Mission Vision & Identity. - University of Sheffield/file/mvi...Mission, Vision & Identity 5 The University’s guiding principles There are six guiding principles that underpin the

MissionVision &Identity.

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Mission, Vision & Identity

Vice-Chancellor’s introduction

It is a privilege to be Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield. This is a University with a richly deserved international reputation for outstanding research and teaching, and over a century of achievement across the full spectrum of academic life which, in its turn, has directly enhanced the lives of people all over the world.

During these challenging times, it is more, not less, important to have a clear understanding of what motivates our work, our values and our ambitions. As I have spoken in depth to colleagues and students about our vision for the University, I have been impressed by a common thread of determination to seek knowledge which makes a difference, to answer difficult questions and to open up understanding.

Our mission, vision and identity act as a commonly held explanation of our journey through understanding to knowledge, our definition of who we are, what values we have and our ideas of where we are going. It is this which informs our plans and priorities, as we translate our ideals into reality.

This vision chimes completely with our University of Sheffield motto which is taken from Virgil – “Rerum Cognoscere Causas”. Two millennia after Virgil considered man’s practical and political struggle to live well in the world, we continue to agree that a crucial element in human success is the process of ongoing discovery, of understanding underlying causes.

Our founding principles have of course found their application in contemporary times, but they continue to hold true in our teaching, and in our individual and interdisciplinary work. The University of Sheffield remains, as its founders hoped, a constructive and powerful community of scholarship with real benefits for individuals and society beyond.

We can all be proud that we are part of a University driven by a desire to make a difference in the world. We are confident that the knowledge we generate is important to all aspects of modern life and civilisation and our graduates go on to make a powerful, positive, contribution all over the world.

Our achievements are only made possible by having a clear understanding of who we are and the value of our contribution. This vision outlines the principles given practical meaning in this Strategic Plan and beyond that how we allocate our resources and plans at Faculty and departmental level.

I would like to thank all who contributed to the process of defining our values and vision, and who have considered in detail what these mean for our corporate planning. The University of Sheffield has a proud story to tell and our staff and students have a significant contribution to make. It gives me great confidence in our future to know that we will approach our opportunities and face challenges together in the light of an enduring vision.

Professor Keith Burnett Vice-Chancellor

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The University’s identityThe University of Sheffield has roots going back to 1828 and was founded formally in 1905 via penny donations from the local citizens. The aim was to bring higher education within reach of the children of the people working in the great industries of Sheffield, to give support to those industries and to serve as a centre for the study of diseases. The University is proud of its origins and continues to value the role it has come to play in its city and region.

From its earliest days the city of Sheffield has been renowned for its steel. Its hallmark – for technical innovation and guaranteed quality – is the ‘Made in Sheffield’ stamp. Its many innovations in steel were rooted in practice, prompted by observation and made possible by understanding. They frequently changed the world.

The University’s culture was endowed from the start with the best qualities of the city – excellence and innovation, curiosity, friendliness, independence of thought, and a preference for action over rhetoric. Combined over time with a determination to make a significant impact on global as well as local and regional challenges, these longstanding characteristics have created a distinctive identity for the University.

The University has expanded from its original intake of 114 students to nearly 25,000, who now study across a broad range of areas spanning arts and humanities, social sciences, medicine, science and engineering. We promote the potential for higher education to transform people’s lives and welcome a hugely diverse range of staff and students from around the world to our city. We recognise too that

some issues of international importance in the 21st century are entirely different from those of the past. We seek to play a leading role in the research and teaching needed to address the biggest issues facing our world today.

Over the years the growing extent of our ambition and the increasing number of exchanges of people and ideas has developed the University’s reach. We are now a truly international university with a world-wide reputation.


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The University’s visionThe University of Sheffield will be one of the best universities in the world, renowned for the excellence, impact and distinctiveness both of its research and its research-led learning and teaching. This vision is grounded in a strong belief in a culture of higher education built on a positive interaction between learning, teaching and research.

Our purpose has long been to improve the world by seeking to understand it better. The University’s motto, “Rerum Cognoscere Causas”, comes from Virgil’s Georgics and means ‘to know the causes of things’. We now define the University’s mission in more contemporary language as ‘to discover and understand’. We remain committed today to the goal of changing the world for the better through the power and application of ideas and knowledge.

The University’s mission


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The University’s guiding principlesThere are six guiding principles that underpin the University’s mission and inform all our strategic decisions. They are:

Achieving Excellence

Cultivating Ambition

Making a Difference

Working Together

Protecting the Future

Leading the Way

They combine to constitute a shared framework for our activities.

The University’s guiding principles

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Cultivating AmbitionWe set challenging and important goals. We are willing to grapple with the most difficult intellectual and practical problems of our time and are not easily daunted. We want to attract and retain people with ambition and to provide them with the opportunities to realise their dreams and develop their talents.


Achieving ExcellenceExcellence indicates the very highest quality, significantly exceeding the norm, as reflected by the ‘Made in Sheffield’ stamp. It reflects a refusal to accept the ordinary. We aim to create an environment that supports and promotes success, encouraging staff and students to achieve and excel.

JessicaEnnis.net

Making a DifferenceUniversities are one of society’s engines of change. We seek to create, discover, share and apply knowledge through teaching and research in ways that make a difference and ensure that our work has a genuine cutting edge. We also want to make the experience of being part of the University something that shapes the life and prospects of everyone who comes here.

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Working TogetherSolutions to important problems depend increasingly upon collaboration: between staff and students, across disciplines and in partnership with others locally, nationally and internationally. We aim to build inclusive teams, maximising the benefits of difference and drawing on the skills and potential of the widest possible range of colleagues.

