Strategic Plan 2006 - Swansea University

swansea university
strategic plan 2006/11
06
Swansea University is the public name of the University of Wales Swansea, a constituent institution of the University of Wales.
Prifysgol Abertawe yw enw cyhoeddus Prifysgol Cymru Abertawe, un o sefydliadau cyfansoddol Prifysgol Cymru.
Designed by ICON CREATIVE DESIGN Tel: 01633 897086

An enviable reputation for teaching
driven by world-class research.
Contents
Vision 02
Mission Statement 02
Strategic Directions Introduction 03
Aim One – Research Excellence 04
Aim Two – The Student Experience 07
Aim Three – Streamlining the Governance and Administration Structure 11
Aim Four – Management and Leadership 13
Aim Five – The Academic Structure 15
Aim Six – Consultancy/Knowledge Exploitation 17
Aim Seven – Quality of Life 20
Aim Eight – Widening Access 23
Cross-cutting Themes 25
Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP
Tel: 01792 205678 www.swansea.ac.uk
01

Strategic Directions
Introduction
Vision
To be a research-led University of international quality.
Mission Statement
Swansea University will provide an environment of
research excellence, with research being undertaken that
is internationally recognised and that informs all other
activities at the University. Swansea University will deliver
an outstanding student experience, with teaching of the
highest quality, that produces graduates equipped for
distinguished personal and professional achievement.
The University community will be a powerhouse for growth in
the regional economy, and will greatly enrich the community
and cultural life of Wales. It will contribute to the health,
leisure and well-being of citizens in South West Wales
and beyond.
Poised for Success
A new Strategic Plan for the University was approved by the University Council in July 2004. This incorporated
a radical set of “Strategic Directions” policies into a comprehensive plan for accelerating the development of
the University. The resulting strategy was, in summary, to strengthen research, enhance the Swansea student
experience, and be a powerhouse for growth in the regional economy as part of an accelerated virtuous
circle of improvement to both the academic and financial performance of the University.
There was a dual approach towards the academic development of the University:
• incremental growth, investing against business plans and diverting resources towards the most successful
academic areas;
• attracting external funding for large new academic developments with the critical mass and level of funding
to have significant impact on the University’s profile.
The University had to function differently to manage the pace of change envisaged by the Strategic Directions
policies. The Strategic Plan therefore included extensive changes to the governance and management structures
of the University.
Two years later, the University is emerging from a sometimes stressful and challenging period of restructuring
and is now beginning to enjoy significant successes as a result. In particular, the value of new research grants
has more than doubled during 2005/06 giving us confidence that the aspirational research income targets in
the Strategic Directions policies can be achieved.
This year’s update of the Strategic Plan reaffirms the University’s relentless pursuit of the Strategic Directions
policies but includes more academic detail provided by the new academic schools. It also begins to address
the challenges we face in developing a fit for purpose estate and providing not just for the growth of activities
in the University but also the need for more industrial units and science park facilities.
Finally, the external policy context has become much clearer over the last year. This includes developments
regarding the Welsh Assembly Government Spatial Plan, EU Convergence Funding, and the Swansea Economic
Regeneration Strategy. This Strategic Plan update therefore signals a period of more proactive collaboration
with external organisations to deliver some of the University’s regional responsibilities.
02 03

Aim One – Research Excellence
The University will, by the end of the planning period, be considered to be
one of the top 30 institutions in the UK, with over 40% of its academic staff
assessed to be producing research work of international quality and the
remainder producing research work of national-level quality.
Current Position
The University has pursued a research strategy
with two main elements: incremental growth
through investing against business plans and
diverting resources towards the most successful
academic areas with the intention of
developing interdisciplinary research activities,
and quantum leap developments, based on
large external investments, with the critical mass
and level of funding to have significant impact
on the University’s profile. Increasingly, the
major scientific advances are being made at
the boundaries between traditional disciplines,
giving campus universities such as Swansea
a distinct advantage.
The move to a School structure has been
effected, releasing resources for research, with
the academic areas that have been disinvested
in integrated into the new Schools. New, and
enhanced existing, research teams are
embedding and developing capacity for the
challenges ahead. Encouragingly, results of the
investment in the University’s research capacity
are already being seen. Swansea University’s
annual income from the Research Councils has
increased significantly year-on-year: in
2004/05 it was £4.9m, whereas in the nine
months from August 2005 it is already £7.5m.
Overall research income has risen dramatically
from £10.2m to in excess of £30m during the
same time frame (reaching the University’s
previous target two years early). Underlying
these figures, the number of research grant
applications submitted has increased to a level
of at least 40 per month, from around 20 per
month a year ago, which suggests a permanent
increase in research income as well as the
one-off increases gained from some of the
large projects on campus.
Within the Department of Research and
Innovation, the Research and Innovation
Office (RIO) is working to assist Schools in
strengthening their research activities and in
identifying opportunities for further funding
support. The Department provides a single
point of contact for academic staff within the
University as well as for external partner
organisations. This new, larger structure has
been made possible by external funding and
will ensure that Swansea stays firmly on course
to become a University renowned for its focus
not just on world-class research but also on
using that research for wealth creation and, in
particular, for the economic regeneration of
South West Wales (Aim Six).
Across the University there has been investment
to strengthen many academic areas, including
new research centres and specialisations.
Some examples include: the Wales Institute of
Cognitive Neuroscience (in collaboration with
Cardiff University and UW Bangor) and the
Wales International Centre for Childhood
Studies, in Human Sciences; Centre for
Research into the English Literature and
Language of Wales, the Centre for Media
History (with other universities) in the School
of Arts; the Callaghan Centre for the Study of
Conflict in Humanities; and investment in a
new subject of Human-Computer Interaction in
the School of Physical Sciences. The Research
Committee has thoroughly reviewed the criteria
for establishing, and the support for,
interdisciplinary research centres.
Science Research Investment Fund (SRIF) monies
have been used to good effect to improve the
infrastructure in, for example, Civil and
Computational Engineering, the Institute of
Environmental Sustainability, and the
Biomolecular Analysis Mass Spectrometry
Centre. In addition, Computer Science,
Engineering and Medicine have successfully bid
for eight Research Councils UK (RCUK)
Fellowships, including four in Nanomedicine.
The University’s Institute of Life Science (ILS) is
under construction and on schedule to be ready
for occupation by April 2007. It is a quantum
leap project, a £50 million investment which
represents a defining moment for the University,
the largest research investment that has ever
been made at Swansea. The ILS is designed to
co-locate a number of life science related
research centres of excellence in one highquality
environment and draw on
interdisciplinary research expertise from across
the campus, enabling the School of Medicine to
realise its full potential.
The ILS will provide the highest quality scientific
and computing facilities and will host IBM`s
European Deep Computing Visualisation Centre
for Medical Applications, with a new IBM
supercomputer, ‘Blue C’, which is already on
campus and in use. This is the fastest computer in
the world dedicated to life science research, and
the most powerful computer in any HEI in the UK.
Objectives for the Planning Period
In pursuing its aim of Research Excellence, the University will seek to:
. double by 2007, relative to the 2001 RAE, the proportion of its
research staff assessed to be producing research work of
international quality.
. reconfigure the University to achieve research critical mass in all
academic areas, supporting this through infrastructure development.
. only recruit staff that have achieved, or have the potential to achieve,
international excellence in research.
. proactively recruit distinguished scholars that can bring strong
academic leadership to research teams in Swansea.
. increase representation of Swansea University staff on Research
Council panels and other funding agencies’ policy-making groups.
. increase its income from Research Councils to £11.5m in 2008/09.
. increase its research income from external sources other than the
Research Councils to to £15.9m in 2008/09
The other major quantum leap project that is
already underway is the Institute for Advanced
Telecommunications (IAT), launched in May
2006. The IAT is a strategic project to create a
world-class centre for telecommunications
research in Wales, being a £17m investment
underpinned by £5.2m of EU Objective One
funds. It develops upon the substantial research
strengths at Swansea in Engineering,
Computing, Physics and Mathematics. The
Institute will become a centre of excellence in
modern telecommunications, and subsume and
develop the role of the Communications and
Photonics research group and the CETIC Centre
for Communications and Software Technologies
(CAST).
The University is determined to ensure that
the increase in research activity is suitably
acknowledged and rewarded in the next
Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). To help in
its preparations for the RAE, a Working Group
(RAE-WG) has been established to co-ordinate
the management of the University’s return. The
RAE-WG is comprised of the Vice Chancellor,
senior academic staff and officers of the
University, with other staff being invited to join
the group when their expertise is required. The
Group will assist Schools in making strategic
decisions regarding the University’s RAE
submissions based on the most comprehensive
information available.
Data has already been collected and analysed
to quantify in detail the characteristics of an
international-class research unit. Swansea’s
current position, and that in 2001, has been
assessed on a submission-by-submission basis.
The findings have been reviewed by Senate
and Management Board. Already, two (of
three) such status reports have been published
by the RAE-WG, and comprehensive advice
given to Schools on the format of the RAE, as
part of the University’s ongoing preparations.
. promote excellence through international collaboration to achieve
critical mass in consortium projects.
. build networks between research groups and research and
development in industry to promote knowledge transfer and raise
awareness of the cutting-edge application of developments.
. engage in a dialogue with businesses in Wales, and elsewhere in
the UK, to identify potential research projects.
. continue to support the commercialisation of the University’s research
outputs through the Department of Research and Innovation and
through the Technium network.
. continue to develop further research collaborations with Welsh
institutions, through Welsh Centres of Excellence and other research
links with Welsh HE Institutions.
. continue to work with public bodies to enhance the University’s
research profile.
04
05

Aim One – Research Excellence
Aim Two – The Student Experience
Approach
In the next phase of EU Structural Funding (a
Convergence Objective replacing the current
Objective One) between 2007 and 2013,
the UK is expected to receive €2.6 billion.
The Member States are currently in the process
of finalising the Structural Funds Regulations,
which will establish the rules for delivering the
funds during the 2007-2013 budgetary cycle.
Following its success with ILS and IAT, the
University is already preparing bids for
Convergence Objective funds, to be
submitted as early as possible in 2007.
Potential projects include:
• The National Centre for Aquatic Sciences: an
educational, research and industrial facility
(AquaTechnium-equivalent) based in the SA1
development. The current estimate for the value
of the project is between £40m and £50m.
• The Welsh Centre for Natural Product
Research and Development: a sustainable
integrated network which will enhance
discovery of novel and diverse natural
products and accelerate exploitation of
compounds for agriculture and medicine.
The total value of the project is estimated at
between £25m and £35m.
