Principal's Column

A clear and ambitious vision for the University, building on our distinctive strengths is being developed by a group of University staff working with the Principal, Sir Alan Langlands. He uses this issue of Contact to set a course for the future, establishing five key themes for further work and wider discussion across the University. The five themes chime with the City's emerging community plan, the Scottish Executive's policies for higher education, health and enterprise and SET's priorities for economic development.

Shaping the future

I have been working with a group of staff in the past few months to consider the future shape of the University. We have not produced a blueprint but a vision for the future intended to stimulate wider discussion and inform the strategic planning process.

At the heart of our vision is a commitment to effective learning and teaching, world class research and flexible working across disciplines and with our partner institutions. We have also identified five key themes for further work:

Improving Health and Tackling Disease

We will aim to build on the University's international reputation for fundamental research in many areas of biology and into the causes of human disease; develop world class clinical and health services research; and educate first rate scientists and health and social care professionals. Working with other agencies, we will promote the health and well being of local people by making information about science and health issues more accessible. We will continue to play a key role in tackling cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other diseases and focus on child health and the needs of older people. The study of neuroscience will be developed further. Our work with St Andrews to develop an institute focused on postgraduate education and research in relation to the social dimensions of health will be given high priority.

Fostering Creativity

We will positively encourage original thinking and imaginative proposals for change. The creative talents of the staff and students at Duncan of Jordanstone and in the humanities will continue to play a key role in the cultural development of Dundee and Scotland. Traditional strengths in visual design are now being combined with new digital technologies to support programmes in animation, interactive media design and innovative product design and these sorts of cross-faculty initiatives will be allowed to grow and develop with more investment in IT and information sciences. Stronger links with industry will also be developed in these areas. Advances in biology and the physical sciences also need to be applied creatively to engineering eg in relation to geotechnical research, advanced materials research and tissue engineering.

Promoting Regeneration

The University will build on its key role in the social, cultural and economic life of Dundee and Scotland and will contribute in a focused way to UK and international initiatives. New developments on the campus will add to the vibrancy and attractiveness of the city and a new urban affairs group to be developed in partnership with local people will support research focused on the root causes of social and economic exclusion. We will strive to attract new talent and increase graduate retention through the development of our own research and the formation of new spin out companies and we will work with others to establish Dundee as part of a global network, developing both 'hard'connections (eg IT infrastructure) and 'soft' connections (eg academic, business and cultural links).

Adopting an Entrepreneurial Approach

We will take an energetic approach to developing the University, supporting innovation in how we go about our business and taking carefully measured risks. We will continue to support and expand postgraduate activity which has strong input from the international business community (eg the CEPMLP and our work on international water law). We will support enterprise through the commercialisation of the University's research base and intellectual property portfolio and we will work with others to achieve economic advantage by embedding enterprise thinking in our teaching programmes. This means drawing on a diverse range of funding sources and investing in the infrastructure and the analytical capacity required for cutting edge science and technology. It also means working with others who have complementary skills and experience eg St Andrews in relation to microelectronics and photonics and the Scottish Crop Research Institute in relation to plant, microbial and environmental sciences.

Fostering Lifelong Learning

The University will play its part in widening access and building a culture of lifelong learning. This means building stronger relationships with schools and further education colleges and continuing to develop our access courses and academic support for students. The University will also draw on its outstanding record of preparing students for professional careers (in medicine, nursing, dentistry, law and accountancy, architecture, engineering and teaching) and will encourage lifelong partnerships with our graduate professionals through programmes of continuous professional development. We must also rise to the challenge of the global market for learning, welcoming international students, exploiting new learning technologies and promoting innovative approaches to distance learning.

Next Steps

Further detailed work will be carried out on the five themes over the next two to three months and a series of stakeholder discussions will also be held with the University's partners and other agencies which have overlapping interests. Related work on semesterisation and modularisation, improving the responsiveness of student services, the feasibility of developing a postgraduate school and the review of central services will continue in parallel with this initiative. Further details are available at /www.dundee.ac.uk/pressoffice/vision/welcome.htm and comments from staff and students are welcome.

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