Protecting the FutureWe have to think beyond the short term. In order to safeguard our core academic activities and the student experience for the future, we must ensure that our research and teaching are sustainable. We need to use resources effectively, transparently and responsibly and to be resilient and adaptable in the face of change.

Leading the WayWe believe that universities have a responsibility to look ahead to important new problems and to offer intellectual leadership to society in response to them. We expect our staff to be leaders both in their fields and in the governance of the University and we encourage our students to think how they too can shape the world both now and into the future.

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The University’s strategic planningThis document describing the University of Sheffield’s mission, vision and identity frames our approach to strategic planning. Although our guiding principles need to be applied to changing situations and conditions, and to chart new ways of working, we see them as enduring over time. They stand as the touchstone of the kind of university we aspire to be, guiding the choices we all make in our daily work.

CaseStudies.

Case Studies

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create an environment that supports and promotes success,

We know that photosynthesis is essential for life on Earth. The food we eat, the air we breathe and the fuels we burn all depend on this process. But until recently, we didn’t understand how it worked.

Working as part of an international team, scientists

pinpoint how the component parts of photosynthesis

harnesses the power of sun could help us tackle the problem of how to meet people’s food and energy needs at a time of global environmental change.

This breakthrough also has implications for the future of molecular science, paving the way for scientists to learn more about a large number of biological systems and processes.

Our work on photosynthesis is part of Project Sunshine, page 5.

Breakthrough in photosynthesis research

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Changing Families, Changing Food was a three-year inter-disciplinary research programme, led by the University and funded with £1.2m from the Leverhulme Trust.

It examined recent changes in the form of family

assumption that healthy eating is primarily a matter of individual choice.

Researchers from Human Nutrition, East Asian Studies, Geography, Nursing and Midwifery, the School of Health and Related Research and Sociological Studies worked on the project in collaboration with colleagues in Health and Social Care at Royal Holloway, University of London.

This research is particularly relevant to policy

problem of obesity will require action at all levels: from individuals, families, communities and government.


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international reputation for research excellence. In the 2008 RAE (Research Assessment Exercise)

departments in the UK.

Research is part of the department’s curriculum at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Students are taught by leading researchers who are experts in

to ask the right kinds of questions and to get results.

It’s an active learning experience, one that produces

tackle big projects, on their own or as part of a team.

All students are expected to undertake their own research. But this doesn’t mean they spend all their time in the library. For example, a third year student might write a dissertation based on a work placement or a project with an external partner such as a local authority, charity, NGO or political party.

This balance between academic research and real-life learning helps to produce well-rounded graduates with the mix of skills, experience and knowledge that employers are looking for.


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Led by the Faculty of Science, Project Sunshine

cultivating ambition. It brings together researchers of all levels from across the science and engineering disciplines to focus on the biggest question facing the world today: how can we use the sun’s energy

provide more renewable energy?

It’s a huge challenge but Project Sunshine stands for optimism. Sunshine’s scientists believe that by pushing themselves and by pushing the traditional disciplinary boundaries they can achieve anything. Together they inspire each other to excel in a way

to realise their dreams and develop their talents.

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Recognising potential, raising aspirations

Medicine Scheme (SOAMS) targets young people with the academic potential to study medicine and encourages them to consider university as an option.

and the Medical School work with students for up to

The SOAMS scheme includes sessions to familiarise young people and their parents with higher education and how the system works. There are team-building and problem-solving workshops, a residential summer school and a work placement.

study skills and revision sessions. This helps them write good applications, handle interviews

to university. She is now a junior doctor. Saima’s medical degree establishes her as a role model for her community in Firvale, helping to raise the aspirations of other young people.

Jenna Carr, an undergraduate who came to the Medical School through SOAMS says:

“ If you come from an area like mine, the most

SOAMS demonstrates that medicine isn’t just for the wealthy.”

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Technology to improve livesAn interdisciplinary research team at the University

technology to meet the needs of an ageing population.

Already available free to download from the internet is MAAVIS (Managed Access to Audio, Visual and Information Services), a program that enables the elderly and disabled to use computers.

The simple touch screen programme enables the user to access Skype, play music, view photos and watch videos, without having prior knowledge of computer systems.

Residents at one care home have already embraced MAAVIS, increasing their social interaction and communicating regularly with their families.

The University’s Assistive Technology team of nurses, social scientists, psychologists, information specialists, medical engineers, clinical scientists and allied health professionals, continues to research and develop technologies to support the elderly and people with disabilities or long term health conditions.

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Opening doors

students working together with service users from

Trust (SHSC).

On the course, second-year English Literature undergraduates work with groups such as long-term users of mental health services, to tell the

other artworks they produce form a moving and remarkable record of everyday life in the city.

The course has already attracted interest from other SHSC service users and providers, and from students at the University who are keen to get involved.

By opening its doors and by giving people a platform to express themselves, the University is making a

to make a positive impact in the community.

express myself in ways I never thought possible. I have been astounded by the enthusiasm, determination and empathy shown by the students we have worked with. It’s been six years since I

successful. I hope this course runs every year so

Kathryn Littlewood

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Arts-Science Encounters is an annual series of public events combining the aesthetic with the

scientists in public dialogue to shed light on the links between the two disciplines.

The series makes a strong contribution to the city’s vision of creative and cultural excellence. Each encounter is designed to entertain and to stimulate debate:

For Darwin, Creativity and Truth, the poet Ruth Padel, Darwin’s great-great-grand-daughter, and the historian Mark Greengrass explored the connections between science and poetry. In the Cellist and the Brain Scientist, Bernard Gregor-Smith (Dante Quartet) played pieces by Bach and talked about his evolving approach to music. Professor Lawrence Parsons (Psychology) talked about performance and emotion from the point of view of the brain.

