Prof. Michael Farthing. Vice-Chancellor
With the campus looking magnificent and the sun shining over the welcome weekend, my colleagues and I were proud to meet over 3,500 new students with their friends and families, and to talk in glowing terms about what the University would offer them over the years ahead.
I know from meeting new students this week that we have recruited many of the brightest and best - and two of their individual stories are told here in the Bulletin.
Reflecting on the experience, and the recognition that has come our way this month, I am clear that we need to keep seeking out opportunities to celebrate publicly our achievements. Along with the arrival of enthusiastic new students, there has been much to celebrate in recent weeks.
The rise of Sussex up the most recent Sunday Times higher education league table to 22nd from 30th, on the strength of some of the most improved National Student Survey results in the UK (announced at the start of September), is one very positive step forward on which we can build.
It was an inspiration last week to attend an academic poster exhibition by 40 second-year undergraduates who, through our new Junior Research Associates scheme, worked this summer with leading academics at Sussex on research projects. At the exhibition in the Medical School I heard first hand of their impressive first steps into active research at Sussex.
Attracting bright and enterprising students means we continue to produce alumni who go on to excel in their chosen careers. Olly Laughland, for example, newly graduated from Contemporary History and Politics, has just this week been shortlisted in the 2008 Guardian Student Media Awards for his work on the badger student newspaper.
Our leading academics continue to be in demand for their expert views and perspective on world events. For example, just this weekend we have seen Professor Jo Boaler, from Education, in the national news. You can read more about her in the regular 'Broadcast' column in the Bulletin.
The Fulbright Commission also recently announced a prestigious new Fulbright-Sussex scholarship, reflecting the reputation that has attracted three Fulbright scholars from the USA to join us here at Sussex this year.
And celebrating success is not only limited to our academic activities. At the Brighton and Hove Business Awards, last Friday, 400 leading members of the local community saw Sussex win the Healthiest Workplace Award.
Looking nationally, we have just been shortlisted for the first time in the Times Higher Education Awards, in the 'Outstanding Support for Early-Career Researchers' category, for a suite of materials and workshops developed by our Teaching and Learning Development Unit with colleagues from the Career Development and Employment Centre.
The signals that these achievements send about the University to our community and to potential students, staff and external partners is vitally important. It enables us to continue to attract and work with the best, in our community and further afield.
One recent such opportunity is the exhibition curated by our students, working with Sussex resident and former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Healey. 'Furniture of the Mind' is on now at InQbate on campus.
I am proud of what we can achieve together. I want us as a university to be outward looking and not shy in celebrating our achievements. When Sussex is rightly seen to be successful - in our academic work, in our professional services, in our student body, in our alumni - we all gain.