• Centre of Excellence in Bio-Refining: will
explore sustainable biofuel sources such as
ethanol, the plant genetics that are best suited
for European climates and landforms to
produce fuels, and the chemical processes
that are required for efficient extraction.
The project will further develop work at
Technium Energy and Technium
Sustainable Technologies.
• Clinical Research Unit: the development of a
Unit within the Swansea NHS Trust on the
Singleton site. Should such a bid be
successful this will further enhance the
School’s position as a world-renowned
centre of excellence for clinical research.
Many other developments will be undertaken
across campus to ‘fine-tune’ the University’s
research capacity in the period
approaching the RAE.
A University-wide initiative in nanotechnology
has evolved at Swansea over the last few years
based on existing strengths in Engineering,
Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Medicine.
Recently the project has gathered momentum as
funding of £2m has been secured to create a
Multidisciplinary Nanotechnology Centre
(MNC) with a strategy to develop projects that
bridge traditional disciplines to provide a step
change in technology. The Centre was officially
opened in 2005/06 by the UK Government’s
Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Sir David
King. It is recognised as a growth area within
the University that will lead nanotechnology
activity in Wales.
The EPSRC Mass Spectrometry Laboratory will
be integrated into the School of Medicine in
2006/07. A new use of the laboratory is in
Bioinformatics related to the analysis of Mass
Spectrometry data in genomics, which will link
Mass Spectrometry to the opportunity of ‘Blue C’.
The University will seek to build on the strength
of its ownership of the Richard Burton
Collection by developing the Richard Burton
Centre. The Centre will initiate world-class
research into the cultural experience of south
Wales, drawing on the expertise of the
University’s researchers and its unique
collections in the broad area of the south Wales
cultural experience (Richard Burton Collection,
South Wales Coalfield Collection, Welsh
Writers in English). £1 million of SRIF money
has already been identified for the Centre. In
addition, the opening of a new dedicated
postgraduate research facility in the James
Callaghan Building in 2006/07, financed by
SRIF funds, will also enhance the attractiveness
of pursuing postgraduate research within the
Humanities and Arts in Swansea.
An Institute of Governance and Public Policy will
be established in 2006 by the Schools of
Humanities and Environment & Society. It will
develop theoretical, comparative and applied
understanding of the nature of contemporary
governance and address issues in contemporary
public policy, particularly at the sub-state
regional level, engaging with the WAG and
other public, private and voluntary sector actors
in Welsh governance. The Institute will have
strong UK-wide and international links and will
develop an international research profile.
Modern technology is to a large extent
mathematical technology and a new
Interdisciplinary Research Centre ‘Partial
Differential Equations : Analysis, Modelling
and Numerics’ will build capacity in Maths,
Geography, Medicine and Engineering.
Strategic developments in Biological Sciences
include the Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture
Research (CSAR) and the embryonic Institute of
Environmental Sustainability (IES). Major
ongoing grants in Geography include the
NERC Climate and Land-Surface Systems
Interaction Centre (CLASSIC) (£2.5m), and the
EU Millennium Project (€13m; Swansea share,
€1.5m). The School of Law has made several
bids for Research Council funding, including a
substantial bid to establish a Centre for Global
Justice. A Chair in the Law of Children’s Rights
attached to the School is contained in the
successful bid to the Welsh Assembly
Government (WAG) to establish an
Interdisciplinary Centre for Child Research.
During the period to 2007, the RAE-WG will
further develop its database of measures of
research output and esteem, being cognisant
of the evolving criteria and working methods of
the RAE panels as they are made public. The
RAE-WG will advise the Senior Management
Team and Schools of the optimal approach to
the exercise, and assist in the management
and preparation of individual submissions.
In addition, the University will contribute to
the debates regarding the Science Policy for
Wales, and the future of research funding in
the post-RAE era.
Swansea University will provide an outstanding student experience, with
teaching, informed by research work, of the highest quality, equipping
students for distinguished personal and professional achievement.
Current Position
In 2005, Swansea University won the Times
Higher Education Supplement's award for the
UK's ‘Best Student Experience’. More than
10,000 undergraduates assessed their HEIs in
an online survey, and Swansea emerged, from
170 institutions, as the overall winner, with
outstanding ratings for its facilities, graduate
employment prospects, social life and course
satisfaction. In addition, in the inaugural
National Student Survey (NSS), the Funding
Council-sponsored poll where final year
undergraduates feedback on their academic
experience, students have assessed Swansea as
being in the top twenty HE Institutions (HEIs) in
the UK. The Funding Councils have a statutory
role in ensuring the quality of teaching in HE is
assessed, and consider that students' views
form an important part of this assessment.
The strong upward trend in applications to
study at Swansea over the last five years has
continued. The popularity of the University as
a place to study is reflected in the volume of
applications to study undergraduate full-time
degrees at Swansea University. There has been
a year-on-year increase of 10.4% in the number
of students applying to Swansea, compared
with a national decrease of 3.2%.
The University’s Learning and Teaching Strategy
was reviewed in autumn 2005 and agreed by
the Learning and Teaching Committee in
October 2005. The Strategy has been
restructured in line with the preferred HEFCW
format, though the basic thrust remains
consistent with the University’s long-term
strategy. The HE Academy has provided
very positive feedback on the Strategy.
As part of the application for University title
status, the scholarship and pedagogical
effectiveness of academic staff (one of the
requisite categories), has been thoroughly
reviewed. What emerged from the associated
data collection was the very high number of
academic staff acting as external examiners in
other institutions (over 53%) and the high
proportion of these who have acted in this
capacity for research degrees (76%). These
statistics evidence the research-led approach
of the academic staff at Swansea.
Statistics are increasingly important in
reviewing student performance and diagnosing
areas where improvements to student support
mechanisms might be introduced or changes
to teaching or assessment approaches made.
The use of performance measurement statistics
is now widespread and forms part of the
annual activity of Faculties, the Learning and
Teaching Committee, and the Admissions
Committee. Continuous improvements in the
quality of provision are also prompted by the
opinions of end-users to our services in the
Annual Student Omnibus Survey, Library
and Information Services (LIS) and Careers
Centre annual surveys, staff development
opportunities and the introduction of the
Blackboard e-learning platform. During
2005/06, student performance statistics were
presented according to the new School structure
and their use, in light of the TQI requirements,
will be further promoted.
The University has already invested significantly
in recent years in improved student facilities
and services for students (as detailed in
previous Strategic Plans), and is continuing to
invest. In summer 2005, a modernisation of the
main thoroughfare of the Library and
Information Centre (LIC) was undertaken to
improve service to the library’s customers
(who make 1.1m visits a year to the building).
Advanced self-issue and self-return systems were
installed as part of this refurbishment, providing
06
07

Aim Two – The Student Experience
Swansea University has been at the forefront of initiatives to
enhance the student experience through innovative use of ICT
the platform for longer opening hours on a
cost-effective basis, to suit a larger and more
diverse student population. The achievement
of a long-term objective to establish a
fit-for-purpose Health Sciences facility at
Carmarthen has been realised, in partnership
with the WAG. The newly refurbished space
will be available for teaching in August 2006,
and will significantly improve the experience
of students in west Wales. On campus, the
opening of a new dedicated postgraduate
research facility for Arts and Humanities
students, financed by SRIF3 funds, will enhance
the attractiveness of pursuing further study.
Swansea University has been at the forefront
of initiatives to enhance the student experience
through innovative use of ICT. All Universityowned
student residences, and major learning
spaces on the Singleton campus, are now
wireless-enabled, giving students free access to
the campus network and to the Internet. This
will support the development of flexible
learning and mobile technology. E-resources
are also starting to make an impact on
learning, with over 10,000 e-book titles now
available, and there is clear linkage between
the provision of enhanced e-content with
the further development of the Blackboard
e-learning system. Use of the Blackboard
Virtual Learning Environment is now a central
supplement to traditional teaching methods
and there is collaboration with other Welsh
institutions on the use of Blackboard.
The Welsh Language Board approved the
University's Welsh Language Scheme in
December 2004. The Scheme defines the
approach to the use of the Welsh language
within the University and identifies subjects in
which Welsh-medium teaching can be
developed. Following the appointment of
Welsh-medium staff in the School of Arts in
2004/05, the University is able to offer a
‘Welsh with a European Language’ degree.
French and Geography have also been
awarded University of Wales (UoW)
Postgraduate Scholarships to develop
their Welsh-medium provision.
The University has been selected as the
Dedicated Language Centre for the region.
There is a need for adult learners of Welsh to
be encouraged to use the language at both a
social and a community level in order to
optimise success. The ‘Siawns am Sgwrs’ and
‘Welsh in the Workplace’ provision in the
Department of Adult Education (DACE) is a
pedagogical means of ensuring that this
happens in the community and social groups
that can support linguistic regeneration in
South West Wales.
The University is working to improve the
employability of its graduates and has attracted
significant external funding to its Careers
Service, which is the leading body in pan-
Wales HE careers links with employers. The
University’s Learning and Teaching Strategy
places heavy emphasis on employability. The
personal development planning strategy, with
its acronym LEAP (Learning and Professional
development) is fully developed, and the
Careers Centre is currently interacting with
Schools to further ensure that they implement
LEAP effectively. LEAP is a holistic programme
that encourages self-reflection with support and
guidance from tutors.
The Swansea Sports Village opened in 2005,
adjoining the Wales National Pool and the
Uni-Gym, a fully air-conditioned 400m2 fitness
facility. The Village comprises a new eight-lane
athletics track, two full-size all-weather pitches
and an indoor athletics training centre. There
are also extensive playing fields, an indoor
sports hall and tennis courts available for
student use. These amenities will form part of a
campus of sporting facilities unparalleled in
Wales. ‘Sporting Entrance Scholarships’ are
available for elite athletes with the potential to
become world-class, and the School of Human
Sciences is now offering two MSc courses in
Sports Science.
For many years the University has encouraged
the admission of students with disabilities or
specific learning difficulties, and has a
professional and experienced team of staff
dedicated to ensuring equality of access,
opportunity and achievement. The University
has also adapted the campus facilities and
residences extensively, and is continually
exploring how it can further improve.
Facilities for the visually impaired were
identified in the most recent Quality Assurance
Agency (QAA) Institutional Review as
‘outstanding’. The University’s Recording Centre
for the Blind is one of the finest of its kind in
any UK university and the only such facility in
Wales. The staff work closely with colleagues
in the LIC to provide materials in Braille, large
print and/or audio, in English and other
languages. The Centre migrated to digital
recording in 2005/06, which has speeded up
access to recordings by 50%. As well as
supporting Swansea students, the Recording
Centre offers support to students from other
Welsh universities, and all new recordings are
shared with the RNIB for nationwide use. The
Centre relies on over 100 volunteers, many of
them University staff and students, but equally,
many from the local community.