Arts-Science Encounters attract members of

are illuminated. New research collaborations are initiated. At venues – often sold out – in the city and on campus, our academics appear alongside renowned artists from around the world.

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We work with business and industry to ensure our

academic excellence with practical skills. The Department of Mechanical Engineering’s Technology Strategy and Business Planning module is one example of this approach.

to collaborate with partners from business and industry, including manufacturers, marketers and bankers. The students develop solutions to real commercial problems and write accompanying business plans.

Many of their ideas are developed into prototypes and functional products. For example, a walking frame for children with brittle bones was designed by engineering students and is now being used by

experience puts our students ahead of the game when it comes to applying for jobs.

“The business planning module is in my view a shining example of how to give students an awareness of the way that academic knowledge needs to be combined with practical application and business knowledge in order to achieve success in the demanding 21st-century marketplace.”

Peter Crawford Taylor & Emmett

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A sound investmentThe Soundhouse is part of our recent investment in new facilities for the arts and humanities. The building incorporates recording studios, composition spaces and a computer laboratory. Undergraduate and postgraduate students from

based in the Soundhouse, supports open source

with colleagues from the Information School and Department of Computer Science on the design and production of new software tools.

Ongoing work in this area includes the development of free, easy to use learning packages. The aim is to make the technology in the Soundhouse accessible to other musicians and the wider public as well as students.

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Run by the University in partnership with industry, the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing combines our science and engineering expertise with the technological innovation of some of the world’s leading aerospace and advanced manufacturing companies.

The centre develops high-tech solutions for materials and machining for aerospace and other industries. It helps fuel the national economy, positioning the UK as a major player in advanced manufacturing. It’s also the base for a new Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre which will provide manufacturing expertise for the new generation of civil nuclear energy facilities.

from around the globe are employed at the centre. They work with over 60 businesses, from global leaders such as Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Messier Dowty and BAE Systems to local SMEs.

The AMRC is an internationally recognised centre of excellence, the preferred model for industrial and academic collaboration by both Boeing and Rolls-Royce. In recognition of this achievement, the University was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2007 – the highest honour for a UK university.

In October 2010, Prime Minister David Cameron

generation of government-backed technology and innovation centres.

the few universities that really understands the link between research and industrial application.”

Sir Roger Bone President, Boeing UK


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one of the largest of its kind in the UK and a model of best practice. It gives students the chance to work with individuals and groups in the local community such as the homeless, refugees, young people and the elderly.

In the Students’ Union Activities Awards for 2009–10,

Award went to Flourish. Students taking part in Flourish spend one afternoon a week working with

speech problems.

Flourish has attracted volunteers from across the student population. It’s particularly popular with students from departments such as Psychology and Human Communication Sciences, who get the added

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Enhancing health servicesExperts in our Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health continue to push the boundaries of health research, developing new tools and techniques to

of healthcare in the UK.

One example of this is FRAX®. This is an online calculator that helps doctors assess whether or not

later in life. It was developed for the World Health

led by Emeritus Professor John Kanis.

The calculator, which can also be used by patients, takes into account factors such as age, sex, body mass index and parental history of hip fracture to predict the risk.

the burden on health services is reduced.

The calculator is already available in several

as an iPhone application.

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brings together world-class academics, researchers and experts from industry to develop wind turbine

The University was chosen by Siemens on the strength of the theoretical and applied research conducted in the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering. The centre specialises in the technology, architecture and design of wind turbine generators to generate electrical energy for the global market.

“Partnerships such as this are essential to maintain

reliable wind turbine technologies. Our constant dialogue with the University’s experts will translate

wind industry and the environment.”

Christoph Ehlers Managing Director, Siemens Wind Power in the UK

Siemens press picture

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The School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) is the UK’s most powerful department for health services research. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, 90 per cent of the work assessed in ScHARR was rated internationally recognised, internationally excellent or world-leading.

The school’s health services research includes emergency and urgent care, public health, primary and community care and mental health. This work is taken up by both healthcare providers and policy makers seeking ways to improve care and use

£6 million per year in external funding. Research themes include health inequalities, alcohol policy, patient safety and quality improvement, healthcare for an ageing population and obesity research – some of the biggest challenges facing healthcare today and in the future.

This document is set in the University’s own fonts, Stephenson and Blake.

Stephenson and its sans serif companion Blake (this one), were chosen with the assistance of the National Type Museum in London and redrawn for us by renowned type experts House Style Graphics. In their modernised, digitised form, they are the

our unique signature, our hallmark, our stamp.

StrategicPlan2010–2015.

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Objectives

Achieving ExcellenceExcellence indicates the very highest quality, significantly exceeding the norm, as reflected by the ‘Made in Sheffield’ stamp. It reflects a refusal to accept the ordinary. We aim to create an environment that supports and promotes success, encouraging staff and students to achieve and excel.

What are our goals? Our priorities up to 2015 We will do this by... Key measures of our success that we can benchmark our performance against (KPI number)

1 To be recognised worldwide for excellence in research-led learning and teaching and for research and innovation of the highest international quality.

We need to:

• Demonstrate the distinctiveness of our course and research portfolio.

• Enhance our position in external assessments and peer review of academic performance for both research and learning and teaching activities.

• Increase our market share of external income.

• Placing equal value on learning and teaching and research and innovation in our academic strategies, policies and organisational practices.

• Identifying what makes our portfolio and our graduates distinctive, and communicating that distinctiveness to prospective students and sponsors.

