Institutional Context
Summary
University of Gloucestershire is a vibrant community of some 9,500 students and 1400 staff, based in Cheltenham and Gloucester. Our mission and strategy are focussed on enabling our students to achieve their potential and progress to successful careers and rewarding lives, and on being a force for good in our community. We pursue a range of KE activities, particularly to help our students gain skills for employability, and to support our business community.
We are proud of our track-record of working with business and employers. Since 2014, we have been providing business support via our Growth Hub.
We work with more than 12,000 businesses offering high quality professional development (including apprenticeships) and access to our talented students, graduates and academics.
Institutional context
University of Gloucestershire is a multidisciplinary, student-focused, learning lead, community-based and research-rich university. Our priority is to provide excellent teaching and to enable our students to achieve their full potential. One of our strategic goals focuses on our civic role, and promoting the wellbeing and advancement of our community.
We carry a Silver rating in the Teaching Excellence Framework, as well as two Ofsted “Good” ratings for our apprenticeships and our initial teacher education. We are highly rated for the academic support we offer in a community that fosters belonging, and the learning opportunities we provide. We are proud of our track record in Sustainability and we have published a Carbon Net Zero Strategy with targets for 2030.
The University’s ongoing ambitions for Knowledge Exchange are:
To enable access to student and graduate talent for prospective employers. As part of our employability activity we work with many organisations, providing our students with valuable opportunities to gain employability experience, building their skills and confidence, and supporting them to achieve their professional and career ambitions. Organisations gain an opportunity to work with students and academics, and to develop a talent pipeline for their business.
To continue to develop and promote a wide range of higher and degree apprenticeships and work-based learning programmes, designed to support local and regional skills needs. We work closely with businesses and public sector organisations to identify skills needs, promote existing programmes or co-create new ones, and to ensure our curricula are closely aligned to business needs
To provide Growth Hub and Enterprise Business Support. Since 2014 we have been providing information, events and expert advice and guidance to high growth businesses through our Growth Hub, which is co-located with our Business School. To date it has provided support to more than 14,000 local businesses, giving medium and high intensity support to more than 6,000 of these.
To promote our academic expertise to business. We do this through sector specific industry events, by securing opportunities for organisations to access research, by providing opportunities for commissioned and applied research, creating Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, and by facilitating other knowledge exchange, community and research projects. Businesses can access knowledge, skill and expertise of our students and academics through working with us on projects. We are also home to The Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI), one of the largest specialist rural research centres in the UK.
As a local anchor institution, we are a key contributor to economic development, business success, innovation and enterprise in our community, providing excellent support for businesses and skills development. Our City Campus development repurposes a former retail building and local landmark. Over the lifetime of the project, the City Campus project will add an estimated £86 million in Gross Value Added to Gloucester’s economy and more than 1,200 jobs. The development of this 20,000m2 building will place University of Gloucestershire at the heart of its community, creating a vibrant hub of new activity in the city centre.
For further information, please send queries to ppick@glos.ac.uk
Local Growth and Regeneration
Summary of approach
We are proud to be the University of, and for, Gloucestershire. We play a key role in supporting local growth and regeneration. We do this in many ways, including:
Providing a flow of talented graduates into the labour market
Through our award-winning Growth Hub, which provides support services direct to businesses
Adapting our course portfolio to meet the skills and recruitment needs of employers, including through apprenticeships
Focusing our research on areas of impact and application.
We have campuses in Gloucester and Cheltenham. In March 2021, we announced the purchase of the iconic former Debenhams building in Gloucester to create a City Campus. Our plans for the development of this building will contribute substantially to the regeneration of the area.
Aspect 1: Strategy
We are here to serve Gloucestershire and the surrounding region.
That is at the heart of our mission, and our strategic
goals include a commitment to our civic role:
For a number of key interest areas, such as cyber security and artificial intelligence, our work has a national (and global) impact. As a local anchor institution, we are a key contributor to economic development, innovation and enterprise in our community. We provide excellent and distinctive support for businesses and for skills development. We inform and respond to the growth priorities identified in the evolving national and local industrial strategies.