Discovery – Student Volunteering Swansea, a
student-led organisation which co-ordinates
hundreds of student volunteers in around 20
student-run community-based projects,
celebrated its 40th anniversary in March 2006.
An understanding of issues, such as disability,
homelessness, special needs and cultural
awareness are an important enhancement to
personal development and academic studies.
The Head of Discovery is a formal member
of the Student Affairs Committee.
Objectives for the Planning Period
In pursuing its Student Experience aim, the
University will seek to:
. ensure the retention of students from groups
that are under-represented in HE is as good
as the rate experienced from the overall
student population.
. continue to refine and improve the
accessibility and quality of the University’s
student support and academic services,
working with the Students’ Union,
especially in light of increasing student
numbers.
. further implement the Learning and
Teaching Strategy.
. improve graduate employability through
implementing the LEAP initiative.
. fully integrate the Careers Service with
Library and Information Services, and
review provision.
. implement the European Credit Transfer
System (ECTS) and the Diploma
Supplement Licence.
. implement the University’s Welsh Language
Policy, introducing new Welsh-medium
schemes, and undertake an increased
recruitment and marketing programme in
Welsh-medium schools.
. increase the number of students
undertaking some element of their course
through the medium of Welsh from 1.9%
of students at the institution in 2004/05
to 2.6% in 2006/07, and to 4% in
2010/11.
. continue to extend the quality and quantity
of accommodation on campus for students.
. support and develop elite sportspeople.
. raise awareness of the superb sporting
facilities at Swansea and the achievements
of Swansea sportspeople.
. encourage student participation in the
activities of Discovery, the Student Union
and the Athletic Union.
. have more than 53% of full-time students
enrolled at the institution from a Welsh
domicile in 2006/07.
Approach
The University is currently preparing its SIS and
Fee Plans as requested by HEFCW. Careful
consideration has been given to how Swansea
can use the funds to Widen Access, through the
use of bursaries and other means, and promote
HE, and to the effect of the additional income
on the institution’s other activities.
The merger of LIS and Careers provides
strategic opportunities for the development of
new services. During the summer of 2006, the
Careers staff and services will move to the LIC.
This will place Careers in a busy, studentcentred
location, increasing visibility of the
service. The linkage of employability and
personal development opportunities to
e-learning will be developed, along with
providing face-to-face Careers support for
longer hours within the LIC. The provision
of electronic Careers information and the
innovative use of Blackboard will be increased.
Swansea University is one of the first institutions
in the UK to provide its graduates with a
Degree/Diploma Supplement, with the aim
of significantly improving the prosperity of
Swansea graduates employability across
Europe. The Diploma Supplement is a
document developed by the European
Commission. Its purpose is to facilitate the
academic and professional recognition of
qualifications across Europe and improve
international transparency. It provides a
description of the context, content and status of
the studies that were pursued and successfully
completed by the student in question.
Swansea is adopting the main principles of the
European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) to
facilitate student mobility, such as through the
Erasmus Mundus programmes referred to in
Aim Five. ECTS credits are used throughout
Europe to facilitate the transfer of students.
Both the ECTS and the Diploma Supplement
are developments that are part of the Bologna
process, which is aiming to create a European
Higher Education Area (EHEA) by 2010. The
WAG hosted the official Bologna Follow-up
Group Seminar on the theme of ‘Enhancing
European Employability’ at Swansea University
in July 2006.
08
09

Aim Two – The Student Experience
Aim Three – Streamlining the Governance
and Administration Structure
The University will have a governance and administration structure that
encourages engagement, manages risk effectively, is efficient, cohesive
and sufficiently dynamic for the needs of the 21st Century Higher
Education environment.
As the student population grows and diversifies,
the University will use ICT to deliver flexible and
more hybrid methods of learning and teaching.
A variety of e-learning modes will be used,
including web applications, video streaming
and networked information services. These will
support and enhance more traditional teaching
and learning, rather than completely replacing
them. Increased use of the Blackboard e-
learning system will bring all of these into a
cohesive web environment, which will also
eventually have links to course administration
and student progression.
It will be essential for Swansea to maintain
its favourable PC to student ratio as student
numbers increase. However, over the next five
years this capability will be increasingly
delivered by laptops and other mobile devices
rather than by fixed PCs. Students and staff will
expect to be able to learn, study and research
from any location, just as people currently
expect to be able to telephone from anywhere
using mobile technology. Experience from other
universities suggests that this reinforces, rather
than diminishes, the use of libraries as centres
for learning. The LIC will need to move to a far
more flexible learning environment, with a mix
of fixed high-level PCs, docking ports, wireless
enabled and conventional learning spaces.
There will also need to be a review of student
PC rooms across campus to acknowledge this
trend, with a gradual concentration on using
these rooms more for ICT-based teaching.
Self-service technology is starting to have a
significant impact on library services. The
advanced self-issue and self-return systems were
installed in the autumn term 2005 and have
already provided the opportunity for a
cost-effective extension in opening hours. The
University will build on this experience to
further extend LIC opening hours. Migration to
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) over the
next few years will also be implemented as
costs drop due to increased take-up. This will
further speed-up and simplify the self-issue and
self-return processes and will revolutionise
stock management.
Swansea’s institutional approach to equality
has been a long-standing feature of our
Learning and Teaching Strategy and Admissions
Policy. The University community firmly believes
in the equal treatment and opportunity for all
students regardless of age, gender, disability,
ethnicity or mode of study. This will continue to
be reflected in the close monitoring of student
entry and achievement statistics.
A further key performance measurement
development, to be completed by October
2006, is the development and launch of a
three-year undergraduate cohort analysis
method, to be followed quickly afterwards by
a four-year method. Further work will seek to
develop an appropriate cohort analysis method
for postgraduate schemes. Consultation will
also be undertaken on appropriate ways of
providing cohort statistics for part-time schemes.
The University is seeking independent approval
and accreditation, under the Higher Education
Academy and the UoW, of the Swansea
version of the tHE Scheme.
A number of bids are in place to secure
support for postgraduate students, e.g. a bid
has been submitted to the European Social
Fund (ESF) in March 2006 for twenty funded
places on the MSc in Aquaculture and the
Environment.
Currently European languages degree
programmes may be studied through the
medium of Welsh, and modules in Welsh are
available in other subject areas. The University
is further developing Welsh-language skills
teaching, specifically in the areas of medicine,
nursing, social work and law.
Swansea University will continue to financially
support the activities of Discovery, which offers
students an unique and rewarding opportunity
to gain practical skill development through the
management of community projects, developing
their interpersonal skills, and raising their
awareness of issues such as disability and
disadvantage. The University will also continue
to work closely with the Students’ Union and
support its programme of social events,
societies, student support and facilities. The
Students’ Union will receive £498,150, and
the Nursery will be allocated £26,650 in
2006/07. The Athletics Union will be of
increasing importance in working with the
University to develop Swansea as a
‘Sporting University’ and will receive
£148,625 in 2006/07.
Current Position
The University of Wales Swansea was granted
both teaching and research degree-awarding
powers by the Privy Council in April 2005. The
QAA, on behalf of the Privy Council, undertook
an extensive review into every aspect of the
University's teaching, research supervision,
quality systems and overall management. The
conferment of degree-awarding powers is an
unequivocal endorsement of the teaching and
research supervision at the University and the
quality of the institution’s degree programmes.
For many years the University of Wales
Swansea has been known colloquially as
"Swansea University" and it now has an
opportunity to adopt this title formally. In
November 2005, the University embarked
upon the process to gain full University Title,
on the recommendation of Senate and Council.
In the past, this would have required us to
leave the University of Wales (UoW). However,
Swansea is proceeding in parallel with wider
proposals that the federal UoW be succeeded
by a new arrangement with the current
constituent institutions becoming autonomous
institutions alongside, rather than members
of, the UoW.
The University is continuing to prepare for its
Institutional Review in 2007/08. An interim
progress report was submitted to the QAA in
June 2005, which evaluated how successful the
University has been in addressing the issues
raised in the 1999 Continuation Audit, and
identifies future priorities for Swansea’s quality
enhancement agenda. The Institutional Review
Working Party (IRWP) has continued to meet in
2005/06 to progress the issues therein, and
will report to the SMT in June 2006 the results
of its reviews of the use of academic statistics,
widening access, and assessments conducted in
languages other than those used for tuition.
In keeping with the aim of streamlining and
modernising the University’s governance, in
March 2005 the University’s Council
established a Regulations Working Group to
review its Regulations in Amplification of the
Statutes and other Council Regulations. In July
2005 the Group recommended to Council the
splitting of the existing document Regulations in
Amplification of the Statutes and other Council
Regulations into three (Regulations in
Amplification of Statutes, Council – Code of
Practice, Committee Regulations), seperating
formal regulations from code of practice/good
practice material. The Council – Code of
Practice had been produced with reference
to the Committee of University Chairmen’s
guidelines. The Committee Regulations
document was intended to apply to meetings
of the Council, the Senate and all formal
University Committees and Sub-Committees,
ensuring clear, comprehensive and consistent
procedures across all aspects of governance
and formal committee-based activity.
The major period of internal restructuring of
committees has concluded, but performance
review of the University’s governance is
ongoing. The Nominations Committee
(established in July 2005, with a wider remit
than the previous Council Nominations
Committee) has undertaken a review of
committee effectiveness to ensure that the
University’s committee structure and committee
management systems continue to remain fit for
purpose, to identify any areas for attention, and
to highlight good practice. The University has
also, in 2005/06, employed an officer with a
specific remit to embed risk management
processes within all the University’s processes.
Council considers Swansea’s performance
against the key Reaching Higher targets as
identified by HEFCW. It also receives an annual
Performance Indicators report at the beginning
of each session. In terms of central
administration and services costs as a
proportion of total institutional expenditure,
Swansea University has one of the lower
administration costs when compared with the
1994 Group institutions (13th highest of 17,
using 2004/05 data).
The University is working in partnership with
Swansea Institute of Higher Education (SIHE)
and Trinity College Carmarthen, to scope a
collaboration to produce significantly enhanced
co-operation in administrative functions. This
builds on the distinctive and complementary
strengths of the Institutions in order to ensure a
more efficient and effective HE presence in
South West Wales, in line with the vision of a
Virtual University of South West Wales outlined
in the Wales Spatial Plan. The institutions have
been awarded £70,000 from the HEFCW
Reconfiguration and Collaboration Fund to
support two posts, appointed in spring 2006,
to draw up a ‘road map’ for collaboration,
identifying the various stages from the detailed
technical discussions to the final implementation
process. The bid builds on earlier work, and is
already leading to increased collaboration in
some areas.