• Increasing our profile and promoting the Sheffield Academic amongst global peers and prospective partners.

• Placing the Sheffield Academic concept at the heart of how we recruit, support and develop high quality academic staff.

• Recruiting and retaining academic staff of the highest quality.

• Giving those staff the facilities and support they need to stay at the forefront of their disciplines, and encouraging them to collaborate with partners of internationally leading status.

• Preparing for a REF 2014 performance that exceeds the RAE 2008 outcomes.

• Average tariff score on entry (KPI 8).

• Student satisfaction (overall satisfaction from NSS) (KPI 11).

• Percentage of First and 2:1 degrees awarded (KPI 12).

• Research income per academic FTE (KPI 16).

• Research Excellence Framework (REF) performance (KPI 18).

2 To be recognised worldwide for an outstanding and distinctive student experience which produces graduates who are in demand.

We need to:

• Ensure the highest quality of learning and teaching is delivered throughout the University.

• Achieve greater national and international recognition of the strength and value of our approach to research-led teaching.

• Promote the attributes of the Sheffield Graduate worldwide.

• Prepare our students for the international labour market.

• Achieve greater recognition, amongst employers worldwide, of the quality of our graduates.

• Enhancing the welcome and induction for all students.

• Ensuring all students are taught by inspirational researchers.

• Investing in research facilities to ensure that we teach in a research-rich, well resourced and inspirational setting.

• Preparing course and portfolio information that demonstrates our claims of distinctiveness and excellence.

• Communicating the attributes of the Sheffield Graduate and the distinctiveness of the Sheffield learning experience.

• Encouraging students to take advantage of social and cultural opportunities outside their studies.

• Providing learning experiences that equip students for work.

• Evaluating and promoting our success in fulfilling the knowledge and skills requirements of national and international employers.

• Number of undergraduate students per academic FTE (KPI 5).


• Percentage of graduates in further study or employment (KPI 14).

3 Attract and retain the best students, staff and partners.

We need to:

• Raise our profile as a high quality university amongst prospective students, staff and partners.

• Attract international researchers and people holding personal fellowships.

• Deliver a PhD experience that is recognised internationally for its quality and distinctiveness.

• Provide opportunities for academic staff to achieve the attributes of the Sheffield Academic.

• Effective communication and relationship building, promoting our successes amongst national and international opinion formers and key peer groups.

• Establishing a national and international reputation as a university where academic ambition is nurtured.

• Creating high-quality strategic partnerships for learning and teaching and for research and innovation.

• Reviewing and defining our access commitment to make sure we attract students of the highest academic ability from under-represented groups.

• Placing market research portfolio replenishment and recruitment of the best students at the centre of our development activities.

• Meeting the career development needs of academic staff in the context of the Sheffield Academic concept.

• Percentage of staff who are proud of working for the University (KPI 25).

• Percentage of first degree entrants from low participation neighbourhoods (KPI 10).

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4 Inspire and enable our students to stretch themselves and achieve greater things.

We need to:

• Encourage our students to set and achieve the highest aspirations and goals for their futures.

• Foster enterprise in our students so that they contribute to the economic wellbeing of society.

• Expose students to the University’s research work.

• Develop students’ ability to learn and work autonomously through relevant research-based learning in their own discipline and through the development of skills in information processing.

• In conjunction with the Union of Students and the voluntary sector, provide opportunities for all students to enhance their life experience outside the University.

• Reviewing the way we embed enterprise and personal development opportunities in our portfolio.

• Ensuring that students understand and benefit from the employability focus in their courses.

• Enabling all students to gain experience of research and an understanding of its impact on society.

• Increasing the number of Sheffield Graduate award recipients.

• Increasing the number of students taking part in ambassadorial, project work and voluntary/social enterprise initiatives.


• Percentage of students no longer in higher education after one year (KPI 13).

• Percentage of graduates in further study or employment (KPI 14).

5 To create an environment that enables all staff to achieve at the highest level.

We need to:

• Ensure that recognition and reward schemes encourage high ambition.

• Ensure all academic staff are prepared for teaching.

• Ensure staff pursue ongoing professional development to stay effective and inspiring as teachers and as researchers.

• Enable staff to equip themselves for leadership roles in teaching and research.

• Give our teachers and researchers the support they need to be part of major international networks.

• Placing the Sheffield Academic concept at the centre of all we do to support academic staff.

• Holding annual personal development discussions to identify Initial or Continuing Professional Development needs, within the context of the Sheffield Academic concept.

• Recognising individuals’ achievements in both teaching and research.

• Agreeing the quality and volume of measures of research outputs for the REF 2014.

• Number of postgraduate taught students per academic FTE (KPI 6).

• Number of postgraduate research students per academic FTE (KPI 17).


Cultivating AmbitionWe set challenging and important goals. We are willing to grapple with the most difficult intellectual and practical problems of our time and are not easily daunted. We want to attract and retain people with ambition and provide them with opportunities to realise their dreams and develop their talents.

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Objectives

Making a DifferenceUniversities are one of society’s engines of change. We seek to create, discover, share and apply knowledge through teaching and research in ways that make a difference and ensure that our work has a genuine cutting edge. We also want to make the experience of being part of the University something that shapes the life and prospects of everyone who comes here.


6 To provide learning and other developmental opportunities that transform the lives of students.

We need to:

• Engage fully in raising educational and developmental aspirations in our city and region.

• Reviewing and defining the terms of our access commitment.

• Building on our achievements, to make the University a realistic and preferred option for students from under-represented groups.

• Increasing our outreach provision in the city and region.

