Dear colleague,
In 2020 we marked the University’s 525th anniversary with an ambitious vision for the future – Aberdeen 2040 – which set out our strategic direction over the next two decades.
Aberdeen 2040 was developed through extensive engagement involving staff, students and external stakeholders. Its inspiration is the University’s Foundational Purpose of being ‘open to all and dedicated to the purpose of truth in the service of others’. It covers our core activities of Education and Research, our four Themes – Inclusive, Interdisciplinary, International and Sustainable – and our Five Interdisciplinary Challenges. We also made 20 Commitments, each with a key performance indicator, which allows us to assess our progress in becoming a more inclusive, interdisciplinary, international and sustainable University.
Much has happened since our launch on Founders’ Day in 2020, and this includes establishing and monitoring an Aberdeen 2040 Implementation Plan to 2025 - approved by our governing body, Court, and overseen by the Senior Management Team - to help us deliver our 2040 vision. Each year Court reviews our progress in implementing our plans and achieving our key performance indicators. You can read a full summary of our progress, as recently reported to Court, here.
In short, good progress is being made across a wide range of areas both over the last year and towards our 2025 targets. For example, maintaining our strong performance in the National Student Survey, a significant improvement in our Graduate Outcomes ranking, 30% growth in the value of research grant income awards achieved, good progress on environmental sustainability, and record placement in several national and international league tables. At the same time we recognise that some targets, for example in relation to outward mobility of students, will not be achieved, not least due to Brexit.
Each year, Court also agrees priorities for the coming year. This year there are three priority areas, which were discussed in the Open Session held by the Senior Management Team with staff earlier this week. They are:
- Quality, which covers education, research and professional services
- New Revenue, which encompasses diverse revenue streams designed to support future growth
- Ways of Working, which is focused on changing academic and professional services ways of working to reduce workload and enhance wellbeing, adopt leading practice across the sector, and reduce costs and enhance quality.
In the coming months we will also be turning our attention to the 2025-2030 timeframe, considering whether there are any changes we need to make to our Aberdeen 2040 vision, and looking to ensure we have the right priorities and Key Performance Indicators in place to continue delivering that vision.
I hope this update on Aberdeen 2040 is helpful. Please do also look out for our rolling series of open sessions on our four Themes of Inclusive, Interdisciplinary, International and Sustainable, with the next one due to take place on the theme of Inclusive on 30 October at 2pm.
Best wishes
Karl
Karl Leydecker
Senior Vice-Principal