We work in partnership with local employers in both the public and private sectors, so we are fully aware of the skills needed within our local economy to support growth and regeneration. We adapt our courses in direct response to the needs identified. For example, we have achieved dramatic growth in students enrolled on our nursing, allied health and social work programmes, in direct response to the recruitment needs of our local NHS partners, with almost 2,000 student enrolments this year.
Gloucestershire and its surrounding areas benefit from a prosperous and resilient economy. However, council statistics show 3.1% of our population live in areas amongst the most deprived 10 per cent in England. Our work around Widening Participation seeks to raise the aspirations of those from our most disadvantaged communities. Moreover, we continue to invest in Gloucester. Since 2018, when we opened the Gloucestershire Business School, we have opened extensive new sports facilities offering shared community use, as well as a new 300-bed student village in the City. Our latest project is our new Gloucester City Campus, repurposing the iconic Debenhams building in the City. This investment is indicative of our commitment to Gloucester, and to Gloucestershire, working with the City Council, the County Council and the NHS on an ambitious regeneration programme. As well as the City Campus repurposing 20,000 m2 of redundant retail space, the combined regeneration programme includes new office and business incubation space, a new hotel, improvements in the public realm, upgrading of transport hubs, and new accommodation.
Within the county, we work closely with the GFirst LEP, local government bodies and other public sector organisations, including our local NHS Trusts. Nationally, we work with government departments including DLUHC and the National Cyber Security Centre. GCHQ is also a major employer within the county and a key local stakeholder. As an example of our work to promote local economic regeneration and development, the University leads the Academic Stakeholders group for the development of the new Cheltenham Cyber Business Park adjacent to GCHQ.
Through the Gloucestershire Growth Hub Network and other projects, we have been able to able to identify current areas in need of business support and share these findings with our contacts. These collaborative relationships inform our understanding of skills needs locally and nationally, and thus we are able to target priority areas.
At every level across the university, Knowledge Exchange (KE) supports local growth and regeneration. It has been delivered through:
Developing and delivering business informed learning and teaching, by bringing the classroom closer to business, in particular through our higher and degree apprenticeships.
Maximising our role as an economic anchor within the region, driving economic growth through business partnership, innovation, productivity support and thought leadership.
Through our Growth Hub, providing a wide range of services to help businesses identify and address their priorities for growth.
Increasing the impact, reach and application of university KE activity across key stakeholder groups, through consultancy and professional accreditation.
Enabling increased levels of local and regional graduate recruitment through employability, enterprise and high-level workforce skills support.
Enabling strong partnerships through the development of alumni, knowledge and business networks, as well as sector groups.
Driving success and sustainability through community and public engagement (see part 3).
Aspect 2: Activity
We play a leading role in the economic, social and cultural development of Gloucestershire and the region. Our business engagement activity supports this through high quality links with the public sector and business community.
We respond directly to skills gaps and recruitment priorities identified by local businesses and employers. For example, we have identified priorities for development in Cyber Security, Engineering, Health and Social Care, Biomedical Sciences, and Construction. We work closely with the GFirst LEP, feeding into the development of the Local Industrial Strategy. University staff attend local Business Sector Groups and we are supporting the Gloucestershire Local Skills Improvement Plan.
In 2021, the University announced its acquisition of Gloucester’s Debenhams building. The building will provide space to facilitate the University’s planned expansion and will become our City Campus. It will become home to the School of Health and Social Care (anticipated to increase by 151% over the next ten years), our School of Education, a wellbeing centre and public library. Creating a University hub in an iconic building in Gloucester’s city centre complements other regeneration projects in the area, including the construction of a £100m mixed use commercial development of office, hotel, business incubation and accommodation space, and refurbishment of adjacent rail and bus transport hubs. Allied to this activity, in 2022, Gloucester City Council commissioned the University to undertake a consultation to obtain the views of the public and local businesses regarding ‘The Future of Gloucester’.
The University is actively involved with a range of festival events locally. In 2023, an Economic Impact Analysis by University of Gloucestershire, commissioned by Cheltenham Racecourse, identified that last year’s Cheltenham Festival was worth an estimated £274 million to the local economy.