• Percentage of first degree entrants from state schools/colleges (KPI 9).

• Percentage of first degree entrants from low participation neighbourhoods (KPI 10).

7 To be known as a university which combines the highest academic standards with a commitment to realising the impact and public value of its activities.

We need to:

• Demonstrate a closer engagement between the student body, academic departments, the people in our city and region, and our wider society.

• Translate our research into practical applications that enrich the culture and economy of Sheffield and the region.

• Increasing student participation in educational activities outside the University.

• Participating fully in the creation and establishment of the Local Economic Partnership.

• Deepening and growing our research partnerships with the private sector.

• Increasing the number of licences and spin-out companies emerging from our research.

• Licence numbers granted (software and non-software) in the year (KPI 19).

• Total value of contract research with non-funding organisations (KPI 20).

8 To be recognised for our interdisciplinary strengths and approach to important global challenges.

We need to:

• Strengthen our strategic approach to collaborative and interdisciplinary research which leads to internationally recognised outputs.

• Remove barriers to ensure that we attract collaborations across academic disciplines and Higher Education.

• Mapping the potential contribution we can make to meeting the major national and global societal challenges.

• Developing a strategy and action for realising the potential of our interdisciplinary work.

• Research income per academic FTE (KPI 16).


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9 To create enduring local, national and global partnerships/collaborations.

We need to:

• Increase staff awareness of the new constituencies of learners and the added value that collaboration can bring to their work (and to students’ learning experiences).

• Develop innovative partnerships with leading players across the world.

• Take a more proactive approach to the way we identify internship, placement, and project opportunities for our students, with regional, national and international employers.

• Demonstrating the benefits of collaboration in teaching and research.

• Creating an appetite for partnership working within academic departments.

• Developing partnerships and collaborations that generate new postgraduate and international students, enduring high quality research partners and peer networks from across the world.

• Developing a strategic approach to increasing the number of partnerships which enable students to apply their skills and talents prior to graduation.

• Total value of contract research with non-funding organisations (KPI 20).

10 To nurture a community in which equality and diversity contributes positively to student and staff experiences.

We need to:

• Develop our partnerships with and seek greater involvement for student ambassadors in the delivery of learning and teaching.

• Embed equality and diversity values and practices in all we do.

• Increasing the role of student ambassadors within learning communities.

• Ensuring that students feel part of learning communities, in their departments and in the wider University.

• Considering and addressing areas of under-representation.

• Student satisfaction (ov erall satisfaction from NSS) (KPI 11).

• Percentage of staff who are proud of working for the University (KPI 25).

• Percentage of female senior academic staff (KPI 26).

11 To enhance how we administrate learning and teaching and research and innovation activities.

We need to:

• Ensure that our internal regulatory environment is as light-touch as possible whilst also being robust in the face of external scrutiny.

• Make greater use of new technologies to improve student learning experiences and support staff.

• Continuously improving quality assurance and regulatory systems.

• Seeking IT solutions to support our transition to a light-touch internal regulatory environment.

• Seeking IT solutions to support our daily work activities.

• Ensuring that the full potential of learning technologies and other media to enhance student learning and to support our staff is pursued.

• Percentage of professional/support staff costs to total staff costs (KPI 27).

Working TogetherSolutions to important problems increasingly depend on collaboration: between staff and students, across disciplines and in partnerships with others locally, nationally and internationally. We aim to build exclusive teams, maximising the benefits of difference and drawing on the skills and potential of the widest possible range of colleagues.

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Objectives

Protecting the FutureWe have to think beyond the short-term. In order to safeguard our academic activities and the student experience for the future, we must ensure our research and teaching are sustainable. We need to use resources effectively, transparently and responsibly to be resilient and adaptable in the face of change.


12 To ensure we operate sustainably in the future.

We need to:

• Prepare for a markedly different financial and consumer landscape in Higher Education (which will affect our academic offer, tuition fees and core funding for teaching, research and capital funding and access to income from non-funding bodies).

• Develop and consolidate a competitive research income portfolio.

• Manage our resources efficiently, economically and effectively.

• Connect our research on sustainability issues to the way we operate as an institution.

• Prioritise research and innovation that addresses challenges related to sustainability.

• Maintaining our financial strategy and our plans for creating an appropriate University surplus.

• Understanding our proposition to future students, our distinctiveness and market position.

• Planning effectively for operating in a new tuition fee and HEFCE funding landscape.

• Understanding the nature of future full-time, part-time, mixed mode and distance learning student markets for the University.

• Planning year-on-year increases in collaborative funding (including income from Public Private Partnerships).

• Increasing our market share of research income per academic FTE.

• Seeking collaborations within the Higher Education sector that enable us to excel, enhance our reputation and make an impact.

• Planning how we will sustain improvements to the campus and facilities as public resources for capital funding diminish.

• Seeking ways to maximise our resources in challenging times.

• Total income per academic FTE (KPI 1).

• Percentage ratio of tuition fees and education contracts to total income (KPI 3).

• Ratio of current assets to current liabilities (KPI 21).

• Net cash inflow from operating activities as a percentage of total income (KPI 22).

• Percentage of buildings in category A and B (gross internal area: non-residential) (KPI 23).

• Carbon emissions (KPI 24).

13 To safeguard the high quality of our student experience and support of staff.

We need to:

• Optimise the effectiveness of the learning and teaching experience by reviewing the teaching calendar and how students are assessed.

• Ensure our research infrastructure is maintained, developed and used in the most cost-effective and sustainable way.

• Reviewing and refreshing our course portfolio.

• Innovating within course curricula and in the way we support students.

• Reviewing and investing in our research infrastructure.

