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SEEKING A VISION
FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX

We are a successful university. Our research is outstanding, our teaching is of a high quality and we have a considerable national and international reputation. But we do have weaknesses and we face fierce competition. Budgets will be tight for the foreseeable future and we will have to adapt if we are to continue to be successful. We need to build on our existing strengths and exploit new opportunities where we have a comparative advantage. Our greatest strength is the quality of our staff. In putting forward this set of suggested key elements and questions for the future, I am attempting to elicit comments and further suggestions so that we can together develop a vision for our University into the 21st Century.

There will be an opportunity to discuss these issues when Professor Tony McCaffery and I visit the Schools this term, but I would welcome any written comments.



KEY ELEMENTS OF A VISION

1. Enhanced High-Quality Research
  • by attempting to direct more resources and time to research,
  • organised through GRCs and Centres of Excellence,
  • aiming at a highly visible international reputation,
  • seeking more industrial funded research and research with a 'surplus' element,
  • some research with a special emphasis on research geared to the needs of the economy of Sussex and the Southeast,
  • where possible linking regional research to national and international research

    2. Expanded Postgraduate Education
  • seeking a higher proportion of pg students,
  • delivered through GRCs and Centres of Excellence,
  • aiming for increased international and national reputation for pg research students,
  • and expanded pg taught programmes, largely modular in structure, some full cost, and with much greater emphasis on the employability of graduates.

    3. Improved Undergraduate Education
  • emphasising degrees offering 'learning within a context' of
    - greater choice of combinations of majors and minors, through improved modularity
    - re-designed and re-focused school courses
    - greater explicit emphasis on skills teaching
    - more 'work' experience, including sandwich courses where appropriate
    - increased year abroad opportunities,
  • employing high quality seminar teaching, addressing complex issues and problems, largely replacing tutorials and lectures,
  • complemented with IT based instruction,
  • introducing a limited number of new vocational subjects, e.g., medicine,
  • increased emphasis on part-time and mature students, and Life-long Learning
  • all aimed at improving the quality of the student experience.

    4. Stronger Partnerships
  • with selected other European universities,
  • and with selected North American, African and East Asian universities,
  • and locally, with other Higher Education and Further Education institutions in the region for greater mutual benefit,
  • further developing the Academic Corridor and the Innovation Centre,
  • aimed at high regional (Sussex and Southeast) visibility,

    5. Improved structures
  • based on budgetary units of a manageable size with clear budgets and responsibilities,
  • which permit cross-disciplinary interaction and encourage flexibility and innovation,
  • and with incentive-based budgets.



  • KEY QUESTIONS

    1. Research
    At the last RAE we were ranked 10 in the country overall.
    a) Should we be more focused? Should we add research fields - if so which?
    b) What can we do to improve our success rate in attracting research council,
    charity, UK government and European Union funds?
    c) Should we be increasing the number of applied research areas in order to
    Increase our industrial support?
    d) Should we create more international and national centres of excellence
    and give them prominence? If so in which fields?
    e) Should we give the GRCs the primary role in fostering research?

    2. Postgraduate Research
    We currently have about 1000 pg research students, and rank 20th in the UK for numbers of pgr. If each research-active member of staff supervised a minimum of three students (one in each year of a three-year programme) we could increase numbers to 1,500.
    a) How can we increase the number of pgr students? Which fields should receive priority?
    b) Should we be providing a greater formal training component in pgr
    programmes, in the form of credit bearing courses, offered across subjects and schools?
    c) Should we be providing more university wide, credit bearing courses in
    teaching and learning aimed at teaching assistants and other pgr students?

    3. Postgraduate Taught Programmes
    Compared with similar universities (e.g. 94 Group) our proportion and overall numbers of pg taught students is low.
    a) Should pgt move towards 50% of our student body?
    b) Should our pgt programmes be more modular in structure
    (along the lines suggested in the Harris report);
    c) Should we offer more professional/ vocational programmes? If so which?
    d) Which programmes could become full cost, surplus generating?

    4. Undergraduate teaching
    This year applications have fallen and we have continued difficulty filling some subjects.
    a) Could we market our undergraduate teaching better - providing 'learning in a context'
    rather than as interdisciplinary?
    b) Should the skills component be built into every course or should some
    cross-university, specialist skill courses be provided?
    c) Should we cut down on the number of school courses; should they take up
    a smaller proportion of a student's programme and be better designed?
    d) Would it be better to concentrate on seminar teaching, at the expense of
    tutorials and lectures, in combination with greater use of IT for the delivery of basic information.
    e) Should we reduce the number of courses on offer; should we move to a
    standard annual timetable, with minimal annual variants?
    f) Should we be offering more professional or vocational oriented courses and programmes? If so which?
    g) Should language minors be readily available to all students, irrespective of the major?
    h) How can we improve recruitment from our feeder schools in the Southeast?
    i) How can we increase the number of specifically designed part-time degrees
    (along the lines of the Cultural Studies degree); how can we make our existing
    course offerings more part-time friendly?

    5. International Students
    We currently have about 2000 international students, half from continental Europe and North America, the other half from the rest of the world. The proportion, about 20%, is high but not as high as other universities.
    a) Should we increase the number of international students, particularly those paying full fees?
    If so, which regions and countries should we target?
    Should we give preference to ug or pg students?
    b) Should we be more focused in terms of V/E university links, possibly giving
    preference to those where we have research collaboration?
    c) Should we expand our year abroad to include southern Africa and East Asia
    (in addition to Japan)? Should we create South Africa and East Asia Institutes?
    d) Should we consider franchising or validating overseas programmes?
    e) What can we do to improve the welfare of overseas students?<

    6. The Region
    Although we regard ourselves as a top international and national university, we have an important role to play in the region
    a) Should we be seeking further FE and HE linkages in the region?
    b) What should be the next phase of the Academic Corridor
    now that the Innovation Centre is complete and proving successful?
    c) Should we be creating Regional Centres of Research Excellence?

    7. Structures
    Finally we need to examine our organisation. Our budgetary and administrative structures and processes are unnecessarily complex.
    a) Should we further separate ug and pg teaching, by giving the GRCs
    autonomous budgets? Should faculty have defined divisions of time e.g. .5 ug School, .5 GRC?
    b) Should we re-organise our current School/GRC structure?
    If so, what would be an appropriate configuration?



    October 1996

    Gordon Conway
    Vice-Chancellor


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    The University of Sussex Information Service usis@sussex.ac.uk
    18th October 1996