The University first launched its Engineering courses in 2020, as a response to the significance of Advanced Manufacturing to the local economy. In December 2022, we received an OFS grant of £5.8m capital funding to build new facilities for Computing at Park Campus. Opening in spring 2025, this facility will allow us to take the next major step towards our strategic objective of becoming a centre of excellence for computing and digital technologies. This supports a key economic priority for Cheltenham, Gloucestershire and the region, particularly the development of the “Golden Valley” Cyber business park development adjacent to GCHQ.
Our ‘Your Future Plan’ Employer Engagement Team connect local, regional, national and international organisations with our students and graduates. The aim is to match suitable candidates to jobs, placements, internships and volunteering opportunities. We have delivered an 11% increase across four years in students registering on optional placement modules (from 3,745 in 2017/18 to 4,160 in 2021/22) and have averaged 3,864 placements across the last three years. This work is key to us realising our corporate goal of supporting every student in achieving their potential, including progressing to successful careers. In the University’s latest Graduate Outcomes results, 95.4% of students secured positive outcomes of employment or further study, an increase of 3% from the previous year and above the UK average.
High proportions of our students wish to find employment within the county and region (South West). As such, we are well-placed to support talent acquisition, graduate retention and business scale-up for local employers. Our commitment to Widening Participation in recruiting students is critical in enabling us to support employers in achieving greater diversity within their workforce and in meeting their skills requirements. For example, this is one element of our strategic partnership with St James’s Place, one of the two FTSE 100 companies headquartered in Gloucestershire, with whom we undertake skills training, apprenticeship, applied research and recruitment activities.
Apprenticeships are a successful and growing area for the University, with some 900 apprentice learners enrolled. They are enabling us to diversify our income, provide exciting work-based learning opportunities and support employers by providing the skills they need for growth. Delivery requires us to have close working relationships with forward thinking employers, looking to train and develop their workforce, and offers insight into best practice in work-based learning. In 2022 Ofsted rated our whole apprenticeship programme as “Good”.
The Gloucester Growth Hub opened on our Oxstalls campus in 2014, and has welcomed more than 12,000 people through its doors. It recently expanded to become a Growth Hub Network, with centres opening across all the county’s districts. As the original and lead Growth Hub in the county, the University has worked with thousands of businesses to help them accelerate their growth through consultancy, workshops and collaboration. Recently, the Growth Hub has successfully secured funding from Gloucester City under the Shared Prosperity Fund, in recognition of the value of the services it provides. It is scaling up the University’s offer in the Government-funded Help to Grow programme.
The Start and Grow Enterprise (SaGE) project stimulates successful enterprise in Gloucestershire, particularly among priority demographic and geographical groups. It builds upon the county’s already high start-up survival rate by addressing SME growth failure points and common support needs. To date, the project has supported more than 1,600 businesses.
We have been working closely with Constructing Excellence Gloucestershire (CEG) to develop a range of undergraduate, postgraduate and apprenticeship programmes that will meet the industry's fast-evolving needs, particularly around sustainability and active buildings.
The Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) is a specialist research division of the university and one of the largest specialist rural research centres in the UK, working at the interface of agriculture, society and the environment on issues relevant to rural and urban development, in the UK, Europe and further afield. The CCRI aim to conduct and publish world-class, agenda-setting research to influence policy actors, practitioners and decision makers at all levels. The CCRI is “an internationally excellent Research Institute with world-leading researchers (REF 2021)”. Indeed, as a university as a whole, over 85% of our research was judged as internationally significant, rigorous and high quality in REF 2021.
We run business advisory boards in both the Gloucestershire Business School and our School of Computing and Engineering, where local professionals can feed into various strategic developments. We use our annual business planning cycle to identify priorities for further growth and improvement. Externally, we communicate through our website, through social media, newsletters to business clients, and through our annual reports.
Aspect 3: Results
Our ‘Your Future Plan’ (YFP) initiative empowers our students to recognise the journey they are on and have real clarity around the aspirational goal they are looking to achieve. Our strategy is delivering strong results - our latest Graduate Outcomes show 95.4% of students secure employment or begin further study upon completing their degrees, an increase of 3% from the previous year's data. Our performance in highly skilled destinations is now 70.1%, which represents a 3.5% increase year on year. Moreover, we have set the clear ambition in our strategic plan to achieve upper quartile performance in this area by or before 2027.
