Making the future
In the words of founding Vice-Chancellor Sir John Fulton, education at Sussex was 'making the future'. Today, we are living that future. In the founding spirit of engaging with change, the University has completed an intensive, year long review that sets out goals and strategies for the next seven years and beyond.
This framework for the future has been written after extensive consultation and debate within the Sussex community as well as with our partners and supporters, and seeks to renew our founders' vision by planning the way ahead.
Sussex was built on an explicit plan for development and growth, adding new subject areas across the arts and sciences over time and expanding into its green campus setting. That growth endowed the University with its dynamism, vitality and enthusiasm - a can-do approach where all things are possible.
Making the future is an agenda for further growth and development at the University of Sussex; growth in student numbers, in research and enterprise, and in the quality of the student and staff experience.
Research activity is at the very heart of our vision for the future, stimulating and informing our teaching while building strong links with the community and business.
We will extend and enhance our research of national and international importance - doubling the current size of our research income. Sussex's interdisciplinary traditions across the arts, social sciences, science and medicine will be strengthened through the promotion of six major research themes, confirming our place as a top-quality researchled and research-intensive institution.
We will develop new programmes of study, responding to the changing needs of students and employers. A new School of Business, Management and Economics will deliver an expanded range of international business and management programmes, linked to the University's strengths in development studies, law, humanities, computing and biosciences.
As custodians of the University's founding vision in the 21st century, we will develop social entrepreneurship and student volunteering with one aim in mind - to change the world we all live in, for the better.
The Library facilities will be transformed, giving our students a technology-rich, flexible study space adapted to reflect new ways of learning. Technology-enabled learning means we will be using social media to enhance collaboration, and partnering with Apple to deliver resources such as recorded lectures, in easily accessible digital formats.
Business and community engagement will be developed through ongoing strategic partnerships, including through the newly expanded Sussex Innovation Centre, now entirely owned by Sussex.
New strategic partnerships, building on those already in place with Kew, American Express and Brighton and Sussex Medical School will bring mutual benefit and enhance the contribution we make to the local and regional community.
Building on the unique architectural legacy of Sir Basil Spence, innovative new spaces for living and learning will re-imagine the University environment, enhancing the student and staff experience.
Now with 100,000 alumni, playing major roles in business, the arts and public life worldwide, and with new friends and donors to the University, we will be undertaking a major fundraising campaign to support key initiatives, and which will be a vital part of making the future at Sussex.
I hope therefore that as you read the detailed goals and strategies in the pages to follow, the future which they seek to make will be the very best attainable.
A future that will inspire you to engage with the University of Sussex in the years to come.
Making the future 2009 update [75K PDF]
Professor Michael Farthing
Vice-Chancellor, University of Sussex