Our Stategic Vision and Purpose ENG

Our Stategic Vision and Purpose ENG

A SECOND CENTURY O F M A K I N G W A V E S OUR STRATEGIC SWANSEA UNIVERSITY V I S I ON AND PUR POS E :

OUR VISION We are, and will continue to be, a principled, purposeful and resilient University that balances excellent teaching with world-leading research and innovation in an open environment which enables our students and colleagues to excel. While we are valued globally as a trusted partner, we are deeply committed to our region and are proud to be a University for Wales.

Gweddw crefft heb ei dawn Technical skill is bereft without culture

“It will be the task of your College to send out into the world men and women, fully equipped for the material work which awaits them, and with minds attuned to high ideal, opened to the rich and varied interests of modern life, and steadfastly set towards the service of their fellows.” King George V, 19 July 1920, at the ceremony to lay our University’s foundation stone

INTRODUCTION As we celebrate our centenary, we can look back with genuine pride in our University’s achievements since we first opened our doors to students in 1920. Although this Plan comes at a particular moment in our history, when we have had to come together as a community in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we can also use this opportunity to reflect on what we might achieve together during the course of the next few years that will resonate for our second century. We have consulted widely with our colleagues, students, alumni and partners to set out our community’s vision for its university, its purpose, the commitments we will make and priorities we will deliver. This document reflects our common ambitions for our University and what we stand for. It will be reviewed annually and updated as often as necessary, and will be supported by detailed, underpinning strategies with clear targets and measures of success for each of our core pillars and enabling foundations. I would like to thank everyone who has taken their time to share their thoughts about Swansea University, and for the many contributions that have helped to articulate our purpose.

OUR STRATEGY We are an intrinsically principled, purposeful and resilient organisation. Our community of colleagues, students, partners and stakeholders is characterised by the distinct values, culture and behaviours that lie at our core. The commitment of our community underpins the five key pillars of our University – our civic mission, student experience, learning and teaching, research and enterprise. Each of these is marked by our commitment to making a difference, to being socially responsible, to striving for excellence, and to maintaining a global outlook that enables us to be a community University with international reach and reputation. Our work is enabled by strong leadership and robust governance, effective communication and a commitment to financial and environmental sustainability. It is built upon our digital and physical infrastructure, our internationalisation strategy and our approach to recruiting talented and enthusiastic colleagues.

Professor Paul Boyle CBE, FRSE, FBA Vice-Chancellor

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

OUR STRENGTHS

OUR COMMITMENTS

Our University has many strengths that have contributed to our success to date and which we are committed to protecting and enhancing. In particular, there are a number of distinguishing features that are hallmarks of our community. • We are a warm, welcoming and family-centred community. Our people are at the heart of our organisation and we value their health and wellbeing. We hold an Athena SWAN silver award and are also recognised by Athena SWAN and Stonewall for our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusivity • Our consistent UK Top 10 position for student satisfaction is supported by our safe, caring environment and our commitment to enhancing students’ employability through opportunities to travel, undertake placements, and gain new skills

• We are a research-led University, ranking among the UK’s top 10 universities for balancing excellent teaching with excellent research, as demonstrated by our Teaching Excellence Framework Gold Award and UK Top 30 performance in REF2014 • We were founded by industry, for industry and our research has economic and societal impact. We are one of the UK’s leading industry-intensive universities (HE-BCI 2018) and have a deserved reputation for innovation and collaboration • We are proud to be a University for Wales, promoting our Welsh heritage, language and culture, as well as the role we play in shaping the economic and social life of our region and country

Our strengths are the foundations for our future success. As we embark on our second century we have identified the following overarching commitments that will define our University in the years ahead. • The climate crisis remains society’s biggest threat. We will align our work to the Sustainable Development Goals and will be a carbon-zero university by 2040 • We will further widen and deepen access to education, promoting lifelong, inclusive and equitable learning opportunities • We will deliver innovative, digitally supported approaches to teaching that are developed in partnership with our students and which help to embed interdisciplinary thinking across our programmes • We will extend our global reach and reputation, becoming a preferred partner for international research, teaching and enterprise collaborations, and moving up the international rankings year on year

• We will work with our partners to make the Swansea Bay City Region the sporting and wellbeing capital of Wales

• We will strengthen our position as one of the UK’s leading, impact-driven, research-intensive institutions, excelling at interdisciplinary and collaborative research, and will establish the first Institute for Advanced Studies in Wales • We will close the gender pay gap and will confront the structural and operational reasons for it and the low proportion of female professors

• We will develop and implement a whole institution approach to tackling racial inequality.

