Mary Stuart

By Mary Stuart University of Lincoln Vice Chancellor

There are certain fixtures of the academic year which do not change but that does not mean any two years are the same in universities – far from it! Change is an inevitable part of life and something I enjoy, and I always seek to embrace it positively. At the University of Lincoln we are constantly striving to evolve, adapt and innovate.

In the past 12 months we have opened multi-million-pound science facilities, launched brand new academic courses, such as pharmacy and chemistry, developed exciting connections with industry and continued to invest in our student experience.

We started 2014 by declaring it our Year of Science in celebration of these major developments and this provided a theme for much of the year.

Readers will have seen photos of the new Lincoln Science and Innovation Park, a partnership between the University of Lincoln and the Lincolnshire Co-op which aims to become a focal point for investment in science and technology across the region.

The flagship building on this 11-acre site off Tritton Road, in the historic industrial heartland of Lincoln, is the Joseph Banks Laboratories, which welcomed staff and students from our Schools of Pharmacy, Chemistry and Life Sciences for the first time in September.

Alongside this investment in science facilities, we also ran a series of high-profile public events and activities which highlighted the fascinating past and exciting future for science and engineering in this region.

Our Year of Science featured free-to-attend public lectures by high-profile scientists, including Lord Winston, schools activities delivered in classrooms and on-campus, an essay-writing competition, and a showcase of research at the UK’s major public science exhibitions this summer.

We were one of two universities to have three separate projects chosen for display at the Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition – perhaps the most prestigious public exhibition of scientific research in this country.

This is not the end of our investment in STEM subjects. In September 2015 we will be welcoming our first cohort of students to our new School of Mathematics and Physics. Like our previous successes in Engineering, Pharmacy and Chemistry, this new academic school has been shaped based on dialogue with employers to ensure it meets the demands of industry and equips students with the requisite knowledge they will need post-graduation.

It has been made possible through a £6.8 million investment from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), reflecting confidence in the University’s ability to address skills gaps locally, nationally and internationally.

This model of industry engagement is something for which Lincoln can now boast an international reputation. We have won a string of awards for our successful collaboration with Siemens in creating the School of Engineering in 2009 and this has been held up as a blueprint for how academic and industry should work together.

Alongside all the developments in science and health, next year we will also be launching a new music degree and working closely with the Cathedral, and County and City Councils to celebrate the 800^th anniversary of Magna Carta. We have a strong tradition in the arts and humanities at the University and this will be further developed with our considerable success in many disciplines such as Drama, Journalism, English and History.

At Lincoln it is the success of our students which is most satisfying: for example our Engineering course ranks number one in the UK for graduate prospects in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2015 with 100% graduate employment among the first cohort of students to collect their degree certificates.

It is after all our students who are the heart of our university. So it was another proud moment when Lincoln was ranked in the top third of UK universities in the 2014 National Student Survey, based on the average score across all questions, and in the top quarter for students’ personal development. Lincoln also shone in The Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey 2014, rating in the top 30 UK universities.

As well as investing in our students’ futures and the meeting the needs of local employers, we are also helping our business community to prosper. In November, Business Secretary Vince Cable visited the University and announced  that £2 million has been allocated from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund to launch the University’s ‘Grow on Growth Fund’, which will provide financial grants to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to enhance their ‘grow-on’ from business incubation environments.

It is great to see Lincoln and Lincolnshire thriving as a place to do business and as a growing centre for arts and culture and we are very happy to be doing our part, working with our local partners.

As we move into 2015, we will continue to build, physically and metaphorically. Readers will know that the cathedral in city of Lincoln holds one of only four surviving originals of the 1215 Magna Carta and as such is central to this internationally significant commemoration. Our historians are at the centre of research into Magna Carta and much of Lincolnshire life in the middle ages.

I am excited about 2015 and the opportunities it will offer. No doubt it will be full of challenges and surprises too, but we wouldn’t want it any other way!

I’d like to wish all The Lincolnite readers a very happy festive season and all the best for 2015.

Professor Mary Stuart is the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lincoln. She is a graduate of the University of Cape Town and the Open University, where she obtained her Doctorate in Social Policy in 1998. Her research interests are focused on life histories, social mobility, higher education students and community development.