Consultants from KPMG’s Education Division
were asked to review, in late 2005, the
University’s administration and central support
services to consider if any efficiency gains
could be made, identifying those that could be
achieved in the short term. The University’s
Senior Administrative Managers participated
in this process and were each interviewed by
the consultants. Recurrent savings of £1m per
annum were identified for 2006/07 (compared
with 2005/06 expenditure), rising to £1.5m
in 2008/09.
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11

Aim Three – Streamlining the Governance
and Administration Structure
Aim Four – Management and Leadership
Objectives for the Planning Period
In pursuing its aim of Streamlining the
Governance and Administration Structure,
the University will seek to:
. gain ‘University’ title.
The University will address potential challenges with effective, proactive
and inclusive leadership, informed by the views of staff throughout the
organisation, in driving forward the University’s agenda.
. respond to the Wigley Report
implementation process.
. review the University’s Charter and Statutes
in the light of changes to the University of
Wales’ structure.
. prepare for the Institutional Review of
2007/08.
. develop some areas of administrative
collaboration immediately, and scope
others, as part of the tripartite South West
Wales Higher Education Partnership bid.
. implement the new arrangements regarding
the European Directive on consultation in
the workplace, negotiating with the
relevant Unions.
. continue to work with other Welsh HEIs to
implement the necessary changes to Statute
22, the University’s disciplinary procedures.
. through Nominations Committee, and
individual committees annual reviews
of their performance, ensure that all
committees provide added value to
the University.
. maintain central administration and services
costs as a proportion of total income such
that they continue to be lower (12.3% in
2003/04) than the 94 Group average
(13.1%) and the Welsh institutions
average (13.1%).
. continue to review the administration,
through a well-established quality
management system and the KPMG
Report Working Group, to ensure it is
efficient, and responsive.
Approach
A critical path of activities prior to the
Institutional Review has been drawn up, and
preparations will continue in 2006/07. The
IRWP will continue to meet, and has identified
further areas to be considered for ‘thematic
review’, which looks at processes as a whole to
consider if they operate through all areas of the
University coherently. A draft self-evaluative
document will be drawn up, three Schools will
undergo a Periodic Review, and information
sessions for staff will also take place.
The tripartite South West Wales Higher
Education Partnership (SWWHEP) will submit
a fully costed bid to the Reconfiguration and
Collaboration Fund in September 2006 for
a major reconfiguration of administrative
functions in South West Wales HE. The
co-operation within functions will take place
through trilateral agreements in some areas,
and bilateral agreements between the partners
in others where the differences in institutional
missions and systems are such that the degree
and nature of collaboration and speed of
implementation will vary. One aspect of the
SWWHEP collaboration is degree quality
arrangements. Swansea is currently overseeing
Trinity College’s quality provision for
undergraduate students as part of the ‘Interim
Arrangements’ whilst the UoW is in transition.
The University is already engaged in thorough
preparations for the governance and quality
implications of the changes anticipated earlier
in this section. A Review Group has been
established to consider the changes to the
University’s Charter and Statutes that will be
required following the move to a confederal
University of Wales, implications of possible deregulation
from certain aspects of direct control
by the Privy Council, and actions in anticipation
of a successful outcome to the application for
University title. Swansea University will continue
to work with other Welsh HEIs to implement the
necessary changes to Statute 22, the
University’s disciplinary procedures.
Consultation will take place with the staff
Unions during the implementation.
Following discussion and review by a joint
management and trade union working group
set up to consider the impact of the Information
and Consultation Regulations, the formal
vehicle for management and union dialogue in
the University will be the Staff Consultation
Committee. The Committee’s remit will be the
communication of information and consultation,
taking account of the views of staff
representatives before the University makes a
formal decision. This approach provides a
modern context for employment relations and
will form a firm foundation for partnership and
cooperation in the future.
The University will continue to review its
expenditure on administration on an ongoing
basis through the year, as posts require
replacement each request is reviewed by SMT.
The SMT will also review the budgets of each
administrative department annually, considering
the demands upon them and the overall
envelope of resource available. A KPMG Report
Working Group, chaired by a Head of School,
will work to unlock the longer-term efficiency
savings identified in the KPMG report.
Current Position
On 1st September 2005, Sir Roger Jones OBE
became the new Chair of Council. Sir Roger is
the founder of Penn Pharmaceuticals, one of the
world's leading pharmaceutical development
companies, Chairman of the Welsh Industrial
Trust, a former Governor of the BBC and
Chairman of the BBC Broadcasting Council for
Wales as well as past Chairman of both the
Institute of Directors Wales, and the Welsh
Development Agency.
In support of the ambitious Strategic Directions
agenda the Finance Department introduced a
new business planning process in 2003/04 to
facilitate planning, budgeting and resource
allocation. It was viewed that this approach
would incentivise academic areas by allowing
them to bid for additional resources against
increasing income, improve performance
monitoring against financial and non-financial
targets at strategic and School levels, and
influence through a bottom-up planning process
the University’s overall strategic targets and
financial forecasts. The process has been
refined, embedded and improved each year.
Last year, in preparation for the 2005/06
budget cycle, between March and June 2005
every academic department produced a business
plan. The outputs of these plans were presented
to the SMT and underwent a test and challenge
process. The results informed the setting of the
University’s strategic output targets and resource
allocation decisions. The aggregated figures are
used to underpin the annual rolling five-year
financial plan (for approval by the Governing
Body) and for preparing financial forecasts for
submission to the HEFCW.
The process has taken place earlier this year
with plans completed, and reviewed by SMT,
in April 2006. A significant amount of work
has taken place to ensure that the changes that
have been made to the University’s academic
structure are reflected in the resourcing data
Professor Richard B. Davies
Vice-Chancellor
Professor Rhys Williams
Pro-Vice-Chancellor
used in the plans, ensuring equity and
accountability. Encouragingly, the process has
already, through incentivisiation, encouraged
departments to review their accommodation
needs and shed space. This has freed up a
scarce resource at minimal (basic refurbishment)
cost to the University.
Academic year 2005/06 saw the creation of
a new support unit, the Department of Research
and Innovation, which will strengthen and
oversee the University’s knowledge transfer
activities with business and industry. The
Department incorporates all the activities and
staff of the previous Research and Innovation
Professor Peter Townsend
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Administration)
Professor John Baylis
Pro-Vice-Chancellor
Professor Nigel Weatherill
Pro-Vice-Chancellor
Phillip Gough
Director of Finance
Office. This new, larger structure is made
possible by external funding and will ensure the
effective delivery of large, prestigious projects.
The University’s success in obtaining significant
external funds for these projects has made the
bolstering of capacity in this area necessary to
ensure that current standards of project
management are maintained.
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13

Aim Four – Management and Leadership
Aim Five – The Academic Structure
Several areas of the University are experiencing accelerated growth.
Objectives for the Planning Period
In pursuing its Management and Leadership aim, the University will seek to:
. continue to develop a University culture that is dynamic and responsive to external change
and opportunity, supporting the Strategic Directions agenda.
. communicate effectively the requirements of the RAE and raise the University’s aspirations.
. ensure Schools are empowered and incentivised through the Business Planning process.
. through the Management Board, engage Heads of Schools with the University’s policy-making
processes.
. recruit further distinguished scholars who will exemplify academic leadership.
. reward excellence in teaching and research through revised transparent remuneration and
promotion procedures.
. embed risk management within all the management processes of the institution.
. manage its internal allocation of space as equitably and efficiently as possible.
embedded throughout the organisation in
all processes. The Policy gives a context by
outlining the level and type of risk that is
viewed as acceptable. Risk management is,
by definition, fundamental to establishing and
achieving objectives and can therefore be
used to complement the business planning
and resource allocation process. This will be
achieved in a ‘bottom-up’ way: risks being
identified, evaluated and, as far as possible,
managed by Schools as part of their business
planning process. Where there is identification
of significant risks that cannot be managed at
school level, the University will put contingency
plans in place, and initiate appropriate
Management Board and Finance
Committee intervention.
As a consequence of academic restructuring, the University will increase
its potential to achieve excellence in research and teaching throughout
the institution.
Professor Kevin Williams
School of Arts
Mrs Anne Hopkins
School of Health Science
Professor Noel Thompson
School of Humanities
Professor Mike Charlton
School of Physical Sciences
Professor Iwan Davies
School of Law
Approach
Following the introduction of the Strategic
Directions initiatives, the SMT and the
Management Board intend to provide further
strategic leadership through targeted investment
in new posts, further preparation for the RAE,
and the development of additional large
external investments in research capacity to
build on Swansea’s strengths and further
accelerate the development of the University.
The Business Planning process is a tool that
enables evaluation of investments made and
identification of areas for prioritisation as
resources allow.
Business planning needs to be viewed
holistically; any financial management system
must be supported by sound communication
and information gathering processes. The link
between financial planning and service planning
will be formalised further and enhanced at all
levels within the University as the Business
Planning process develops. In addition, the links
between the key areas of administration that
input into the plans – Finance, Student Statistics,
Research and Innovation, the International
Office, Admissions, Estates – will be examined
and refined. This integration should result in
co-ordination and a better use of officer and
senior management time.
Several areas of the University are experiencing
accelerated growth. In each of these areas
(School of Medicine, the Institute of
Life Sciences and the Institute of
Telecommunications) structures are being
put in place to manage this growth, ensure
budgetary control, and realise the benefits
anticipated in their Business Plans.
Although the University has a Risk Management
Policy, the implementation of which is overseen
by a Risk Management Committee, it is
intended that risk management will be
The University’s Human Resources (HR) Strategy
will support Aim Four by developing an effective
and appropriate management and leadership
culture where strategic aims are linked to the
effective performance of Schools and individual
members of staff. Members of staff will be
encouraged to maximise their contribution to the
delivery of the objectives of the University and
of individual Schools and administrative
departments. In return, the University will
encourage and recognise the contribution of
members of staff to those objectives.
Professor Nigel Weatherill
School of Engineering
Professor Julian Hopkin
School of Medicine
Current Position
In April 2005, the Privy Council gave the
University permission to award its own taught
and research degrees. This decision followed a
thorough review by the QAA which included
an analysis of the University's Postgraduate
Research Faculty and the way in which the
University manages the supervision of its
research students. In the light of recent
developments within the UoW, this award
means that Swansea will be able to operate
without having to appoint external assessors to
oversee its quality systems. Swansea University
is continuing to award UoW degrees but is
now able to take full responsibility for the
quality and standards of these degrees.