Spanning undergraduate and postgraduate provisions, we have delivered an 11% increase across four years in students registering on optional placement modules, from 3,745 in 2017/18 to 4,160 in 2021/22.
With over 4000 employer partners registered on our CareerHub Portal offering placement opportunities, we have supported students in connecting with a wealth of organisations. These include global entities, such as Intel and Enterprise Rent a Car, as well as large local employers including GlaxoSmithKline, BAE Systems, Renishaw, Superdry and St James’ Place. We have developed a rich breadth of opportunities within the thriving SME regional ecosystem, for which we are one of only three regions that have above the national average of SME businesses.
The Gloucester Growth Hub opened on our Oxstalls campus in 2014, and has since welcomed more than 30,000 people through its doors. Having helped drive a county wide expansion of Growth Hubs alongside GFirst LEP, the Gloucester Growth Hub now sits as part of a network of 6 Hubs, all dedicated to driving growth and productivity across the county. Providing central service support to the network, the Gloucester Growth Hub has become a central point of reference for enterprise, scale up and corporates, providing support through direct intervention and signposting to national schemes. Since 2017, the Growth Hub has:
Provided direct business support to more than 903 high growth businesses through a dedicated 12 hour support programme,
worked with more than 1955 businesses providing medium intensity support
delivered light touch support to more than 2000 businesses via signposting and referral activity.
In addition, a recent independent assessment by The Funding Forum shows that from 2017 to 2023 the activities of the Gloucester Growth Hub will have produced net additional GVA of £21.5m, increasing to £48.4m after 2 years, concluding that ‘the project has performed exceptionally well against the contractual targets”.
Our Start and Grow Enterprise programme was established with ESIF grants to equip budding entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses to establish and grow their enterprises in Gloucestershire. This was achieved through the delivery of courses and workshops, combined with awarding grants, professional coaching, mentoring, networking and 1:1 sessions. Over 1,600 engaged with the programme, and since 2020, 129 jobs were created by clients. Furthermore, it has created an estimated £2.2m of GVA, rising to a forecast £9.9m by 2025.
In October 2021, the Gloucestershire Business School at the University was awarded the Small Business Charter award, in recognition of its commitment to supporting the small business community, student entrepreneurship, and the local economy. The assessor panel were particularly impressed with several of the Gloucestershire Business School's student-led initiatives, including the ‘360’ Student Consultancy project and the Legal Advice Clinic, in which final year students provide free legal advice to members of the local community. The Growth Hub was also commended and sample SME Impact was deemed ‘impressive’. More than 80% of suppliers to the university are SMEs, indicating a wider commitment.
Over the last three years, apprenticeship numbers have grown to nearly 900 learners across 20 different programmes. In February 2022, following our first full inspection, we received an OfSTED rating of ‘Good’ across all measures. Inspectors praised our effective links with local and regional agencies, such as the local enterprise partnership and local authorities, and the work we do to ensure that the University helps to contribute to meeting regional skills needs in areas such as health, business and cybersecurity. Inspectors found that UoG apprentices displayed positive and professional behaviour, and were highly motivated. We currently work with more than 160 employers, some of which are well-known national organisations (such as SERCO, Virgin and Dyson), but most are based within Gloucestershire and the South West region. We have strong relationships with various NHS bodies and local authorities, across both Health and Social Care and Leadership and Management.
The Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) is “an internationally excellent Research Institute with world-leading researchers” (REF 2021). Across the full range of our REF 2021 submission, over 85% of our research was judged as internationally significant, rigorous and high quality.
BiGGAR Economics have prepared an Economic Impact Assessment of the City Campus project. Economic value is reported in terms of GVA and FTE employment, with multipliers derived from the Government’s input-output tables. The analysis estimated a gross impact of 692 jobs and an annual GVA uplift of £35m.
Public & Community Engagement
Summary of approach
We are proud to be the University of, and for, Gloucestershire.
We are committed to our role as an “anchor institution”, being an integral part of the community and contributing to the long-term wellbeing and sustainability of our society. One of five priority goals stated in our strategic plan is that we will be committed in discharging our Civic Role, “to promote the wellbeing and advancement of our community”. Moreover, strong partnerships are a key element of our Strategic Plan, including those with: Gfirst LEP (our Local Enterprise Partnership); business and employers; further education colleges; international partners; local NHS Trusts and other providers of public services; and with cultural and community groups.