By Mary Stuart University of Lincoln Vice Chancellor

The year began on a high for the University of Lincoln; every year we recognise, through the award of a small number of honorary degrees, the outstanding contributions made to our society by individuals who have excelled in their chosen fields.

And as such, we were delighted to welcome BAFTA and Golden Globe award-winning actor John Hurt CBE back to Lincoln for our graduation ceremony at Lincoln Cathedral in January.

The University itself is no stranger to awards. In February, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) awarded a commendation to the university for its enhancement of student learning opportunities.

We were delighted with this recognition as the university is constantly developing and enhancing ways in which students can have their say about how they learn.

More recently, the university was highlighted as an example of excellence in an independent report commissioned by the government, and led by Sir Andrew Witty, into how universities drive innovation and business creation.

The report highlighted the significance of the creation in 2009 of the Lincoln School of Engineering, in collaboration with Siemens plc, and the contribution made to small business growth by Sparkhouse, the university’s business incubation centre.

Having gained the education contract for nursing across all of Lincolnshire in 2012, the way we are training the next generation of nurses was praised in a report by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.

Awarded a rating of ‘good’ in all five areas, this recognises that we have built strong partnerships with placement providers and have solid systems in place to ensure that our student nurses, and their mentors, are well-supported throughout their placements.

This year also saw the first ever Vice Chancellor’s Award and University of Lincoln Scholarships, which awarded almost £30,000 in scholarships to support the academic aspirations of talented new students.

These awards show just how much we are committed to supporting academic progression and helping students advance their learning and reach their full potential.

The university celebrated the 150th anniversary of its oldest predecessor institution with two free public exhibitions at the Greestone Centre in February and The Usher Gallery throughout the summer.

The exhibitions brought together historic works from the Lincoln School of Art into a comprehensive showcase for the first time. This anniversary coincided with the School of Art and Design’s move later on in the year to the new purpose-built building on the Brayford campus.

This year we also won Gold at RHS Chelsea Flower Show for our unique garden ‘Digital Capabilities’. The garden was designed to respond to live Twitter activity and garnered a great deal of press attention highlighting our research into the changing world of computing, working with our Schools of Computing, Psychology and Architecture. The coverage also highlighted the city and the county across the globe which we are delighted to have enabled.

More recently, the university was successful in its bid, along with the Lincolnshire Echo and Lincolnshire Co-operative, for £1 million of funding from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund.

Over the coming year the money will be distributed to businesses in the city to create new jobs and grow the local economy.

As always there are a number of exciting developments planned for the future.

The University of Lincoln will be providing more research and development opportunities by creating its new Schools of Mathematics and Chemistry.

The new schools will create provision in these critical subject areas in the region and will reshape our whole Brayford Campus as we evolve into the university of the future.

The fact a £6.8 million investment came from the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) is a sign of the confidence funders have in the University of Lincoln and its capability to respond directly to the needs of local, regional and national employers.

Initial work on the Lincoln Science and Innovation Park is continuing apace with the newly renovated Joseph Banks House on target to open its doors in September 2014.

And at the beginning of the month we found out that we had been successful in a collaborative bid with Kingston University (my old University) in a £14.8 million project to support UK science and engineering students progress onto postgraduate qualifications.

This project is also part of our strategy to ensure we are supporting our students at postgraduate level so they are able to contribute to new knowledge, science and therefore grow our reputation across the world for innovation.

Winning projects like the ones I have described enable us to do more for the city, the county and the region as well as grow and develop as a strong university with excellent students and excellent research.

I am extremely excited about the coming year and look forward to the continued expansion of the university, not only in terms of infrastructure but also in its commitment to pursuing world-leading research. We will continue to put Lincoln on the map with our work. Watch this space!

A very happy festive season to all Lincolnite readers!

Professor Mary Stuart is the Vice Chancellor of the University of Lincoln. She is a graduate of the University of Cape Town and the Open University, where she obtained her Doctorate in Social Policy in 1998. Her research interests are focused on life histories, social mobility, higher education students and community development.