Corporate Plan 2006 - 2012:
A Statement of Strategic Intent

Education and Widening Access

We are committed to the development of our students as self-motivated, independent, lifelong learners

We aspire to be the University of choice for students in our region and to increase our attractiveness to students both nationally and internationally.

We are committed to the development of our students as self-motivated, independent, lifelong learners, empowered to make significant contributions in their chosen careers.

We will seek to achieve a gradual year-on-year increase in the entry qualifications of our undergraduate students and match this with a year on- year increase in added value whilst aiming to improve our ranking of graduate level employment.

Our strategies to enhance educational quality and promote widening access and diversity will be sensitive to the wide range of current and future educational provision from Foundation degrees to Doctorates, in-company CPD to full time degrees, distance learning to campus-based learning and NHS-funded to HEFCE-funded.

High quality and challenging education geared to employability will be sustained by the services and support (e.g. Virtual Learning Environments) that will allow each student to achieve their potential.

We will achieve this by:

• investing additional income from fees to enhance the quality of the undergraduate cultural, artistic, sporting and social experience
• strengthening our partnerships with both private and public sector employers
• investigating our options for offering high quality educational programmes overseas
• collecting feedback on every aspect of the student experience and using it to make year-on-year improvements
• implementing a clear staff promotion and reward system that recognises innovation and excellence
• developing a global awareness among our staff and students that feeds into research, enterprise and education
• seeking accreditation of programmes wherever possible.