This is the last Contact of the academic year and, historically, the last year of terms at Dundee. In September we switch to semesterisation and modularisation - a move that will inject greater flexibility into our programmes for students and unlock potential for further collaboration across disciplines and partner institutions. It is a significant change which has been achieved with a great deal of hard work on the part of many. It is a significant sign of how Dundee is preparing itself for a lead role in a changing world.
As we set our course for the coming years a brief snapshot of some current landmarks shows:
These are just a few of the positive features on the current landscape. As I write this, that landscape is shifting at every level - local, national, European and global. Political change, war, terrorism and SARS are among the current major influencers. Who knows what is round the corner. Through these shifting sands the University of Dundee is plotting its own path, keeping a weather eye to the wider horizons for gathering storm clouds and an opportunistic eye for favourable winds.
In plotting that path we take as our starting point the fundamentals of the University charter "to advance and diffuse knowledge, wisdom and understanding". Our destination will be articulated in Towards 2007 - to be published after wide consultation across the university. Our key priorities for the next few years are currently being translated into operational plans and responsibilities. These will be subject to detailed discussion in the coming weeks across the University and at Court. I would like to take this opportunity to lay them out below for your comment.
Learning and Teaching - providing research-led education and training that is responsive to the needs of individual students, business, the professions and the community.
Research and Enterprise - promoting pure and applied research and scholarship at international levels of excellence in an agreed set of disciplines and encouraging the transfer of knowledge to business and the community to improve the quality of life and wealth creation.
Academic and Student Support Services - building a coherent and responsive policy and operational framework that enables staff and students to develop to the full in an environment of equal opportunity.
These are the challenging objectives that will need to be tackled if the university is to prosper and develop in an increasingly complex and competitive environment. The foundation for tackling these objectives has to be a financial regime that provides flexibility to key decision makers whilst ensuring proper accountability, cost effectiveness and provision for adequate re-investment. This is difficult to achieve but good progress has been made in recent years and my determination to see the university advance still further is greater than ever.
I welcome your views (via c.l.e.pope@dundee.ac.uk) and thank you for your continuing commitment to Dundee's future. I particularly look forward to celebrating the great success of staff and students at this year's graduation ceremonies and the Summer Sensation staff party.
Major fault lines are emerging between England and post-devolution Scotland in health and education, Sir Alan Langlands told an invited audience in London in May.
Delivering the tenth Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Fellowship lecture for the Nuffield Trust, "Synchronising Higher Education and the NHS", Sir Alan pointed to recent policy changes which will mean that divergent routes are taken by the NHS and higher education north and south of the border. Two important fault lines are emerging the creation of Foundation Hospitals in England and the abolition of NHS Trusts in Scotland and the introduction in 2006 of a new Graduate Contribution Scheme (aka top-up fees) in England and the rejection of this policy by the major political parties in Scotland.
Taken against a backdrop of continuous organisational change, the challenges for synchronising higher education and NHS have never been greater. The link being made between the competence of government and the performance of domestic public services, the speed of advances in science and technology, changes in the burden of disease and the strains induced by balancing the tripartite mission of research, education and patient care all add to the "synchronisation challenge". But in spite of the range of pressures Sir Alan is optimistic about the future: "Contrary to the expectations of some people I remain largely positive about the overall direction of travel. Higher levels of funding, improved information systems for patient care and research and the way in which more explicit service and professional standards now inform the education of doctors, nurses and the allied health professions are all very positive signs."