The School structure has been fully embedded in
the University’s processes in the 2005/06
academic year. Each of the ten Schools has now
had its component areas co-located on campus.
This has improved the use of space on campus as
it has provided an opportunity to review the
efficiency of usage, and to move staff to facilitate
Professor Mike Barnsley
School of the Environment and Society
interdisciplinary research. School administrative
support staff are being brought together,
unlocking the envisaged efficiency savings and
improving the quality of service offered.
The grouping of cognate disciplines within
larger units is allowing Schools to reduce
duplication in teaching, and improve student
choice. In the School of Arts for example, a
review of the BA programme is underway,
which will result in a re-structuring of
undergraduate provision. The review has
identified a significant number of modules
presently delivered to five students or fewer.
The aim will be to remove a large proportion
of these modules and discontinue BA schemes
which are failing to attract sufficient students.
The University’s breadth of postgraduate
provision has increased significantly over the
last two years, and existing programmes have
been thoroughly reviewed. The University has
sought to increase international student
numbers, as prioritised in Reaching Higher,
Professor Andrew Henley
School of Business and Economics
John Baylis
School of Human Sciences (Acting)
in difficult market conditions. A review has
been conducted, and recommendations made
to Management Board regarding how the
International Office’s web presence, printed
promotional material, use of alumni at overseas
fairs, and relationship marketing with
prospective students can be improved. These
recommendations are in the process of being
implemented. An International Student
Recruitment sub-group of Management Board
was created in May 2006 to oversee the
University’s International Recruitment Strategy.
Swansea University has made a number of bids
to the Reconfiguration & Collaboration Fund
regarding academic areas, in collaboration
with other Welsh HEIs. These include
collaboration with Cardiff University to
reorganise Chemistry provision, with
Swansea retaining specialist areas that are
cognate with other research interests on the
Singleton campus.
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15

Aim Five – The Academic Structure
Aim Six – Consultancy/Knowledge Exploitation
The South West Wales Higher Education Partnership will
investigate opportunities for academic collaboration between
Swansea University, SIHE, and Trinity College Carmarthen.
Objectives for the Planning Period
In pursuing its Academic Structure aim, the
University will seek to:
The University community will be a powerhouse for growth in the regional
economy, and will diversify income through developing knowledge
transfer activities.
. ensure that the investment planned for the
academic areas identified in the Strategic
Directions proposals (Humanities, English and
Media, Geography, Psychology, Computing
and Computing-related, Management, and Law)
is effectively employed to deliver RAE success.
. empower and incentivise the University’s Schools.
. ensure that Schools are led by high-calibre
academic leaders.
. realise the benefits of the School structure,
such as a rationalised portfolio, reduced
administrative burden for academics and the
professionalisation of school administration.
. increase the number of postgraduate students
at the University.
. adopt a strategic approach to international
recruitment, overseen by stakeholders.
. increase the number of overseas students
studying at Swansea to 1102 in 2008/09.
Approach
The South West Wales Higher Education
Partnership (Aim Three) will investigate
opportunities for academic collaboration between
Swansea University, SIHE, and Trinity College
Carmarthen, building on successful pre-existing
links such as the SWW Reaching Higher-Reaching
Wider partnership (Aim Eight). The scope for coordination
to ensure a balanced portfolio of
courses, career-enhancing opportunities for
learning, and flexibility in responding to changing
patterns of demand and funded numbers will be
evaluated. In some subject areas, collaboration
should enable the partners to achieve critical mass
impossible in individual institutions.
A broadening of the available portfolio, use of
innovative modes of delivery, and the
expansion of existing programmes will increase
the University’s postgraduate taught student
cohort. New masters programmes in
Communication Systems are being launched in
2006 as part of the IAT development. The
Business School is seeking accreditation from
the Association of MBAs, with an accreditation
visit planned for November 2006; the School
will also develop the home MBA market through
the launch of the Swansea University Executive
MBA, a part-time programme designed for
working students, and will seek to sign an
agreement to deliver the Executive MBA
programme in Greece during 2006/07.
The University will also strengthen its
‘postgraduate culture’ through the provision of
additional dedicated facilities. The opening of a
new postgraduate research facility in the James
Callaghan Building in 2006/07, financed by
SRIF funds, will enhance the attractiveness of
pursuing postgraduate research within the Arts
and Humanities in Swansea.
In August 2005, the Centre for Applied Language
Studies (CALS) will be divided into two units: the
vocabulary acquisition and lexical behaviour
research group will remain within the School of
Arts, whilst the other part of the Centre will be
established as an autonomous unit, managed
from the Student Support Services Department,
providing high quality English Language teaching
and support for the whole University. This will
strengthen the provision for international students
and improve retention rates.
The University will continue to use innovative
methods to increase recruitment of overseas
students. Erasmus Mundus Masters programmes
provide EU-funded scholarships for some overseas
students, one is already being offered in
Journalism and Media; another in Computational
Mechanics is undergoing the approval process.
Further Erasmus Mundus programmes are being
developed. The School of Business in 2005/06
signed a major agreement with Liaoning
Province, China, for the recruitment of MSc and
MBA students, and will continue to develop and
support international articulation arrangements for
entry to postgraduate taught programmes.
Similarly, the School of Physical Sciences has
recently entered into agreements with Chinese
universities which should increase its international
cohort from September 2007 onward.
Current Position
The University is aware that it can make a
major contribution to the WAG Vision for
Swansea Bay, as ‘an area of planned
sustainable growth and environmental
improvement, realising its potential…
and spreading prosperity to support the
revitalisation of West Wales’, as envisaged
in the Wales Spatial Plan.
As creators, disseminators and keepers of
new and existing knowledge, HEIs find
themselves with ever more important roles and
opportunities. Universities are key in the three
main tiers of the knowledge economy; forming
an important part of the infrastructure,
providing valuable human capital, while also
playing an important part in championing the
value of and assisting in innovation, as
acknowledged in the Science and Innovation
Investment Framework 2004-2014 (HM
Treasury, 2004).
The University’s research is internationally
recognised by business, with over 200
companies supporting research activity in
Swansea this year across a variety of
disciplines including Engineering and
Computer Science. Developing this world-class
research capability (Aim One) and its
visibility with business further will drive
inward investment and employment.
The University is encouraging economic growth
in the regional economy through its partnership
work within the Technium project. It and the
other partners (including the EU and the WAG)
identified challenges faced by Wales, which
mirror many of those faced by the knowledge
economy in the UK as a whole, and developed
the project to address those challenges. The
mission of the Technium project is ‘to incubate
a sustainable knowledge economy in the South
West Wales region through the stimulation of
innovation and the development of strong
regional economic clusters’.
The Technium project aims to provide an
infrastructure designed to underpin a
sustainable knowledge economy in Wales,
consisting of a hub where public and private
sector business support services are supplied to
the network, and a cluster of sector-specific
Techniums that supply expert technological
advice and access to state-of-the-art equipment.
The Technium project works closely with HE and
FE institutions to develop a skilled workforce
capable of supporting and sustaining the
growth of the knowledge economy in the
region. It also will play its part in changing the
culture, encouraging a spirit of innovation and
entrepreneurship in existing, emerging and
inward-investing companies.
The Technium developments are already
playing their part in encouraging regional
economic growth. Technia 1 and 2 have an
occupancy rate of 80%, Technium Digital is
100% full, and Sustainable Technologies
Technium is operational. The Technium network
aims to create 609 full-time high-skill jobs in
total when all the centres are operational;
currently at this early stage there are 290
people employed in three centres. It is
important to remember that the Technia are
‘pipelines’, so jobs will be continually created
and pass through the system as companies
mature. Another measure of success is that one
Technium company is listed on the Alternative
Investment Market, with two others seeking to
be listed. To put this achievement in context,
Wales has only 21 public listed companies.
The University has invested in quantum leap
developments, in partnership with significant
contributions from external partners, that have
the critical mass to have significant impact on
the University’s research profile, and its
contribution to the regional economy. Two
major projects, which have benefited from
private investment and Objective One funds,
are underway on campus. One is the Institute
of Life Science (ILS), set to open in April 2007,
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17

Aim Six – Consultancy/Knowledge Exploitation
The University is aware that it can make a major
contribution to the WAG Vision for Swansea Bay.
which will create radical new ways to treat
disease and deliver health care. The ILS
(discussed in Aim One) is a key step in
delivering the recommendations set out in
Knowledge Economy Nexus – the final report
of the WAG’s Higher Education and Economic
Development Task and Finish Group. Studies
have shown that biosciences research yields the
highest rate of return to local economies of all
academic fields. The ILS’ mission resonates with
the EU’s ‘Life Science in Bio-Technology – a
Strategy for Europe’ which emphasises the
need for multidisciplinary approaches to
research, and highlights the importance of
translating knowledge into new products.
The ILS, a £50m project, will co-locate a
number of life-science related research centres
of excellence in one high-quality environment,
and will establish a business support structure
linked to the Technium network. In addition to
the creation of an estimated 238 high added
value jobs, it is estimated that the ILS will
generate around 30 spin-out companies, and
increase spend in research and development
and science training by around £70 million
during its first five years of operation.
The other major quantum leap project on
campus is the Institute for Advanced
Telecommunications (IAT). IAT is a strategic
project to create a world-class centre for
telecommunications research in Wales. It
develops upon the substantial research strengths
at Swansea in Engineering, Computing, Physics
and Mathematics. The Institute will also
complement the recently announced ILS at the
University which has a strong emphasis on
information-based medicine.
IAT will be a Swansea-based, world-class hub
for telecommunications, long and short term
R&D, technology transfer, postgraduate training
and spin-off activities unique in Wales and the
UK, to the benefit of the local and national
economy. IAT’s resources will be available to
assist Welsh SMEs and further support the
development of a sustainable knowledge
economy in Wales. IAT will become a catalyst
for this sector of the economy in the region,
Wales and the UK. Already at the time of
writing there is significant interest in IAT from
global companies considering inward
investment into Wales.
January 2006 saw the creation of a new
academic support department to strengthen
and oversee the University’s knowledge
transfer activities with business and industry.
The Department of Research and Innovation
will also assist Schools in strengthening their
research activities and in identifying
opportunities for further funding support. The
Department incorporates all the activities and
staff of the previous Research and Innovation
Office. The Department will provide a single
point of contact for academics within the
University as well as for external partner
organisations and will also bring together all
the University’s knowledge transfer activities,
accelerating the commercialisation of
intellectual property derived from successful
research, while helping to build and sustain
the region’s growing knowledge economy.
