Shaping the future. Strategic plan 2011 - 2015

Education at Strathclyde is characterised by continual innovation that provides an intellectually stimulating environment for our students and which builds on our strengths in research and knowledge exchange.

We develop students’ ability to think for themselves, to reflect critically on their experiences and to be self-reliant. Our students are enterprising, enquiring and ethical, actively engaged in their own learning and in solving the complex problems and global challenges facing society. The Strathclyde curriculum is innovative, radical and practical. Our students benefit from partnerships with industry, business and the voluntary and public sectors. Strathclyde graduates are international in outlook and ready to apply their understanding of global issues, diverse cultures and languages. Most importantly, their skills make them able to adapt to the changing workplace, in Scotland and around the world.

  1. Develop a distinctive Strathclyde Curriculum that is internationally recognised

    • Equipping all students with the ability to solve problems and think independently
    • Creating a culture of innovation to inform a process of continual curriculum renewal to ensure that the Strathclyde Experience is outstanding for all students
    • Creating an intellectually stimulating and challenging environment in which staff and students work closely together to promote effective learning through discussion and research-integrated teaching
    • Providing an interdisciplinary education and promoting opportunities for learning and research within and across disciplines
    • Developing connections with industry, professional bodies and global initiatives and ensuring our students obtain practical learning through projects, placements and internships with partners in the public, private and voluntary sectors
    • Offering language and intercultural learning opportunities for all, ensuring international and community experiences are at the heart of our curriculum
    • Ensuring that all courses and programmes demonstrate how they provide opportunities for students to develop the skills and attributes needed by employers
    • Sharing best practice and expanding successful programmes across all Faculties (such as Strathclyde Business School’s Management Development Programme)
    • Establishing University-wide policies and procedures providing a consistent approach so that all our students are treated equally

  2. Ensure a high-quality distinctive Student Experience

    • Designing education in which students are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning and personal development, guided and encouraged by the academic and professional services community
    • Co-production of the student experience by: engaging students in all aspects of curriculum design; providing opportunities for extra-curricular activities; recognising and rewarding student engagement; and ensuring an effective system for collecting, encouraging and acting on student feedback
    • Supporting student participation in activities that develop their business and organisational awareness, through coordination of appropriate development opportunities for students
    • Encouraging students to participate fully in University life and to be ambassadors for Strathclyde
    • Encouraging students to be active citizens expressing environmental and social responsibility

  3. Create internationally competitive postgraduate taught study opportunities

    • Creating graduate programmes, in partnership with public, private and voluntary sector organisations, that deliver opportunities for internships, work experience and project work and that attract funding and scholarships
    • Providing an infrastructure that supports interdisciplinary postgraduate taught developments and enhances the postgraduate student experience
    • Supporting course planning and delivery that responds to changing international markets

  4. Strengthen Strathclyde’s international presence and recruitment opportunities

    • Developing relationships with outside organisations to deliver high-quality learning opportunities overseas and at home, through articulation and preferential access agreements
    • Having a focused approach to foundation programmes and articulation agreements with local and international partners
    • Developing a partnership approach within Strathclyde to support linguistic and cultural integration of international cohorts
    • Ensuring that our educational delivery and student support reflects the needs of a student population drawn from all parts of the world
    • Promoting intercultural awareness across our campus

  5. Provide a curriculum and student experience which is highly attractive to students from a variety of backgrounds

    • Delivering a coordinated and integrated approach to recruitment, admissions, transitions and personal development support
    • Providing learning opportunities that best match the needs of students from the UK and abroad
    • Using the academic year creatively to support new opportunities to develop flexible approaches to learning, including accelerated learning and increased part-time opportunities
    • Using technology creatively to support face-to-face learning, with round the clock access to information and online interactive communities
    • Investing in the Library to ensure that our curriculum is supported by appropriate information resources and study spaces
    • Developing and making better use of social and informal learning spaces to underpin the Strathclyde experience

downMaking sure that the Education Strategy is acted on is the responsibility of the Vice Principal, the Associate Deputy Principals for Education, the Director of Student Experience & Enhancement Services and the Head of the Governance, Management & Policy team.

We will measure our success through significant improvement in the following indicators :

Indicator Direction Required
Undergraduate students: retention rates (percentage continuing after first year), retention rates (all years) and projected completion rates up
Undergraduate students: percentage of entrants with entry tariff equal to or greater than 300 UCAS points up
Undergraduate students: percentage from articulation routes up
Student population – undergraduate and postgraduate taught, split by domicile
(This indicator provides contextual data to allow progress on the enhanced diversification of the student population to be monitored)		 no change
Number of incoming and outgoing exchange students by type of placement up
Student to staff ratio down
Performance and overall satisfaction in National Student Survey up
Performance and overall satisfaction in Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey up
Graduate employability up
Extent to which the curriculum meets the key features of the internationally recognised, distinctive Strathclyde curriculum up