Dear colleagues,
With the 2021/22 academic year successfully concluded and the summer now very much upon us – notwithstanding the lack of sunshine in recent weeks – we can reflect on what has been another very rewarding year for the University.
As always, this is thanks to our collective endeavours and your individual part played in delivering for the University, our students and colleagues across the institution. Over the last 12 months, the Strathclyde community has pulled together to continue to deliver against our Vision 2025 Strategy, putting in place the work to support our goals as a socially progressive, leading international technological university.
Much of this activity has been taking place on campus and we have now returned in far greater numbers in preparation for a resumption of face-to-face teaching in the new academic year. We can look forward to many more opportunities to collaborate in person and drive forward our ambitions.
The commitment, dedication and professionalism of our staff is always an inspiration to me. You are what makes Strathclyde exceptional and a distinctive member of the Scottish and UK higher education sector.
This is evident in the results of the National Student Survey, published yesterday, in which we scored well above our benchmark, with 82% of our final-year undergraduate students expressing overall satisfaction with the quality of their course, compared to the UK average of 76%.
This puts us in the upper quartile in the UK for Overall Satisfaction and in line with the key performance indicator we set ourselves in our Strategic Plan. This is a significant achievement given the unprecedented challenges we faced during the COVID-19 pandemic; I offer my thanks to the entire Strathclyde team across Faculties, Professional Services and support staff for the part they have played in enhancing our students’ education and experience.
At Monday’s Executive Team, I led a discussion about ‘Strathclyde Distinctiveness’ asking senior colleagues to reflect on what makes the University what it is. This is in preparation for a strategy session the Executive Team will be having in August and will help shape our developing strategic focus for the rest of the decade.
There was unanimous agreement around the table that Strathclyders, and our ‘can-do’ attitude, are central to our success. Whether the discussion was about teaching, research or innovation, our people and our collaborative nature shone through as the defining feature of Strathclyde and our recent success.
So, I want to thank every one of you, once again, for everything that you do for our University.
This is the last weekly message for the summer. I will be taking a much anticipated break over the coming weeks and I would encourage you to do the same.
Spending time with family, friends and loved ones is important and the summer break is the time to recharge your batteries, ready for the new academic year ahead. My messages will resume in August, but in the meantime please have a restful break and enjoy the summer.
Best wishes,
Jim