• Ratio of maintenance and capital expenditure to Insurance Replacement Value (IRV) (KPI 4).

• Research expenditure per total £ expenditure (KPI 15).

14 Encourage our students and alumni to care about their University and its future.

We need to:

• Build relationships with our alumni.

• Make alumni part of the University community.

• Encourage alumni to champion the University and increase philanthropic interest in our ambitions.

• Planning for building a greater number of relationships with alumni.

• Increasing the level of philanthropic interest in and level of donations to the University.

• Total income per academic FTE (KPI 1).

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15 To be recognised as a University that sets national and international research agendas in response to the needs of society.

We need to:

• Extend the horizons of our staff and students so that their ambitions are set in a global context.

• Communicate our achievements and their impact more effectively and strategically.

• Developing a University Innovation, Impact and Knowledge Exchange Strategy.

• Developing research agendas that enable us to contribute to solving major global challenges.


• Percentage ratio of recurrent teaching and research grants from funding bodies to total income (KPI 2).

• Number of overseas students per academic FTE (KPI 7).

Leading the WayWe believe that universities have a responsibility to look ahead to important new problems and to offer intellectual leadership to society in response to them. We expect our staff to be leaders in their fields and in the governance of the University. We encourage students to think how they too can shape the world both now and in our future.

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Key Performance Indicators

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

No. Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Measures Purpose of KPI

Desired direction of travel

Latest valueValue of KPI sought by 2009–10

Value of KPI sought by 2014–15

Rank in Russell Group

Russell Group upper quartile

Russell Group lower quartile

Russell Group median

1

Institutional sustainability

Total income per academic FTE (£s) To improve our relative position within the Russell Group ↑ 162,797 (07–08) 173,784 188,344 16/20(07–08) 188,344 (07–08) 164,293 (07–08) 173,784 (07–08)

2Percentage ratio of recurrent teaching and research grants from funding bodies to total income

To improve our relative position within the Russell Group ↓ 27.8 (08–09) 27.47 26.49 15/20(08–09) 27.87 (08–09) 23.72 (08–09) 26.49 (08–09)

3 Percentage ratio of tuition fees and education contracts to total income

To improve our relative position within the Russell Group ↓ 27.84 (08–09) 26.42 21.42 17/20(08–09) 26.42 (08–09) 17.89 (08–09) 21.47 (08–09)

4Ratio of maintenance and capital expenditure to Insurance Replacement Value (IRV)

To achieve absolute improvement in performance ↑ 3.7% (08–09) 5.7% 4.5% Comparisons with other institutions are unreliable because

of differences in methodologies in calculating IRV.

5

Academic profile and

market position

Number of undergraduate students per academic FTE To maintain current performance ↓ 7.11 (08–09) 7.1 7.1 12/20 (08–09) 8.18 (08–09) 4.89 (08–09) 7.06 (08–09)

6 Number of postgraduate taught students per academic FTE

To achieve absolute improvement in performance ↑ 1.76 (08–09) 2 2.2 5/20 (08–09) 1.63 (08–09) 0.96 (08–09) 1.23 (08–09)

7 Number of overseas students per academic FTE

To achieve absolute improvement in performance ↑ 1.57 (07–08) 1.6 1.9 6/20 (07–08) 1.58 (07–08) 0.96 (07–08) 1.19 (07–08)

8 Average tariff score on entry To achieve absolute improvement in performance ↑ 405 (07–08) 410 418 14/20 (07–08) 454 (07–08) 404 (07–08) 409 (07–08)

9 Percentage of first degree entrants from state schools/colleges

To maintain our relative position in the Russell Group ↔ 87.1 (08–09) tbc tbc 2/20 (08–09) 84.6 (08–09) 67.9 (08–09) 73 (08–09)

10 Percentage of first degree entrants from low participation neighbourhoods

To maintain our relative position in the Russell Group ↔ 8.7 (08–09) 8.7 8.7 1/20 (08–09) 6.2 (08–09) 3.4 (08–09) 5.4 (08–09)

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The student experience

and teaching and learning

Student satisfaction (overall satisfaction from NSS) To maintain current performance ↑ 89 (2009) - 90 3/20 (08–09) 87 (2009) 83 (2009) 85 (2009)

12 Percentage of First and 2:1 degrees awarded

To maintain our relative position in the Russell Group ↔ 74 (07–08) 73 73 8/20 (07–08) 80 (07–08) 69 (07–08) 73 (07–08)

13 Percentage of students no longer in higher education after one year

To maintain our relative position in the Russell Group ↔ 2.5 (08–09) 2.5 2.5 4/20 (08–09) 4.1 (08–09) 2.9 (08–09) 3.4 (08–09)

14 Percentage of graduates in further study or employment To maintain current performance ↑ 91.2 (08–09) 92 92 12/20 (08–09) 92.9 (08–09) 89.2 (08–09) 91.9 (08–09)

9

No. Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Measures Purpose of KPI

Desired direction of travel

Latest valueValue of KPI sought by 2009–10

Value of KPI sought by 2014–15

Rank in Russell Group

Russell Group upper quartile

Russell Group lower quartile

Russell Group median

15

Research

Research expenditure per total £ expenditure


16 Research income per academic FTE (£s) To achieve absolute improvement in performance ↑ 57,873 (07–08) 62,696 72,341 12/20 (08–09) 75,334 (07–08) 54,953 (07–08) 58,626 (07–08)

17 Number of postgraduate research students per academic FTE


18 Research Excellence Framework (REF) performance – methodology to be confirmed tbc ↑ tbc tbc tbc tbc tbc tbc tbc

19Knowledge

transfer

Licence numbers granted (software and non-software) in the year

To achieve absolute improvement in performance ↑ 28 (08–09) 30.8 42 14/20 (08–09) 101 (08–09) 13 (08–09) 63 (08–09)