Objectives for the Planning Period
In pursuing its Consultancy/Knowledge
Exploitation aim, the University will seek to:
· further develop the Institute of Life Science.
· further develop the Institute of Advanced
Telecommunications.
· continue to support the Technium
developments.
. develop accessible ‘back office’ skills
programmes for Technium companies and
other local enterprises.
. develop suitable major projects to earn
Convergence Objective funds.
. include a reconfiguration of Third Mission
activity as part of the ‘South West Wales
Higher Education Partnership’ development.
· produce 5 profitable spin-out companies
in 2006/07.
· support greater interaction with local
industry via technology transfer activity
part-financed by the European Regional
Development Fund.
· secure part-financing from the European
Social fund for projects addressing the
training needs of the Welsh labour market,
e.g. those linked to the Institute of Life
Science.
· work closely with Welsh Higher Education
Brussels (WHEB)
Approach
The EU Structural and Cohesion Funds are the
second largest item of EU expenditure, and are
used to promote regional development and
employment across the EU Member States. The
EU Member States, along with the EU institutions,
are currently completing negotiations on the size
and focus of the Funds for the 2007-2013
budgetary cycle.
‘West Wales and the Valleys’ has a GDP per
capita below 75% of the EU25 average and
will therefore qualify for full funding under the
Convergence Objective for the 2007-2013
Financial Period. The WAG proposes to place a
stronger emphasis on strategic alignment of future
Structural Fund programme activities with domestic
policies. This will mean a shift towards fewer,
generally larger and more strategic projects,
which build the long-term capacity of Wales
and address particular market failures, rather
than thinly spread interventions and
generalised support.
The University is well placed to deliver appropriate
strategic projects, having an excellent track record
in its use of Structural Fund monies for the ILS and
IAT projects, and being a research-led University in
the ‘West Wales and the Valleys’ area. A number
of projects are already being developed for
potential Convergence Objective funding (as
referred to in Aim One): the National Centre for
Aquatic Sciences, the Centre of Excellence in
Bio-Refining and the ILS Clinical Research Unit.
Other knowledge exploitation projects being
developed include:
• The Lexium: a strategic development based on
IP Wales, a dedicated legal virtual network
for business.
• The Centre for Micro- and Nano-scale
Manufacturing: a strategic development from
the research work of the Multidisciplinary
Nanotechnology Centre (MNC).
The University will continue to support the growth
and development of the Technium network, to
ensure that it achieves its full potential in
producing new businesses and high-value
employment in the regional economy. The
investment and economic wealth generated by
the Technia will have a significant multiplier
effect, generating indirect employment and
‘supply-chain’ jobs.
Technium Performance (focussed on the
development of knowledge-based companies
in performance engineering, servicing the
automotive, motorsport and/or aerospace sectors
involved in component/module design &
development, finite element analysis, modelling
and simulation, electronics and Telematics and/or
fatigue and durability performance) based at
Llanelli Gate will be open in 2006, and activity is
already taking place on campus related to
Aquaculture Wales, wherein a £2 million Centre
for Sustainable Aquaculture Research building
opened in June 2005.
Energy Technium is being established in
Pembrokeshire, to be situated in state-of-the-art
facilities which will be completed in 2007. The
development of the Pembrokeshire Technium will
involve the appointment of a research team in
Environmental/Energy Law at the School of Law.
The establishment of the Energy Technium arises
out of the emergence of Pembrokeshire as a major
supplier of natural gas for the UK, as well as its
historic and continuing importance in oil refining.
Pembrokeshire will receive £2.5 billion in inward
investment over the next 5 years, directed at the
energy sector. The remit of the
Environmental/Energy Law team is to interface
with the inward investment, which will create
opportunities for linkages with energy companies
establishing in Pembrokeshire. The team will
also provide strategic policy advice in
Environmental/Energy Law to the Energy
Group within the WAG.
Swansea University will develop its capability to
provide the ‘back office’ skills in business and
law-related disciplines that will be required by
the companies developed through the Technium
programme and by other Welsh SMEs. The
University will provide skills development through
delivery modes that are accessible and flexible, to
meet business needs. An example of this is the
Executive MBA which will be based on the full-time
MBA but delivered at convenient times for working
students. More generally, the Schools of Business
and Law have thoroughly reviewed and updated
their course portfolio to focus on programmes that
are vocational and relevant. One characteristic
development is the Centre for e-Business Research,
established in December 2005, a designated
research centre to provide a future focus for
externally funded research activity and training in
the areas of information systems and e-business.
Many areas of the University’s research capability
are considering how their research outputs can
be commercialised. Examples include the Welsh
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience (WICN), a
collaboration between the School of Human
Sciences, Cardiff University and UW Bangor,
which will transfer cutting-edge research
developments directly to psychology and brain
services in the NHS and will establish a number
of spin-off companies to exploit the commercial
potential of these important scientific
developments, and the £1.8m Welsh Institute for
Sustainable Development (WISE) Objective One
project through which Geography will develop
an in-house consultancy and research unit known
as Cymru Analytical, with the ultimate intention
of spinning it out as an independent company.
The City and County of Swansea's Economic
Regeneration Strategy will be published in summer
2006. The Strategy is formed within the context
of the Wales Spatial Plan, and the University has
engaged very thoroughly with the local authority
to inform and shape the document. It is anticipated
that the Strategy will acknowledge the significant
contribution that the University makes to wealth
generation and employment in Swansea.
The University will further expand its regional
mission, as envisaged in the ‘city state’ model
discussed in the Wales Spatial Plan, by
investigating the possibilities for collaboration in
the area of Third Mission support activity with
Swansea Institute and Trinity College Carmarthen
(as part of the South West Wales Higher
Education Partnership (Aim Three)), with a view
to bidding for Reconfiguration & Collaboration
monies to support the integration of capacity in
this area.
18
19

Aim Seven – Quality of Life
The University will demonstrate leadership in working to raise living
standards and health, and make a significant contribution to the quality
of life in South West Wales, Wales and beyond.
Current Position
Wales is one of only three governments in the
world to have made a constitutional
commitment to Sustainable Development (SD).
Accordingly, Swansea University also has a
commitment to SD on campus. An
Environmental Policy for the University has been
in place since 1999 and the University has
recently reviewed its policies and procedures to
support SD thoroughly, through an audit by the
Joint Internal Audit Unit (JIAU). As part of the
audit the University undertook a thorough selfevaluation
based upon the Public Sector
Sustainable Procurement Assessment toolkit,
and determined the current performance of the
University. The audit concluded “the University
does have a commitment to sustainability and
has made progress in adopting a variety of
operational initiatives across a range of its
activities” but identified further progress that
the University should undertake to embed SD.
In December 2005 the University’s
Management Board discussed the University’s
Environmental Management policy and
proposed that a Working Group should be
established to explore the development of ‘an
Environmental Management Strategy for the
University / a University-wide Sustainable
Development Policy’. The Working Group’s
recommendations will be considered by
Management Board in July 2006.
Many SD initiatives are already underway
due to the enthusiasm and initiative of staff on
campus. A Sustainability Forum has been
formed within the University, meeting monthly,
to discuss environmental issues, raise
awareness of how individuals can contribute to
SD (including in the local media), and advise
the University’s management about how to
embed SD principles in policy-making. The
University was also the first Welsh university,
and third in the UK, to be granted Fairtrade
status in recognition of its Fairtrade policy.
The design team for the Institute of Life Science
(Aims One and Six) building has incorporated
features with tangible long-term benefits. One
of the most exciting of these is Geothermal
Heating which takes advantage of the natural
stable warmth stored in the earth and is a
highly efficient and sustainable way to both
heat and cool a building. Power consumption
and running costs are far lower than more
conventional systems. In the Institute’s case,
small bore holes, each less than 150mm in
diameter, have been drilled to a depth of 130
metres. Each bore hole houses two pipes that
circulate water in a ‘closed-loop’ system,
thereby having no negative effect on
groundwater levels. Even the anti-freeze
used – glycol – is vegetable-based.
Through developments such as the Institute of
Life Science (ILS), the University engages in a
wide range of activity that addresses the
healthcare needs of Wales, and is building
capacity in medical research of international
importance. Collaboration between the School
of Medicine and Cardiff University is fruitful,
being the foundation for the successful Wales
Biobank Project bid, and the Graduate Entry
Programme in Medicine, which now has a full
cohort of 140 students. In addition to the
campus-based academic centre of the School,
it has teaching units at each of Singleton,
Morriston and Cefn Coed Hospitals.
The University’s School of Health Science is
also making a significant contribution to
increasing the stock of healthcare skills in the
region and offers a variety of innovative routes
to enable learners from local communities to
restart their careers. The School delivers
teaching at Trinity College Carmarthen,
Bronglais Hospital (Aberystwyth) and
Withybush Hospital (Haverfordwest). The
School has recently tendered for the training of
speech and language therapists and is strongly
positioned to respond to the commissioning
requirements of pre-registration paramedic
training. Clinical Audiology and Physiology
student numbers have increased to maximum
now the four years of this programme are
running concurrently.
The University also contributes to the health and
well-being of the South West Wales community
through the provision, in partnership with the
local authority and with the Sports Council for
Wales, of international-class swimming facilities
at the Wales National Pool, and the Swansea
Sports Village (described in Aim Two).
Discovery is a student-led organisation
supported by the University, with hundreds of
student volunteers involved in around twenty
student-run community-based projects.
Discovery aims to increase the interaction
between students and the community around
them, breaking down the pre-conceptions that
each group may have of the other, whilst
tackling social isolation and poverty.
Through the vibrant provision of the Taliesin
Arts Centre, the University provides access to
the performing arts and an art gallery for the
people of South West Wales. The building is
open at least 260 days per annum providing
theatre, dance, music, and film events. It
provides a range of high quality facilities for
the benefit of community groups, artists,
performers and crafts people, and commercial
organisations. The University further enriches
the historical and cultural awareness of citizens
throughout the region via its library archives
and collections, including the South Wales
Coalfield Collection (SWCC), an archive of
national importance. In addition to the main
site at Hendrefoelan in Swansea, the South
Wales Miners’ Library operates a branch
library at Banwen, 25 miles from Swansea in
the Dulais Valley, to support the Community
University of the Valleys.