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

OUR HERITAGE

Our University originated in the dreams of the miners and industrialists whose contributions enabled the establishment of the University of Wales, and whose hope was that their university would provide new opportunities for their communities as it helped to shape the future of Wales. In 1920, Swansea became the federated university’s fourth member. The University College, Swansea was conceived as a technical institution that would work in partnership with its community to address the needs of the region, and local industry in particular. Although our founding disciplines were in the Sciences, Mathematics, Engineering and Metallurgy, these were swiftly complemented by the introduction of Welsh, English, French, History, Classics and Education. Hence, despite being founded by industry, for industry, our University was always imagined as a broad and eclectic institution that embraces the spectrum of academic endeavour. This ambition is encapsulated in our motto, gweddw crefft heb ei dawn (technical skill is bereft without culture) , and it remains true today. We are, after all, the University of Glanmor Williams, Kenneth O. Morgan and Hywel Teifi Edwards, of Mary Williams, Saunders Lewis and Rush Rhees as much as we are the University of Edward Bowen, Florence Mockeridge and Olek Zienkiewicz. We have produced some of the most remarkable and influential figures of Welsh academic and public life, alongside sporting heroes and cultural icons.

Our University was the first purpose-built campus in the UK, with an enviable beachfront location. Our expansion onto the new Bay Campus in 2015 was a powerful statement of our self-belief and an impressive demonstration of how far we have come since our foundation. Our student community has grown from just 89 in 1920 to nearly 22,000 today. Our reputation for teaching excellence, an outstanding student experience and cutting-edge research has resulted in our compelling international profile. We are proud to rank consistently in the top ten UK Universities for student satisfaction; to have won the WhatUni University of the Year twice in the last five years; and to have been recognised as the Times and Sunday Times Welsh University of the Year twice in four years. From humble beginnings as a local University College one hundred years ago, today we are confident, proud to serve our region’s people and industries, and strong enough to hold our own alongside many of the world’s top institutions.

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

OUR PEOPLE, VALUES, CULTURE AND BEHAVIOURS

Our people are our most important asset and they define our University. We are a principled organisation. We understand that our daily behaviours matter; we believe in each other, we support one another, we celebrate each other’s achievements, and we hold each other to account. We respect our colleagues, treating others as we expect to be treated, and we work as one university, recognising that every colleague and each student contributes to our success. We will invest in our people and reward excellent performance. And we will champion freedom of speech. While advocating autonomy and academic independence, we recognise that many of our most notable achievements have been founded upon productive collaborations, internally with each other as well as externally with our community and partners, as was envisaged by our industrial founders. We are united by our desire to work together to create and impart knowledge, to deliver solutions to global problems, and to make a difference to the lives we touch. We believe in the value of flexibility, collegiality and creating time to think in pursuit of intellectual stimulation, originality and impact. We work together in a professional and caring environment that enables us to exceed expectations for the benefit of all. We are committed to providing an environment where our colleagues can fulfil their potential and we will give underrepresented groups a platform to voice their experiences with the community and support conversations around Race, Gender and Sexual Orientation. We strive to be an institution where inclusion is everybody’s responsibility and have featured in Stonewall’s annual list of the UK’s Top 100 Employers for workplace inclusivity since 2016. We are a member

of Employers for Carers Wales, the Athena SWAN Charter and the Race Equality Charter.

“There is something that I think sets us apart from other universities. It’s more than our location and sense of community. More than the way we teach or the way we work with our partners, and it’s more than our Welsh heritage. It’s hard to define but we might call it our

We are an organisation with purpose and together we help to make the world a better place. If we are idealistic, it is because we have high expectations of ourselves, of the environment in which we work, of those we partner with, and of the impact we seek to make locally, nationally and internationally. We are a cultural and economic anchor within our community, with a distinct role to play in driving regional development and promoting health and well-being, and we are proud to be a beacon for Welsh heritage, language and culture. Equally, we celebrate our global outlook. The students and staff from more than 140 countries who have made Swansea their home enrich and shape our city, region and nation, following in the footsteps of our 140,000 alumni from all over the world. To be competitive in the global higher education marketplace requires us to act purposefully and responsibly as we strive for excellence. It requires us to be financially, structurally and emotionally resilient in our response to national and international threats, to be motivated to welcome and adapt to change, and to be alert to societal needs and challenges. Above all, it requires us to stay true to our distinctive culture and to the compassionate, tolerant and mutually supportive community that defines our Swansea family.

‘Swanseaness’.” KC, Student Services

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

OUR PEOPLE, VALUES, CULTURE AND BEHAVIOURS PRIORITIES:

1. We will put our people at the heart of our strategy, championing a sector-leading approach to equality, diversity and inclusion 2. We will work with our community to find more ways to reward and recognise colleagues , and to encourage their personal and career development 3. We will implement a health and wellbeing strategy to ensure that we enable our colleagues to thrive and to flourish

4. We will close the gender pay gap and increase the proportion of female professors 5. We will continue to speak up against, and confront the causes of, discrimination for whatever reason, and will ensure that the voices of under-represented groups are heard

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

OUR CIVIC MISSION We are proud to belong to the City of Swansea and the wider Swansea Bay City Region, and we celebrate that heritage. With campuses in three local authority areas, we recognise that our University is the region’s university, and that we have a responsibility to work with and for our community and Wales.