Aspect 1: Strategy
We see ourselves as an institution deeply embedded in our place, working for the long-term good of society.
The public and communities are at the heart of our Strategic Plan 2022 – 2027, and they were consulted as part of its development. The University Council is our governing body and it is responsible for the approval of our overall strategy.
The goals of the Strategic Plan 2022-2027 are:
Education: to support our students, in the UK and overseas, to learn well by providing an outstanding education.
Student Life: to support our students to thrive and flourish
Student Outcomes: to support our students to achieve their full potential in their careers and their lives
Research, Innovation and Enterprise: to undertake excellent research and encourage innovation and enterprise for students, staff and partners
Civic Role: to promote the wellbeing and advancement of our community
Public and community engagement contributes to each of these goals, as shown in Aspect 3.
The map we use to underpin the strategic goal and identify our key partnerships is:
Our strategic plan is approved by the University’s Council and progress is regularly reported.
We are proud to be the University of, and for, Gloucestershire. The most profound impact we have in our locality is through enabling the people who live and work in Gloucestershire to gain skills, experiences and qualifications that equip them for successful careers and rewarding lives. We work closely with employers, local government and the Gfirst LEP to support local skills development. Engagement with employers and the business community through the Growth Hub and Gfirst sector groups helps to identify local skills gaps and also informs the development of new provision. Our apprenticeships, short courses and new professional programmes are designed and delivered in partnership with employers, to meet skills needs in both business and public services. We partnered with New College Swindon to create the Swindon and Wiltshire Institute of Technology.
We contribute to social justice and social mobility by making higher education available to people from disadvantaged backgrounds and communities – our Welcome to Gloucestershire Scholarship supports this work. Through making our specialist facilities and expertise available to the wider community, we enrich wellbeing in sports, arts, culture, and enterprise.
The University is a major player in culture and the arts. Through our Vice-Chancellor, we were founding Board members of both the Cheltenham Trust and the Gloucester Culture Trust (GCT). The University designed and led the creation of the Cultural Entrepreneurs Hub within the GCT in Gloucester, and worked with partners to secure National Portfolio Organisation status for GCT. We sponsor local arts organisations such as the Cheltenham Festivals, and we run an active public lecture series (including the Chief Executive of the Arts Council as this year’s Chancellor’s Lecturer).
The commitment to our community does not mean we are inward-looking. On the contrary, we can best serve our community by being highly connected, globally engaged, and international in outlook. By bringing talented people to come and study and work in Gloucestershire, we are enhancing the skills base and human capital of the area. By undertaking teaching and research with collaborative partners around the world, we can raise awareness of Gloucestershire, and give our students, business partners and the wider community access to new research and insights. Our overseas collaborative partnerships continue to grow, including progression agreements that bring students from partners to Gloucestershire for top up study.
We always aim to be a good neighbour. We led the public discussion to develop the Gloucestershire 2050 vision, a strategic ambition for county leaders to work together to improve the quality of life across the county. We work actively with a number of local partners, including Gloucestershire County Council, the Diocese of Gloucester, Gloucester City Council, Cheltenham Borough Council and Tewkesbury Borough Council. We continue to engage with our closest neighbours by facilitating community liaison groups linked with each campus. Each group meets four times a year, enabling representatives from residents’ associations and elected councillors to meet with colleagues from the university and the Students’ Union, along with representatives from the police and environmental health teams.
Many of our courses directly engage with the community, and many students undertake dissertations and placements with a community focus. Several of our Research Priority Areas aim to achieve outcomes that will benefit our communities.
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Aspect 2: Support
The University’s annual business planning cycle is framed within our Strategic Plan, requiring each School and Department to identify priorities and actions for achieving the University’s strategic goals, including our civic role. Performance within each school is overseen by the Head of School.
Staff are supported to deliver public and community engagement activities through specific training offered by their school or department. There is also institution-wide training available, including:
Mandatory equity, diversity and inclusion training, delivered to all staff upon joining the University.
Inclusive behaviours workshops – open to all staff, these 3 hours sessions support the development of inclusive environments for everyone.
Stand up against Harassment bystander training, delivered by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust.