20 Total value of contract research with non-funding organisations (£s)

To achieve absolute improvement in performance ↑ 22,258,000

(08–09) 25,034,700 36,141,500 13/20 (08–09) 36,141,500 (08–09)

17,125,000 (08–09)

24,711,000 (08–09)

21Financial

health

Ratio of current assets to current liabilities To achieve absolute improvement in performance ↑ 1.37 (08–09) 1.28 1.65 10/20 (08–09) 1.52 (08–09) 1.08 (08–09) 1.3 (08–09)

22 Net cash inflow from operating activities as a percentage of total income

To achieve absolute improvement in performance ↑ 7.5% (08–09) 5.2% 9.0% 7/20 (08–09) 8.2% (08–09) 3.7% (08–09) 6.0% (08–09)

23Estates and

infrastructure

Percentage of buildings in category A and B (gross internal area: non-residential)

To achieve absolute improvement in performance ↑ 56 (08–09) 57 65 17/20 (08–09) 82.3 (08–09) 65.5 (08–09) 77.0 (08–09)

24 Carbon emissions (tonnes) To achieve absolute improvement in performance ↓ 42,200 (08–09) 35,000 25,000

Comparisons with other institutions are not meaningful due to variations in size and activity. Some internal tracking

of peer institutions is undertaken.

25

Staff

Percentage of staff who are proud of working for the University

To achieve absolute improvement in performance ↑ 78 (2008) n/a n/a Competitor data not available for this measure.

26 Percentage of female senior academic staff (Grade 10)

To achieve absolute improvement in performance ↑ 17.05 (08–09) 17 21 10/20 (08–09) 18.38 (08–09) 14.5 (08–09) 16.95 (08–09)

27 Percentage of professional/support staff costs to total staff costs To maintain current performance ↔ 40.22 (08–09) 40 40 5/20 (08–09) 44.77 (08–09) 40.28 (08–09) 42.06 (08–09)

10

Managing our resources

The Strategic Plan: Managing our resources

Context

Achieving our goals over the next five years depends on the effective management of our resources. Everyone, particularly Professional Services staff, has a part to play.

Our key resources are people, money, space, information, and student support. This section summarises our priorities for those resources and our University-wide approach to governance.

1. People

All staff, academic and Professional Services, have a role to play in delivering our academic strategy, so it is vital to create an environment where everyone can flourish and succeed.

We will continue to promote and develop a culture of excellence, innovation, inclusion, commitment and respect. We will encourage openness and transparency. We will develop a diverse community of highly motivated, fully engaged staff with a strong sense of belonging.

We will ensure effective management of staff costs in line with University strategy and respond flexibly to opportunities, challenges and risks in both the internal and external environments.

Human resources priorities for the period 2010–2015 will be to:

• Build up leadership capacity to ensure we have people who can lead and manage through future challenges and changes ahead. We will focus on the development of leadership and the strengthening of management capabilities across the University. A new development programme, the Sheffield Leader, will be put in place for new and aspiring heads of department.

• Continue to nurture and develop a culture of belonging and engagement. We will pay special attention to keeping staff involved in and briefed about changes, and we will continue to work with the trade unions to maintain and develop good industrial relations.

• Reward excellence through fair and open processes. We will develop and implement a new pay framework for senior professional staff to reflect the recently revised banding structure, and we will continue to implement the hourly paid/atypical framework, to ensure fair pay and conditions for all.

• Sustain a motivated and diverse University community where staff and students work together to enhance delivery of the University’s academic strategy. We will continue to promote the inclusion of all staff; continue our focus on creating opportunities for women academics to progress; and regularly review our Excellence through Inclusion strategy to ensure it is focused on our future needs.

• Develop a culture where excellence is nurtured. We will make full use of the skills and experience of all staff and encourage greater internal movement and redeployment.

• Ensure health, safety and wellbeing initiatives remain a key priority during what will be an uncertain period. We will support specific programmes to address workload allocation and staff wellbeing.

• Manage resources to sustain capacity and achieve strategic growth to help protect our future. We will pay particular attention to reducing complexity in our processes and managing staff costs within the resources available. We will also complete a thorough review of our local pension scheme arrangements.

For more detail, and information about specific actions relating to this area, please see www.sheffield.ac.uk/hr

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2. Student support

Maintaining our world-class student experience will be critical in an increasingly competitive Higher Education landscape. We must continue to meet students’ growing expectations during the years ahead, from their first contact with the University through to their graduation ceremony and beyond.

Our priorities for student support services over the period 2010–2015 will be to:

• Improve our support for students from initial contact to graduation and beyond – focusing on the transitions across the student journey, integration into our diverse academic community, student wellbeing, and development of our students’ employability skills. Regular feedback from students and other stakeholders will help ensure ongoing improvements to the student experience.

• Strengthen partnerships – between faculty colleagues and Professional Services teams within the University, and also with external partners such as schools, colleges, overseas recruitment agents, employers, and particularly with the Students’ Union.

• Ensure our approaches to communication with students reflect their lifestyle and technology preferences. A key priority will be the implementation of an enquirer and applicant portal to improve communications with prospective students, bringing greater efficiency to the process. We will also be reviewing our approach to current student communications.

For more detail, and information about specific actions relating to this area, please see www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssd/student-services-strategy

3. Facilities

Where our academic strategy delivers growth in student numbers within the faculties, we need to examine critically how we improve and use the University estate. Capital funding from government sources at the levels of recent years is unlikely to continue so a new approach is needed to help us utilise space better.

