We launched our Strategy in 2016 and over the last two years we’ve taken important steps to pave the way toward our goals. This year we’ve achieved improvements across all UK and international rankings, in 2017 we secured a £300m bond to support essential investments in our campuses and systems, and this summer we made the move to a simpler, five-faculty structure. We now need to focus on building momentum with our Strategy.
This Strategy Pulse update series will be published regularly on SUSSED News and cascaded to senior managers.
Featured within this update:
- Access slides from the October 2018 Senior Leaders’ Forum
- Green light for landmark Campaign for Southampton (£100m target)
- Estates: Transformation of Computer Science facilities
- Faculty Finance Teams and the Finance Research Hub
- Southampton among top five for research grant income
- OneWeb festival recap
- The search for our next Vice-Chancellor is live
- Financial statements published
Access slides from the October 2018 Senior Leaders’ Forum
On Monday 15 October 2018, more than 80 of our senior leaders met at Turner Sims to hear from members of the University Executive Board (UEB) about the priorities and challenges for the year ahead.
A selection of slides from the presentation are now available to view here.
Green light for landmark Campaign for Southampton
We’re excited to announce that the University Executive Board has approved plans for our most ambitious fundraising and engagement campaign to date.
With a proposed target of £100m, the Campaign for Southampton is part of our 10 year strategy and will play a pivotal role in enabling our mission to change the world for the better.
Strong philanthropic and engagement programmes are the hallmark of globally leading universities and the income they generate provides the flexibility to invest in the future.
The Campaign will build on the success of the Cancer Immunology Campaign (CIC), which raised over £25m to open the nation’s first dedicated cancer immunology research centre. As a result of the CIC, we have seen a ground-swell of support for the University: attracting 4,000 new donors, more than doubling philanthropic income and volunteers over five years, and nurturing an increasingly engaged alumni and local community.
Raising the bar higher still, the Campaign for Southampton will be ‘comprehensive’, meaning it will support multiple projects across the University.
Commenting on the new campaign, Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Christopher Snowden said:
“Our plans for the University’s first comprehensive fundraising and engagement campaign are ambitious.
The Campaign for Southampton will enable us to invest further in our student experience and our life-changing research. It will also provide a wonderful opportunity to bring together our University, alumni and friends communities to support our mission, providing opportunities to volunteer, spread the word, open networks and take part in community fundraising initiatives. It will be exciting to see the Campaign themes develop.”
The Campaign for Southampton is currently making great progress in its planning phase. Look out for more information on SUSSED News in the coming months.
Estates: Transformation of our Computer Science facilities
On Thursday 15 November, The School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) and the Future Worlds Start up Accelerator celebrated the opening of new student project laboratories and entrepreneurship space. The opening event represents the culmination of a six-month renovation project and a multi-million pound investment by the University, to transform Buildings 1 and 16 into state-of-the-art facilities for current and future students.
Faculty Finance Teams and the Finance Research Hub
As outlined in July, work has been progressing within Finance, Planning and Analytics (FPA) to develop the new finance research hub. The hub will be based in the Gower building and has a ‘go-live’ date of 2 January 2019.
The design and resourcing of the Finance Research Hub is progressing well. Initially, all pre-award work from the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences (FEPS) and the Faculty of Arts and Humanities (FAH) will transfer to the Hub.
Over the next few months, FPA will be completing the staffing of the hub; movements in staff will be reviewed as they arise with a view to taking on work from the Faculty of Medicine (FMED), the Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences (FELS), and the Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS).
Organisation charts for the Faculty Finance and Research Hub Teams, with effect from 1 January 2019, can be found here and contact points on a faculty-by-faculty basis will be available on the Finance SharePoint pages covering research.
A deadline of the 31 July 2019 has been identified to move all pre-award work and resource into the Hub.
More information can be found here.
Southampton among top five for research grant income
Figures published by Times Higher Education placed Southampton fifth among UK universities for research grant income awarded during the 2017-18 academic year.
Our University received nearly £54m across the year from the UK’s Research Councils, rising from 11th last year to place above Oxford, which this year dropped from first to sixth.
Further details can be found here.
OneWeb Festival recap
To mark the University’s commitment to OneWeb (our web transformation project) on Tuesday 27 November, the digital team hosted the OneWeb Festival.
The first university-led event of its kind in the sector, the festival enabled the exchange of ideas and best practice across numerous digital disciplines.
Staff and students were able to attend talks held at Highfield and Avenue Campuses, with an impressive line-up of speakers presenting on topics such as:
- User needs
- Content-first transformation
- Social media listening and guiding principles
Further details, including session slides, are available on the Digital Team’s blog. Stay up-to-date with all things OneWeb by subscribing to the blog.
The search for our next Vice-Chancellor is live
The recruitment pack and consultation report are now available to view.
The consultation with staff and students on the attributes of our next Vice-Chancellor included an online survey, a dedicated mailbox, seven open drop-in sessions across UK campuses, six faculty board meetings and 11 face-to-face and telephone meetings. Professor Mandy Fader would like to thank all those who contributed their views.
This culminated in a report to the Selection Committee, which informed the job specification in the recruitment pack.
Financial statements published
The 2017-18 financial statements and the 2017-18 Remuneration Committee report were published on Monday 3 December.
Our Vice-Chancellor noted our strong financial performance in a challenging climate and thanked the community for their role in this.