Approach
Management Board will consider the
recommendations of the working group it
established to review SD policy in July 2006,
and begin development of an institutional SD
strategy. The University will implement an
Environmental Management System (EMS) in
2006/07, which will lead to ISO14001
certification. If this is successful as anticipated,
it should be able to be developed in Trinity
College Carmarthen and Swansea Institute as
part of the SWWHEP (Aim Three), enabling
those HEIs to also achieve ISO14001. In
addition, environmental awareness training
for Trinity College and Swansea Institute staff
to support the EMS can be provided by
qualified Swansea University staff.
More generally, modules in SD are already
offered at Swansea University for Swansea
University and Swansea Institute students.
Swansea University staff work closely with the
Environment Manager in Swansea Institute to
deliver the Institute’s staff sustainability inductions
and staff development courses. It is anticipated
that this provision could be offered in Trinity
College also, through the SWWHEP collaboration.
Swansea University and SIHE will also continue to
work together on waste management contracts
(collaborating with Trinity College in this area in
the SWWHEP) and travel plans.
The University, through world-class research
developments in sustainability, can make lasting
improvements to global resource utilisation. The
Institute of Advanced Telecommunications (Aims
One and Six) will play a leading role in
developing the Telematics capability in
Technium Performance Engineering where it
will provide a strong science foundation much
needed in this area. Telematics has been
identified by the automotive industry as the
next large growth sector, it includes developing
systems for road pricing, managing road
usage, tracking fleet vehicle locations,
recovering stolen vehicles, providing
automatic collision notification, and providing
location-driven driver information services.
A proposal for a Welsh Institute for Water
Research at Swansea University is being
developed. In addition to stimulating research
and knowledge exploitation in Wales, the
Institute will deliver high-level education and
training. In 2006 two new courses in
Environmental Management and Water
Technology will be launched, addressing
the WAG sustainability agenda.
The School of Medicine will continue to build
capacity in its 22 professorial research
specialisms within two broad groupings
namely Bio-Medical Research (BIMR) and
Community-based Medicine (CHIRAL). The
associated ILS will bring together Swansea’s
medical and health scientific expertise
with other key sciences such as bio- and
nano-technology, deep computing and
informatics to create a world-class medical
research enterprise. The School is currently
preparing a bid for the Convergence funding
round commencing January 2007 for the
development of a Clinical Research Unit. The
Unit will be a £10m investment and would
provide a superb facility for research in both
the School and the NHS.
The School of Health Sciences, will promote
activity to influence Health policy, funding
agencies and regulatory bodies through the
establishment of an Institute for Medical
Humanities Wales (in collaboration with
Cardiff University and other HEIs in Wales),
the first Clinical Ethics Committee in Wales
(based in Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust), and
the Institute for Health Research.
The NHS Single Site Review, however, is of
concern regarding medical and health-care
developments, as it will cause uncertainty and
may provide delays in investment intentions.
The University will continue to seek and use
European Social Fund (ESF) monies to provide
20
21

Aim Seven – Quality of Life
Aim Eight – Widening Access
The University will implement an Environmental Management System (EMS)
in 2006/07, which will lead to ISO14001 certification.
training to increase the employability of people in
South West Wales, particularly those in
disadvantaged communities. The Community
University of the Valleys Partnership is a strategic
learning network involving Universities and
Community Enterprises in West Wales and the
Valleys. It aims to widen participation by bringing
learning closer to home and by making it more
relevant to communities. A £1.6m bid for ESF
funding, in collaboration with ITWales in Bangor
University, has been submitted. Promoting High
Level IT Skills, if successful will also provide a
large number of MSc studentships.
Since the establishment of the WAG, important
differences are emerging in Wales with regard
to policy in relation to children, yet currently
Wales is the only part of the UK without a
research centre devoted to child welfare. The
University has been successful in securing
Reconfiguration & Collaboration Fund monies to
support the creation of a Welsh Centre for Child
Related Studies. The Centre will focus on child
development, child welfare and protection,
education and family support, child health and
medicine and professional issues. The facilities
of the Centre will be made available to
researchers from other universities within Wales,
and the Centre will have links with a wide range
of government agencies and major child-related
research centres around the world.
The proposed Richard Burton Centre (to be
developed in partnership with Neath Port Talbot
Council) will enhance the cultural life of the
community and promote lifelong learning within
it, drawing on the expertise of the University’s
world-class researchers and our unique
collections in the broad area of the south Wales
cultural experience (Richard Burton Collection,
South Wales Coalfield Collection, and Welsh
Writers in English).
Library and Information Services has already
benefited from CyMAL (Museums, Archives and
Libraries Wales) financial support and advice,
recognising the international importance of our
archival collections and our expertise in
providing electronic access to archival
collections. Building on the success of the Open
To All access scheme, ATLIS (Access To Libraries
In Swansea Bay, the partnership of library
services in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot)
will be further developed to support learning
pathways to HE. The establishment of the
National Waterfront Museum in Swansea and
the Partnership Agreement between the
University and the National Museums and
Galleries of Wales also offers exciting
opportunities for innovative collaboration.
The Taliesin Arts Centre will continue to offer a
wide variety of activity and entertainment that
engages all sectors of the community. The
University will support the Centre with a grant
of £179,000 in 2006/07. The University’s
Egypt Centre will continue to act as a bridge
between the academic and non-academic
interests in the field of Egyptology.
Discovery will continue to tackle social isolation
and poverty through working with children from
disadvantaged backgrounds, working with
children and adults with disabilities and learning
difficulties, and providing companionship and
practical help for older persons. The work of
Discovery will be continued to be financially
supported by the University.
An important aspect of this aim is the quality
of life of the University’s own staff. Related
initiatives in the areas of equal opportunities,
work life balance, fixed term contracts and
stress management that impact on this are
discussed in the University’s HR Strategy. These
are also being considered as collaborative
areas of work by the South West Wales Higher
Education Partnership (Aim Three).
Objectives for the Planning Period
In pursuing its Quality of Life aim, the
University will seek to:
. through Management Board develop and
implement an appropriate Sustainable
Development (SD) policy.
. expand the provision of programmes for
healthcare professionals to contribute
further to the workforce needs of the NHS
Wales, especially in South West Wales.
. increase the medical and healthcare
research work undertaken in Swansea
significantly.
. continue to work in partnership with the
local authority, the Sports Council for
Wales and other agencies to provide
international-class sporting facilities for
the University community, for elite
sportspeople, and for the people of
South West Wales.
. continue to support Discovery, the Taliesin
Arts Centre and the Egypt Centre.
. continue to show leadership in
developing and providing opportunities
for lifelong learning in South West Wales
and the Valleys.
. secure part-financing from the European
Social Fund for projects addressing the
training needs of the Welsh labour market.
The University will enhance further its strong reputation for engaging learners
from all areas of society, particularly disadvantaged communities.
Current Position
Swansea University has been successful in
Widening Access to HE. The University has a
strong commitment to proactive, targeted
in-depth engagement with communities in South
West Wales and beyond in order to achieve its
Widening Access objectives. The University’s
management of its Widening Access activities is
led by a Pro Vice Chancellor. This places
Widening Access activities at the forefront of the
University’s concerns for the planning period.
The University’s success in this area is
underpinned by work that takes place
throughout the institution. The greatest
concentration of activity is within the
Department of Adult Continuing Education
(DACE), with its successful and well-established
policies that attract adult learners to return to
learning via an array of different programmes,
targeted to their needs and delivered in a
student-centred manner, such as the Community
Progression Project. Schools also contribute.
For example, in collaboration with The Royal
Academy of Engineering, the School of
Engineering offers almost 3 weeks each year
of residential courses for students from local
schools and colleges, many from
disadvantaged communities.
Widening Access is further embedded within
Swansea University’s approach to student
recruitment through the University’s Compact
agreements with schools in South West Wales.
The University offers a wide range of support for
its incumbent students, detailed in Aim Two,
ensuring a diverse and inclusive student
population. Support for students from
disadvantaged backgrounds is to be considered
in a ‘Thematic Review’, as part of the
preparations for Institutional Review. Swansea
has an excellent record of encouraging the
participation in HE of students with disabilities. In
the latest HESA Performance Indicators
(2004/05 data), the University’s proportion of
full-time first degree students in receipt of
Disabled Student's Allowance was 3.4%,
out-performing the sector benchmark of 3.3%.
Objectives for the Planning Period
In pursuing its aim of Widening Access, the
University will seek to:
. maintain the proportion of Welsh-domiciled
undergraduate new entrants from the 100
core Welsh Communities First areas at 12%.
. continue to adapt and refine the approaches
to Widening Access that have yielded such
success in recent years.
. respond to the needs of potential learners
and to legislation to make the University
campus welcoming to prospective students
from a diverse variety of backgrounds.
. deliver programmes in modes that allow people
to engage in HE who would not be able to
engage with traditional modes of delivery.
. continue to aim to support 115% or more
of the sector average level of full-time first
The University’s Widening Access strategy is a
response to the WAG Communities First (CF)
programme, aimed at tackling poverty and
social disadvantage in the most deprived areas
in Wales. The University has, in 2004/05,
attracted a greater proportion of its
undergraduate entrants from CF areas (12%)
than the target identified for Wales to aspire to
in 2010 in Reaching Higher (11.4%). Further
evidence of the University’s success in engaging
learners is provided by the HESA Preformance
Indicators (2004/05 data) in which 19.3% of
Swansea University’s young full-time
undergraduate entrants were from ‘low
participation’ neighbourhoods. This is
significantly in excess of the University’s
benchmark, based on the sector’s performance,
of 14.7%. The University admits a larger
proportion of its young full-time undergraduate
entrants from ‘low participation’ neighbourhoods
than any of the 1994 Group institutions.
The South West Wales Reaching Higher-
Reaching Wider (RHRW) partnership is led by
Swansea University, working in partnership
degree students with a disability, as
evidenced by the HESA Performance
Indicator of proportion of full-time first
degree students in receipt of Disabled
Student's Allowance.
. continue to offer a portfolio of programmes
that engage and enrich a broad and diverse
body of students.
. work in partnership with other universities,
local authorities and the voluntary sector to
reach out to learners in disadvantaged
communities.
. widen access to postgraduate education.
. engage in work to raise the educational
aspirations, opportunities and horizons for
those in communities across South West
Wales and beyond.
with SIHE, Neath Port Talbot College,
Gorseinon College, Swansea College, Careers
Wales West and the Education Departments of
the City and County of Swansea, and the
County Borough of Neath Port Talbot. The
RHRW team is a major part of the University’s
Widening Access effort and currently works
with schools in the Swansea and Neath Port
Talbot area that have catchment areas
co-terminus with CF electoral divisions.