We also need to make our estate more carbon efficient. As institutions have been set challenging targets by HEFCE to reduce their CO2 emissions, the availability of future capital funding is likely to be very closely tied to performance in driving down these emissions. We need to invest in the infrastructure improvements required to achieve these reductions, as well as encouraging staff to adopt greener behaviours.

Our priorities for our estate over the period 2010–2015 will be to:

• Configure, refurbish and better utilise existing University facilities, making additional space available where required to support growth in activity. We will adopt a more integrated approach to timetabling so that we use shared learning spaces more efficiently. For Professional Services, we will launch a major project to co-locate administrative functions.

• Support the University’s aim of improving our students’ experience. As well as enhancing the public spaces across our campus, we will invest in facilities designed around how students study and learn. The recent investment in our Students’ Union building will be consolidated through refurbishment of the adjoining facilities in University House.

• Dispose of facilities and buildings which no longer support our strategy. This will contribute to the financial sustainability of the University over the period.

• Improve the University’s utilities infrastructure, and make improvements to existing buildings, to manage and reduce our carbon emissions in line with HEFCE targets. This will be supported through initiatives to encourage more energy efficient behaviours amongst our staff and students.

• Make targeted acquisitions of strategic development sites, where they support delivery of our academic strategy.

For more detail, and information about specific actions relating to this area, please see www.sheffield.ac.uk/estates

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4. Finance

The University is entering the period 2010–2015 in a strong financial position. But there are challenging times ahead. We need to continue our investment in the people and facilities required to deliver the University’s academic strategy.

Our financial priorities over the period 2010–2015 will be to:

• Continue to diversify the range of sustainable income sources and increase the proportion of unrestricted income. We will do this by growing the number of post-graduate students, increasing the level of research activity funded by industry and charities, and deepening relationship with our network of alumni to encourage more people to support their University through philanthropic gifts.

• Focus on ensuring value for money in all our core and supporting activities.

• Continue to increase the transparency and timeliness of financial information to enable better decision making, and more locally-based financial decision making where appropriate. Our finance and procurement system will be continually improved to support this aim.

• Encourage the appropriate level of growth within faculties, based on a robust approach to resource allocation reflecting both income and costs.

• Ensure high standards of financial probity and accountability through robust financial processes and ensure that the University’s financial strategy targets are met.

For more detail, and information about specific actions relating to this area, please see www.sheffield.ac.uk/finance

5. Information

Our students and staff expect an increasingly diverse range of information delivered in secure yet flexible ways. Improvements in how we deliver information will help the University work more efficiently and reduce the environmental impact of our operations.

Our priorities for information services over the period 2010–2015 will be to:

• Continue to invest in a wide range of digital and print collections to meet the expectations of students and staff. Improve the digital access to our own collections, and the wider scholarly knowledge base. Increase the access to digitised core reading materials, helping to reduce carbon emissions, improve the learning experience for our remote students, and meet the expectations of our on-campus students for access to digital content.

• Improve how we manage and make available to others the University’s research output – both our published works and underlying data. This will support the Research Excellence Framework and improve open access.

• Focus on how we support our students’ learning by providing new modes of study, new technologies to support learners, support for information literacy and well-designed learning spaces. We will disseminate learning best practice, and share expertise in how best to embed new Web 2.0 technologies in the way we teach.

• Recognise the increasing mobility and flexibility of students and staff. Provide IT and telephony solutions to give students and staff more choice in how, when and where they work. We will continue to ensure our information systems are simple to use, connect appropriately to other systems and encourage collaboration.

• Continue to assure the quality and safe storage of our data, and meet compliance requirements for HEFCE and other statutory agencies.

For more detail, and information about specific actions relating to this area, please see www.sheffield.ac.uk/cics and www.sheffield.ac.uk/library

Managing our resources

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6. Governance and management

Since the introduction of the faculty structure in 2008–09, we’ve made significant progress in improving and devolving strategic planning and decision making, whilst increasing the transparency of management information.

Faculties and supporting governance structures have strengthened communication between the Vice-Chancellor’s executive board and colleagues across the institution. Closer working between Professional Services and faculties, and a new approach to resource allocation, has improved accountability for performance. This will continue.

Our priorities for governance will build on this foundation over the period 2010–2015 and will:

• Further enhance the effectiveness of governance through a review of Council and its committees.

• Continually improve our approach to identification and management of risk, to enable effective and robust decision making.

• Ensure our service functions continually improve and demonstrate value for money, informed by regular benchmarking of external best practice.

• Adopt new ways of working in order to reduce complexity and simplify key processes which support the management and governance of the University.

• Ensure sufficient funds are available so that strategic investments can be made and we can respond effectively to external opportunities.

• Contribute to sector-wide debates about Higher Education to help improve the overall sector and learn from others’ best practice.

• Monitor progress against our strategy, and ensure planning and investment decisions are taken in line with our overall strategy and values and a robust evidence base.

For more detail, and information about specific actions relating to this area, please see www.sheffield.ac.uk/pgs

The University’s strategic plan is structured around our six guiding principles in our Mission, Vision and Identity: Achieving Excellence, Cultivating Ambition, Making a Difference, Working Together, Protecting the Future and Leading the Way. It outlines what we want to achieve and our priorities over the period 2010–2015, how we will go about it and the key performance indicators which will help us monitor how we are doing.

Last updated January 2011

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Mission Vision & Identity. - University of Sheffield/file/mvi...Mission, Vision & Identity 5 The University’s guiding principles There are six guiding principles that underpin the