Dear colleagues,
As I write this, we are coming up to the end of the first week of our new academic year. With our students returning – one week earlier this year – I want to extend my thanks to everyone who worked so hard to deliver Welcome Week and the changes to the start and finish of our academic year. This significant change has been a collective effort across faculties, Professional Services and academic colleagues, who have pulled out all the stops. Your dedication and commitment to our students, as well as to ground-breaking research, are amongst the many things that make us such an exceptional institution.
There are already many achievements to celebrate. Last week, we joined local civic and business representatives and our construction partner, Sir Robert McAlpine, to ‘top out’ our Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus. This significant milestone marks reaching the highest point of the structure and the mid-point until we open in September 2026. We have also won two major awards: High Tech & Telecom and AI University of the Year in the National AI awards. This is further testimony to our national and international expertise and status in deep technologies and the continued dedication of our teams in this area. And today we went up five places in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide.
I am excited about the year ahead, particularly following our two-day UEB conference at the beginning of the week, where we came together to measure progress and planning for 2024-5. This was an important opportunity to recommit to our Strategy 2030. One particular highlight was the close working partnership with the new cohort of Bristol SU full-time officers. The Officers joined us on Day Two and together we committed to joint actions on student poverty, academic representation and collective wellbeing. I look forward to keeping you updated on our collective progress throughout the year.
It has also been positive to see a very different tone of voice from the new government who took office last spring. It’s encouraging to hear the government talk of universities as engines for growth across the country, as well as the important contribution of international students and their support for the Arts and Humanities. In the coming year, we will engage with new ministers and make the case for our sector, our research, and the significant value we can deliver for our communities, locally, nationally and globally.
Nonetheless, we are all aware that this is a challenging time for the Higher Education sector. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that we are well placed to deliver on our budget going forward, ensuring we are able to realise our ambitious plans for education and research. We won’t ignore the pressures and we will need to think carefully about the value of everything that we currently do. Are there things that we could simplify? Are there partnerships we could enter into that would allow us to work more effectively? We will be asking these questions throughout the year and I am very optimistic that we will navigate these complexities together well.
We will continue to engage with you on this and other matters and, as a wider leadership team, we’ve been looking at what you told us though the Staff Experience Survey. We’ll be sharing the high-level results with you in the next couple of weeks and, in October, I will host the first of our twice-yearly, virtual all-staff assemblies. In these sessions, my team and I will share updates on our finances and the challenges and opportunities for the year ahead. The first All-Staff Assembly is on 21 October, 2 to 4 pm; please save the date and look out for more information in the coming weeks. We are also refreshing our In Conversation format to focus on deep dives into key areas of work led by the wider leadership team. These will also move online.
I look forward to continuing my VC surgeries; these are a highlight for me and a valuable opportunity to listen to your ideas, feedback and suggestions. They are open to everyone: if you would like to discuss anything, please book a slot. We plan to build on the model to provide opportunities to discuss key issues with other members of my team in the coming year.
Finally, thank you, again, for everything you do for our students, your fellow colleagues, our University, our city and beyond. We are two years into an eight-year strategy and making significant progress, and I look forward to continuing our work together this year.
With all my best wishes
Evelyn
Professor Evelyn Welch
Vice-Chancellor and President