will ensure that everything that we do is impactful.

Our students will benefit from an outstanding experience, and the strategy has graduate futures at its core, ensuring that every student develops the skills, knowledge, and personal attributes necessary to thrive in an ever-changing world.

Our teaching will be informed by our research and expertise from lecturers and professors who have excelled in their professional disciplines, ranging from law to nursing to design.

We are investing resources to ensure students are trained, supported and nurtured, giving them the opportunities and tools to succeed. This means investing in new lecturers and professors, as well as our campus infrastructure and estate.

We know that the opportunities we give our students are sector leading. Our co-curricular offer allows students to supplement the excellent learning they receive on their course with experiences and opportunities to broaden their knowledge and understanding of the world of work they are hoping to go into. We aim to take every one of our students on their own personal learning journey.

We are also proud of the work we do to give students the opportunity to access higher education. We are the most popular university in terms of applications from UK domiciled students, but perhaps more importantly, is the hugely diverse nature of our student population. Inclusivity is one of our University’s core values.

Over half of our 2020/21 undergraduate entrants were the first in their family to attend university and a third of our 2020/21 full-time and apprenticeship undergraduate entrants are from areas where participation in higher education is low (compared with 28% across the sector).

And a third of our undergraduates are from the most deprived postcode areas compared to around a fifth across the sector.

Our student body is also ethnically diverse, with 33% of 2020/21 undergraduates identifying as as Black, Asian or minority ethnic, compared with a sector average of 25%.

Some of the opportunities we give are thanks to the philanthropic gestures from our alumni and partners. You can read more in this edition of the magazine about the truly transformational effect that gifts from our generous donors are having on the lives of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

We are also proud of our excellent research and the real world impact of our innovation. The latest Research Excellence Framework (REF), the system which assesses the quality of research across all universities, put us on a par with research[1]intensive institutions in terms of the volume and quality of our research (known as ‘research power’).

Overall, we were a leading modern university for both the quality and power of its research, with 30% of our research rated at the highest world leading (4*) level and 90% of our research impact rated ‘world leading’ (4*) or ‘internationally excellent,’ (3*) across more than 740 academics.

We were ranked 38th for research power in the Times Higher Education (THE) REF rankings with the third highest increase in the UK for market share of future research funding on the back of the results.

We continue to invest significantly in research, including a campaign to recruit 40 new professors across the University, state of the art equipment and facilities, and new laboratories and studios.

We also know that our research is delivering real impact. You will read about just some of this research in this edition; from decarbonising aviation to tackling the causes of heart attacks; from helping police forces prevent domestic homicides to how our genes can determine the type of athlete we might be. I am sure you will find all our stories fascinating and show the breadth and depth of the research we do.

It is these achievements that put us in a strong position to make the claim that we are dual-intensive. We will not only ensure all our students are exposed to our innovative approaches to knowledge creation and application, but we will also continue to grow and to develop research co-created with our communities, applying our knowledge to real world issues.

We are tremendously excited about our future and the difference that we can make. I hope you can be part of our community and help us to transform lives.