“It has been so inspirational to see the many ways our colleagues and students have stepped up to support our community in the fight against Covid-19. We should be proud of how our University has responded to the pandemic.” CS, Law celebration funds were repurposed to support student hardship, wellbeing and Covid-19 related research during the pandemic. STRIVING FOR EXCELLENCE: In terms of our civic mission, achieving excellence means demonstrating why what we do matters to the people in our community, from our heritage-led regeneration of the Hafod-Morfa Copperworks and our cultural offering, to the provision of education and skills and the economic development of our region. We will earn their trust and respect, not just as a major employer or contributor to the regional economy, but as an organisation with the best interests of its community at heart. We will know we are achieving excellence because our community will tell us.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE: We educate and train the teachers, doctors, nurses, paramedics and other key workers who are the backbone of our society, and who have been at the forefront of our community’s response to Covid-19. Discovery Student Volunteering has touched the lives of thousands of people in our region for more than fifty years, while our community-led arts and heritage projects help connect us to our past. We contribute to the cultural life of our community through our Taliesin Theatre, Great Hall and Egypt Centre, our South Wales Miners’ Library and Richard Burton Archives, and the International Dylan Thomas Prize. Ty’r Gwrhyd, our Welsh-language centre in the Swansea Valley, embraces its community through the promotion of Welsh, and we provide English language classes for the refugees and asylum seekers welcomed into our region. We also partner with the city and local sports teams to provide sports facilities shared with the community and have an ambition to establish Swansea city and our University as the champions of sport in Wales. Our public engagement and regular science festivals promote the value of higher education and our research, and our work with schools and colleges kindle imaginations. A GLOBAL OUTLOOK: We seek to deliver local solutions to the global challenges that affect us all. While our civic mission is rooted in our immediate region it extends to the impact we seek to make in communities worldwide.

We attract colleagues and students to Swansea from all over the world and we are committed to ensuring that the education and experiences we provide and the research we pursue are relevant both locally and internationally. We value alumni, the many coalitions and partnerships we have around the world, from the community-led projects we engage with to our friendship with Hillary Rodham Clinton and the development of our Global Challenges programme. We seek to work in genuine, open and equitable partnership, and to learn as much from others as we can. SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE: We are first and foremost a provider of education and lifelong learning opportunities that enable our students to acquire the knowledge and skills to help them achieve their ambitions, and we are committed to widening access to education for disadvantaged and socially excluded communities. Equally, we are committed to engaging in projects that support and improve the wellbeing of our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic community. We seek to empower communities and to help the voiceless find their voice, and we encourage our students to be ethical, engaged citizens. We have signed the UN Sustainable Development Goals Accord and acknowledged the climate emergency. The unique position of Wales as a country committed to the wellbeing of future generations affords us the opportunity to respond to its legislation and to promote sustainable development in all we do. We pull together to support our community in times of national crisis; in 2020 our Centenary

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

OUR CIVIC MISSION PRIORITIES

“Y Gymraeg yw calon ein cymuned - yn gyfrwng dysgu, ymchwilio, cymdeithasu a dathlu.“ SD, Geography

4. We will open our university to the public, expanding our cultural programmes and sports facilities and make them more visible and accessible 5. We will introduce Centenary scholarships for asylum seekers and become a University of Sanctuary in our Centenary year

1. We will build genuine local and regional partnerships that are based upon transparency, accountability and shared purpose, which will drive economic, social and cultural development in Wales and beyond 2. We will publish a civic mission strategy, which we will develop in collaboration with our partners with the aim of being an exemplar of civic mission best practice 3. We will promote the positive impacts that our staff and students have in our community and will create more volunteering opportunities for them

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

OUR STUDENT EXPERIENCE Our students are at the heart of our University. We take their needs and expectations into account in our decision-making and can take pride in our consistently strong reputation for the quality of our student experience, the strength of our student support services, and our commitment to student mental health and wellbeing. In partnership with our Students’ Union, we will work to ensure that every student who makes Swansea their home experiences the best of us.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE: Our students are among the most highly employable of all UK universities and go on to make valuable contributions in the public, private and third sectors. They are rounded individuals with a breadth of skills that help to build compelling CVs. Our students make a significant contribution to local society through volunteering and outreach programmes, and we will do more to publicize and celebrate these activities. A GLOBAL OUTLOOK: Our students are part of an international community. They are taught by colleagues who bring international perspectives into their classrooms and they are encouraged to explore the world for themselves. We will ensure that all students have the opportunity to learn more about and experience our Welsh heritage and culture, and to gain skills and experiences that will prepare them for rewarding careers, no matter where in the world they choose to work. Our aim is to produce global citizens who will go out into the world and make a difference.

SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE: We perform well in terms of widening participation and student retention, especially in under-represented groups. We will continue to support students from all backgrounds to benefit from higher education and to achieve outstanding outcomes, and will support our Students’ Union in enabling us to achieve our academic and student experience ambitions. We will keep listening to our students and encouraging the feedback that enables us to understand their needs. Above all, we will continue to prioritise the wellbeing of all our students, particularly those who may need additional support, to ensure they get the most from their time at university. STRIVING FOR EXCELLENCE: While the National Student Survey, WhatUni Student Choice Awards and graduate outcomes survey are key measures of our outstanding Student Experience, we will also seek to demonstrate excellence in other ways, including the success of our sports teams, the vitality of our student societies and the impact of our Students’ Union and Discovery Student Volunteering charity.

“Our students should feel that, when they come to Swansea, they have the opportunity to change the world.” EG, Information Services and Systems

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

OUR STUDENT EXPERIENCE PRIORITIES

1. We will ensure that the wellbeing of our students is the foundation of our student experience 2. We trust and believe in our students and will embed them further in our decision making 3. We will work with our alumni, community and partners to create more opportunities for our students to experience a work-based placement and to acquire skills and experiences that will help them to make a difference to our society, whatever academic discipline they follow

4. We will provide more opportunities for more students to study or work abroad during their degree 5. We will enhance the sporting, leisure and cultural opportunities that contribute to our student experience and our cohesive community

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

OUR LEARNING AND TEACHING The sharing of knowledge to nurture independent, critical thinking is fundamental to our purpose. It enables our students to be resilient in the face of global challenges and to adapt to the changing world of work. We will continue to promote online learning and blended teaching provision, an approach that we have implemented and learned from during the Covid-19 pandemic. We celebrate our Welsh heritage and are proud to be part of a bilingual nation. We respect students’ right to study through the medium of Welsh and will expand our range of opportunities for them to do so. We will also work to maintain our status as a community that balances research and teaching excellence.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE: The knowledge and experiences we provide to our students and the skills we help them acquire are relevant to the needs of our community. We embrace opportunities to bring together perspectives and expertise from different disciplines and will develop interdisciplinary degree programmes that complement our successful, subject-specific programmes. We will further expand our course offering to include new programmes that add value within our region and internationally, such as in pharmacy, sports management and coaching, and physiotherapy. A GLOBAL OUTLOOK: Our graduates work in an increasingly connected world that demands appreciation and understanding of other cultures and countries. We provide imaginative opportunities for our students to study and work abroad during their degree programmes, and to relate their learning to the challenges faced by communities around the world. The programmes we provide resonate with students from over 140 countries and we will seek opportunities to extend our provision further beyond our national borders.

SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE: We will work to embed the sustainable development goals across our curriculum, relating teaching to societal challenges. We will increase the proportion of BAME staff members at all levels and will integrate more Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic perspectives into our curriculum to address the attainment gap. We also recognise that learning should be a lifetime endeavour and will expand opportunities for adult learners to acquire new skills and to pursue their intellectual interests. STRIVING FOR EXCELLENCE: We will gauge the success of our Learning and Teaching Strategy through the Teaching Excellence Framework and the National Student Survey. We set high expectations and measure our standards in collaboration with the Quality Assurance Agency. Our Gold TEF award reflects our nationally recognised excellence.

“It is important that we teach our students to be resilient and that it is OK not to succeed first time, every time.” JB, Arts and Humanities

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

OUR LEARNING AND TEACHING PRIORITIES

1. We will provide personalised, flexible and inclusive learning with the support of learning communities 2. We will empower our teaching community to delivery high quality teaching and assessment, and ensure that they are recognised and rewarded for doing so 3. We will expect our learning, teaching and assessment to have been informed by representatives from across our community and partners from the private, public and third sector

4. We will cultivate a learning environment that enables our learning communities to flourish 5. We will ensure that our systems and processes support our colleagues and students in the delivery of excellence in learning, teaching and assessment

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

A SECOND CENTURY OF MAKING WAVES

OUR RESEARCH Our research changes lives, drives innovation and regional growth, and is aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. It impacts on our culture and society as well as on our health and wellbeing, our economy and our planet. We drive policy change nationally and internationally. We are at the leading edge in many areas including: advanced manufacturing and innovation in clean energy and the digital economy; nanohealth and the analysis of large scale health >Page 1 Page 2-3 Page 4-5 Page 6-7 Page 8-9 Page 10-11 Page 12-13 Page 14-15 Page 16-17 Page 18-19 Page 20-21 Page 22-23 Page 24-25 Page 26-27 Page 28-29 Page 30-31 Page 32-33 Page 34-35 Page 36-37 Page 38

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