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training – delivered in partnership with Swindon and Gloucestershire Mind.
Living our Values workshops - these were delivered in 2023, to support an update of our organisational values (Integrity, Nurture, Ambition, Curiosity, Sustainability).
Specific programmes and initiatives are also supported with resources and training. For example, in March 2023, a programme of training to support the successful delivery of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships was attended by 40 of our academics. Three similar training events will also be delivered to local businesses.
‘Belonging’ is the University’s Equity, Diversion and Inclusion Strategy: 2022 - 2027. This strategy directly enhances all university activities, including public and community engagement. It includes five EDI goals:
Attract, retain, develop, and support a more diverse workforce
Improve students’ experiences, supporting their mental and physical wellbeing, creating a sense of belonging so they learn, thrive and achieve.
Increase engagement in equity, diversity, and inclusion practice across the University through learning opportunities, joint working and shared objectives.
Decolonise our culture and curriculum
Inclusive Governance
Each of these goals is monitored and progress is overseen by our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, chaired by our Director of Human Resources.
Since 2017, we have been pioneering a Reciprocal Mentoring Programme. Targeting our Black, Asian minority ethnic students, its aims are twofold:
to expand the level of cultural awareness of the university leadership by students sharing their lived experiences
Improve Black, Asian minority ethnic students’ experiences by creating a sense of belonging.
The scheme continues to be highly successful and was awarded a ‘Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence’ in 2021 by Advance HE.
Community and Public Engagement best practice is identified and recognised through internal and external awards and events. For example, our Annual Staff Awards include awards for sustainability; Inclusion and Diversity; and Partnership and Community. Externally, in January 2023, we gained re-accreditation as a Disability Confident Leader Level 3, in recognition of our commitment to ensuring an accessible and inclusive workplace.
Our ‘Bank It’ scheme is a joint initiative with our Students’ Union which recognises the time our students and staff spend volunteering in activities that support local charities and communities. Over the past 4 years, more than 70,000 hours of volunteering have been banked.
We help (and fund) our students’ union to support a wide range of student activities for volunteering and community activity.
Our research strategy emphasises impact and supports staff to pursue impact through civic engagement. For example, in the 2021 REF we included impact case studies focused on community projects relating to the history of Cheltenham, flood resilience in Gloucestershire, community arts projects and the exploration of local history through poetry.
Aspect 3: Activity
The following examples illustrate the breadth and depth of our public and community engagement activities:
As well as providing a new home for our School of Health and Social Care, our City Centre Campus will also be an important community facility. The city’s public library will be relocating to the building, which will greatly improve facilities. We are also working in partnership with One Gloucestershire Integrated Care System, to deliver a new Centre for Arts, Health and Wellbeing within the building. This will pilot ground-breaking therapies and interventions to improve community health and wellbeing. Our City Centre Campus supports each of our strategic goals.
In 2022, Gloucester City Council commissioned the University to undertake a consultation to obtain the views of the public and local businesses regarding The Future of Gloucester. This research included an online survey and focus groups, and more than 500 responses were received. The findings are helping to identify priorities for future development. This supports strategic goals 4 and 5.
We were the academic partner for the ‘Going the Extra Mile’ (GEM) project, led by Gloucestershire County Council and managed by the Gloucestershire Gateway Trust. The project, which came to an end in 2023, supported more than 2000 of the county’s most vulnerable adults, to help them move closer to education, training or employment. The project involved a consortium of more than 50 voluntary community social enterprises. Our role in the project was survey design, monitoring and evaluation, to support the continuous improvement of delivery and outcomes. This supports strategic goals 4 and 5.
At the start of 2023, our nursing students joined ‘Nurses on Tour,’ a ground-breaking NHS Gloucestershire initiative that delivered preventative care in local communities. Supported by a trained NHS health professional, our students provided preventative care advice, diagnosed symptoms and identified a number of conditions that required referrals. This supports strategic goals 1 and 5.
Students from our BA (Hons) Music Business programme recently collaborated with a venue in Cheltenham to launch a new arts and performance space, equipped with repurposed audio technology donated by the University. Our students gained significant industry experience in the process. This supports strategic goals 1, 2 and 5.
