Principal's Column

2005 is off to a flying start. Following its review, the QAA has reported in positive terms that "broad confidence can be placed in the soundness of the University's current and likely future management of the quality of its provision and the academic standards of its awards". In QAA speak that’s as good as it gets. Our inaugural professors inspired record audiences at the Discovery Days and the first of the Saturday Evening Lectures in conjunction with the Rep was a sell-out confirming an appetite in Dundee for engaging in stimulating events... and for the life and work of Burns.

2005 will also bring major improvements on the campus including completion of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research and the Queen Mother Building, continued improvements in the infrastructure for learning and teaching, investment in information and communications technology and work started on the redevelopment of student residences.

Work will also be underway later in the year to develop the new Clinical Research Centre at Ninewells, to relocate the Faculty of Education and Social Work to the main campus and to provide new facilities for the Centre for Energy, Petroleum, Mineral Law and Policy and a new centre for water research. Improvements to the library and sports facilities are also planned. None of this development comes without some inconvenience to campus life and, in particular, to car parking. We are grateful for your forbearance and we are taking a thorough look at ways of improving this for the long term.

Sir Terry Farrell - one of the country's top architects - has been appointed to oversee the capital ‘masterplan’ and this will be subject to discussion and consultation with staff and students in the next few months. The University is being strongly supported by the City Council in progressing its bold development plans and we remain committed to the concept of the ‘campus in the city’ with parallel improvements at Ninewells and to a more limited extent in Kirkcaldy. Of course new buildings are not an end in themselves but a means to an end - inspiring excellence in learning and teaching and research - making minds smile. Improved facilities will also act as a magnet to attract excellent students and internationally competitive staff to the University, increasing our self confidence and resilience for the future.

Funding this transformation will not be easy but marking time is not an option - we have to build for the future. The financial challenge is to ensure the long term viability of the University by generating cash surpluses year on year to support capital investment, capital borrowing and positive cash flow. This means careful budgeting and improved systems of financial planning and monitoring across every faculty and support service. It means using the increases announced in the Scottish Executive’s 2004 spending review wisely, working to secure the full economic costing of research projects and ensuring that capital investment leads to revenue efficiencies.

'Invest for success' is a necessary strategy but it needs a hard headed approach. Our seductive capital programme has to be tempered with the realism of containing costs, improving efficiency and taking the opportunity of state of the art buildings to promote new, smarter ways of working.

The University of Dundee is on the move and I look forward to the next few years with commitment, enthusiasm and a real sense of pride in what our staff and students have achieved and will go on to achieve in the future.

Alan Langlands
February 2005