Dear colleagues,
A very happy new year to you and yours! I hope you enjoyed the extended holiday and are feeling refreshed and ready for another successful year ahead. I appreciate greatly the very positive feedback we’ve had on the additional three days leave which was granted in recognition of our achievements in 2021 and I know many of us saw the benefit of the time to ‘recharge’.
Earlier this week the Executive Team met for the first time in 2022. This was a strategic session at which members took time to take stock of where we are and to begin to look at the next planning horizon to 2030 and beyond.
The sessions included the final embedding of the outputs of the Strathclyde Acceleration Teams in our 'business as usual' activity, this will ensure that we act on the key recommendations that emerged from the great work done by colleagues from across the University. We also had a discussion around the University’s Values and a wide-ranging discussion on the longer-term priorities for the institution.
With contributions from our two new Executive Deans – Professor Duncan Graham and Professor Stephen McArthur – along with our incoming Chief Commercial Officer Gillian Docherty – it was a hugely energising start to the year and one which inspired plenty of fresh ideas to be taken forward. I look forward to sharing more on our plans in the weeks ahead.
Over the holidays, we have been monitoring the latest COVID-19 developments in consultation with the Scottish Government and colleagues from across the sector. While the situation continues to be challenging nationally with case numbers remaining very high, there are some encouraging signs that we may be starting to gradually ‘turn the corner’.
In her statement to Parliament on Tuesday, the First Minister reflected that the current figures give some hope that cases may be at or close to the peak; at the same time, good progress is being made on the roll-out of the booster vaccine programme. From Monday, the Scottish Government will begin to phase out the protective measures announced before Christmas – the first being a lifting of the restrictions on large outdoor events.
The news means that the blended learning approach for Semester 2 outlined before Christmas will go ahead as planned, bringing the best possible experience for our students. In order to make the campus as safe as possible, our safety mitigations will continue over the coming weeks – this includes working from home where possible, and encouraging everyone to take regular lateral flow tests – please remember that these can be picked up from our on-campus collection centres.
The University community’s health, safety and wellbeing remains at the forefront of our decision making, and we will continue to keep you abreast of what any changes to the protective measures mean for Strathclyde.
Finally, I was delighted to see colleagues, alumni and partners recognised in the Queen’s New Year Honours list. Among them were two of our senior academics, Professor Eleanor Shaw, Associate Principal, who has been awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to entrepreneurship and education, and Professor Zoe Shipton, from Engineering, who has been awarded an OBE for services to geoscience and climate change mitigation. I know you will join me in congratulating them on this tremendous achievement.
I hope you have had an enjoyable first week back and have a great weekend when it comes.
Best wishes,
Jim