In January 2023, we launched a new partnership with Hucclecote Netball Club, the largest club of its kind in the South West. This partnership provides students with access to specialist coaching and opportunities to play at a high level. At the same time, students support the club with coaching and officiating. This supports strategic goals 2, 3 and 5.
The University also supports access to arts, musical and other cultural events. This includes long standing support for the Cheltenham Science Festival, Jazz Festival, Literature Festival – a partnership which enables students to access work placement and performance opportunities. The University is also a sponsor of the Gloucester History Festival, and hosts events for the Cheltenham Poetry Festival. This supports strategic goals 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
Aspect 4: Enhancing practice
As outlined in Aspect 1, our public and community engagement activities contribute to each of our five corporate goals contained within our Strategic Plan 2022-2027. This plan is augmented by a delivery plan and progress report, that succinctly presents the actions the University is taking to deliver the goals. This document is also a key tool for monitoring and evaluating performance.
The delivery plan is a rolling plan, which considers a five-year outlook. Six to 10 timebound milestone actions are set each year, which are categorised according to the goal they relate to. Progress reports are provided for University Council twice each year, and milestones are added to future years as we progress.
For example, milestones within the Delivery Plan to date that relate to goal 5, ‘Civic Role’ are as follows:
Launch of Swindon Institute of Technology (UoG anchor HEI) (2021 – 2022 delivery plan).
Secure agreement to new City Campus partnerships with GCC Libraries and NHS Arts Health & Wellbeing Centre (2021 – 2022 delivery plan).
Secure funding for Growth Hub to deliver business plan for future sustainability (2022 – 2023 delivery plan)
All these milestones have been achieved.
Where public and community engagement is carried out as part of the curriculum, it is planned for, monitored and evaluated at school level. Each of our academic schools are required to produce an annual business plan. There are two review meetings each year (for each business plan) to check performance against targets set. Key university departments also develop business plans, including our teams for Business Engagement, Student Services, Sustainability, and Communications, Marketing and Student Recruitment.
Projects have had their own monitoring arrangements and processes for evaluation. For example, in late 2021, BiGGAR Economics were asked to carry out an evaluation of our EU funded projects, including Growth Hub Core.
The City Campus development was the subject of a full business case assessment, and will be monitored against the indicators contained in that business case.
Aspect 5: Building on success
Our Strategic Plan 2022 - 2027 builds on the success of its predecessor, the Strategic Plan 2017 - 2022. In this earlier document we identified four corporate goals, and public and community engagement contributed to each of them:
to provide a breadth and richness of experience that enables all our students to reach their full potential
to provide teaching and support for learning of the highest quality
to undertake excellent research and innovative professional practice which enrich students’ learning and create impact and benefit for others
to build partnerships which create opportunity, innovation and mutual benefit for the communities we serve
While our work in achieving these goals can never be complete, we are proud of the progress we made during the 2017 – 2022 strategic plan period. Moreover, many of our biggest achievements during this time were either driven by public and community engagement, or took steps towards greater collaboration. For example:
As a result of collaboration with health trusts in our local community, we enrolled 2920 new students onto Nursing and Allied Health programmes.
By working with local employers, we grew our apprentice population to more than 700 learners on 19 different programmes.
We invested £91 Million in teaching, learning and living spaces. This includes the purchase of the former Debenhams building in Gloucester to create a new City Campus. This project involves the development of key facilities that will benefit the local community, including a new County Library and a centre that will pilot ground-breaking therapies and interventions to improve community health and wellbeing.
In response to skills needs identified by local businesses and industry groups, we increased our STEM course offer to 40% of our portfolio
As a reflection of our commitment to being a good neighbour both locally and globally, we became the UK’s most sustainable University (People and Planet League, 2019), and committed to net zero by 2030.
We achieved Small Business Charter accreditation in recognition of our commitment to supporting the small business community, student entrepreneurship, and the local economy.
We doubled the size of our Research Excellence Framework, expanding our capacity to deliver world-class, dynamic and responsive research. As part of this, several of our Research Priority Areas have a community focus and involve high levels of public engagement.
Since civic and community engagement is a significant component of our strategic mission, we monitor and reflect on our own performance in each year’s business planning cycle, as a basis for setting new priorities and targets for the following year.
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