• The VC is looking forward to the 1990s and the shape of universities in that decade
• Forthcoming trends in HE internationally could include East Asia being as great an economic power as the USA, and political changes in the Soviet bloc shaping the future. Sussex looks forward to cultural, social and economic exchanges as the Cold War thaws
• In the UK a move towards a more flexible and enterprising work culture will have an impact on how people learn: innovation will be a key driver in universities
• Sussex has the will to excel in novel and radical ways, in new and different times, and to do so both with distinctiveness and with distinction
• The working population is growing, especially as more women seek full-time work
• The number of people between the ages of 25 and 60 will increase by two million between 1987 and 1995
• Emphasis on secondary level qualifications is changing from exams to coursework and from specialisation to a broader curriculum, leading to a different group of students likely to want to attend university
• The 1988 Public Expenditure White Paper states that there should be higher participation rates in HE from all groups including part-time mature and women students during the 1990s. Sussex admissions policy is to be reviewed to include better access to students with non-standard qualifications, widening access opportunities and making more effective use of talent among older people, women returners and ethnic minorities and other groups who have not traditionally attended university
• There is the need to review programmes offered and their structure, including possibly introducing modular degree structures and a wider system of credit transfer. Geographical mobility, especially within Europe, is also a consideration
• New subject areas are to be developed to address the new demands of society. The sort of new qualifications that Sussex should offer include Certificates and Diplomas
• In 1987 over 20 per cent of new UGs are aged over 21 (compared to 11 per cent nationally). Sussex ranks fifth in the number of International Baccalaureate holders as students between 1971 and 1986. One-sixth of students at Sussex spend a year in Europe as part of their degree
• There are plans for a new Enterprise Centre at the University
• Sussex and Brighton sign 'an historic agreement' to run the first joint university/polytechnic degree in the country, the MSc in Computer Technology. The first cohort will start in October 1988
• Paul McCartney and Anita Roddick are the first people to be awarded the new honorary degree of Doctor of the University
• The premiere of Attenborough's Cry Freedom is held in Brighton and raises £6,000 for two Sussex charities: the Mandela Scholarship Fund and the University of Sussex Silver Jubilee Scholarship Fund for Handicapped Students

Student numbers

4,748 students: 3,565 undergraduates, 1,183 postgraduates (859 full-time, 324 part-time)