Approach
DACE now provides a Continuing Professional
Development Programme for practitioners in
community development and lifelong learning
in the region. This modular programme provides
credits towards the new MA in Lifelong
Learning, inaugurated in 2005/06. The MA is
contributing to the development of theoreticallybased
and evidence-informed practice in the
field of post-compulsory education and training.
The University will continue to offer an extremely
varied portfolio of over 500 undergraduate
22
23

Aim Eight – Widening Access
Cross-cutting Themes
The University has traditionally been a pioneer in Wales in
developing support services for students with disabilities.
and postgraduate programmes that interest and
challenge a diverse cross-section of society that
has the potential to benefit from HE. The
development of the sports programmes and
facilities at Swansea will provide another tool for
engaging learners from areas of low participation,
as has been observed in best practice elsewhere.
DACE will continue to develop its portfolio of
courses, such as ‘taster programmes’ that engage
learners in areas of low participation. ITWales
plans to apply for European and private sector
support for a new Technocamps initiative, working
with local schools to stimulate interest in emerging
technologies and encourage young people
to consider the challenge of a career in
computer science.
Discussions have taken place within the SWW
RHRW partnership and with Trinity College
Carmarthen to address the absence of a structured
and comprehensive programme of widening
access opportunities in Carmarthenshire.
Historically, student beneficiaries of earlier adult
education progression routes provided by DACE
have been attracted to Trinity College, Swansea
University or Swansea Institute, so the progression
routes to these institutions are already known in
these communities. The RHRW partnership’s
strategy to work in collaboration with Trinity
College is an opportunity to secure synergy
with School Improvement Agendas in the area,
to deliver integration with other WAG and
CCET initiatives and funding streams and to
support the vision for the area outlined in the
Wales Spatial Plan.
The core activities of the RHRW partnership will
continue to be developed over the next few years.
The Year 12 summer School will again provide a
stimulating package of study and activities. The
Year 10 summer School is a five-day nonresidential
experience for pupils which will be
offered to all schools with CF enrolments in the
period to 2008. Held at SIHE, it offers ‘hands on’
learning environments such as drama studios and
motor sport engineering workshops.
‘Aiming for a College Education’ (ACE) days have
become a very popular element in the
Partnership’s programme. Over the next two
years, all schools with children from CF areas will
be offered an ACE day, with at least two events
being held in Welsh-medium schools. In addition,
14-19 partnership links continue to keep Welshmedium
regional policy on the partnership
agenda. The emerging relationship with East
Carmarthenshire communities and collaborative
work with Trinity College Carmarthen will also
have an important Welsh language dimension.
Mentoring by undergraduates of school students
will again provide invaluable transferable skills
training for the students, and assist the schools in
delivering the School Improvement Agenda. The
work has become increasingly driven by the needs
of the schools which the team works to fulfil. The
partnership works with Discovery (Aim Two), to
promote this work at Swansea University.
The ‘young Egyptologist’ two-day course, held in
the Egypt Centre at Swansea University, is a new
activity for the RHRW partnership. Delivered with
schools in CF areas the two-day workshop aims to
motivate learning in children, increase self-esteem
and confidence through a greater sense of
achievement and encourage the development of
literacy and numeracy skills.
A significant working relationship is developing
with Social Services and Education Departments in
Neath Port Talbot and the City and County of
Swansea to include ‘looked after’ groups of young
people in the Reaching Wider team’s work. Both
authorities are concerned about the rates of
progression to HE from this group and recent
research at the Coram Institute has shown that
attention is needed in this area.
The SWW RHRW partnership looks forward
to working with the other Reaching Wider
Partnerships to share and develop best practice
for activities aimed at black and minority ethnic
groups resulting from the all-Wales funding for
Widening Access Wales.
The University will also seek to further develop its
wide portfolio of programmes that facilitate the
engagement of people who would not be able to
engage with traditional modes of delivery, e.g.
family-friendly part-time Nursing, Midwifery and
Health Visitor provision, DACE part-time evening
and weekend modules. The School of Health
Science will continue to work with NHS Trusts to
recruit students to meet the demands of rural
communities, providing some course elements on
peripheral sites, and will work closely with FE
colleges across South West Wales that offer
access programmes. The School of Arts and
DACE have co-operated to develop weekend
schools in media-related skills and techniques
that will be delivered in 2006/07. The University
will also continue to provide a bridge for students
who would be initially unable to access
HE through specialist provision such as
‘Foundation year’ programmes.
Swansea University’s suite of ICT services for nontraditional
students will also be further developed.
The DALLAS (Distance And Lifelong Learners At
Swansea) package will be extended, with the aim
of streamlining and simplifying services for the
increasing proportion of students who have limited
access to the University. As most of our students
now have work commitments, then it could be
argued that most students now have similar time
and access limitations as those experienced by
non-traditional students. Services will include
digitised document delivery, along with
imaginative use of ICT and the web to deliver
direct services and to improve interaction in areas
like web-based requests and SMS messaging.
The University has traditionally been a pioneer in
Wales in developing support services for students
with disabilities, such as the Recording Centre for
the Blind (Aim Two), and has invested in student
support as a whole significantly in recent years.
Swansea has previously provided services for
other HEIs to enable them to support students with
disabilities, and now is well placed to support
other HEIs more fully through collaboration
(SWWHEP, Aim Three) to improve services to
students and efficiency in delivery.
It is important that the University be as diverse as
the population from which it seeks to draw
students in order to attract learners from all
sections of society. The University is underrepresented
in some key areas, e.g. female and
minority ethnic group employees amongst more
senior academic staff. These problems and the
actions being taken to address them are
described in the Equal Opportunities section
of the HR Strategy.
This section highlights the resourcing cross-cutting themes. These are areas that
are of great importance in underpinning the University’s Strategic aims.
Cross-cutting Theme
– Human Resources
The Human Resources (HR) Strategy details the
University’s plans for developing, managing
and implementing policies relating to both
academic and non-academic staff in relation to
the University’s overall Strategic Plan. The
document considers each of the University’s
Strategic Aims in detail and links them to the
relevant supporting areas of the HR Strategy.
HR Strategic Objectives
The Strategic Human Resources objectives
of the University are:
• to have a workforce that is well-motivated,
appropriately skilled, trained, equitably
rewarded, and which performs effectively
in the pursuit of the University’s mission
and strategic aims;
• to develop effective and equitable
employment policies through the application
of equal opportunities principles which go
beyond those required by legislation,
developed in consultation with members
of staff and their representatives;
• to develop relevant, appropriate and effective
performance management practices where
expectations are clear, measurable,
communicated and supported by the
appropriate resources.
Excellence in Research
The following objectives expressed in
Aim One of this Plan are particularly relevant
to the HR Strategy:
• double the proportion of its research staff
assessed to be producing research work
of international quality by 2007;
• reconfigure the University to achieve
research critical mass in all academic
areas, supporting this through
infrastructure development;
• only recruit staff that have achieved, or
have the potential to achieve, international
excellence in research;
• pro-actively recruit distinguished scholars
that can bring strong academic leadership
to research teams in Swansea.
The University is having significant success in
its efforts to recruiting key academic staff with
established or developing research reputations.
In the period 2001-2003 there were 73 new
academic appointments, by 2003-2005 this
had almost doubled to 138 new academic
appointments. There have been a further 70
new Academic appointments in the period
September 2005 to May 2006 including
fourteen at Chair level. It is planned to continue
this recruitment strategy up to the next RAE,
through the Business Planning process for
Schools. The aim is to submit all academic
staff recruited since 2003 to the 2008 RAE.
New Recruitment and Selection Procedures
were implemented in 2004/05. The
procedures are designed to assist the
University’s aim to be one of the top researchbased
universities in the UK, but continue to
reflect the University’s core values of equality of
opportunity and service to the community.
The University has put in place a number of
measures with the view of creating responsive
procedures for rewarding and retaining key
staff. They include the following:
• promotion procedures for Chairs and
Readerships were extensively revised
in 2003-2004 to allow a more
responsive process.
• procedures for the review of salary levels of
professorial staff have been revised and are
also now more responsive.
• the Senior Lecturer promotion system has
been redesigned to align with the University’s
vision of research excellence.
The recruitment and retention of academic
staff and provision of the appropriate staff to
support them with the capability of delivering
this aim is described in detail in the sections
in the HR Strategy on ‘Recruitment Retention
and Motivation’ and ‘Staffing Needs’.
Excellence in Teaching
Since September 2004, new members of the
teaching staff have been invited to enrol on
the tHE Scheme (teaching in Higher Education).
This voluntary, Higher Education Academy/
Health Professions Wales accredited teacher
training scheme has been run in collaboration
with UW Bangor, UW Aberystwyth,
UW Lampter and UWIC
HEFCW have advised institutions in Wales
that HR Strategies must consider excellence
in teaching as a criterion for promotion of
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Cross-cutting Themes
academic staff. This is addressed by inclusion
of excellence in teaching criteria in the new
agreed promotion procedures to Senior
Lecturer, as discussed in the Performance
Management Section of the HR Strategy.
Criteria have been introduced to allow
‘academic related’ staff to transfer to the
academic career route provided a minimum
threshold of teaching and research
excellence can be demonstrated.
The University is recognising and rewarding good
teaching through the introduction of an award to
highlight and promote innovative and effective
teaching: the Distinguished Teaching Award. The
terms and criteria for the Award have been
revised to improve the general understanding of
the initiative and to ensure that students had a
voice in the selection of awardees.
The University has a comprehensive programme
of staff development, as outlined in the HR
Strategy, to ensure that the training needs of
all its workforce can be delivered. The
University is collaborating with SIHE in
offering staff development programmes.
Pay Modernisation
The University is committed to a major
programme of work to establish a modern
salary framework and arrangements for salary
progression. The Framework Agreement gives
an excellent opportunity to rationalise reward
systems. A reward strategy for the University
will be developed to ensure that the reward
elements of job size, contribution and market
pay are separately and systematically assessed.
The Higher Education Role Analysis (HERA)
scheme is currently being used to create generic
role profiles to be used in the matching process
for assimilation. The provision of funding by
HEFCW for the initial part of this project has
greatly assisted this work. Funding is for a two
year collaborative project to establish a pay and
grading structure throughout the HEIs of
Wales and sufficient information to return to
HEFCW/WAG with costs for implementation
throughout Wales. Subject to funding being
available from WAG, the University will introduce
a single salary spine and new grading structures
in 2007. However the University lacks the
necessary funds to implement the Framework
Agreement, and cannot unless additional funds
are made available to the sector.
Equal Opportunities
Since the introduction of the Equal Opportunities
Action Plan for Staff, there have been a number
of significant movements and additions to the
equalities agenda, discussed in detail in the HR
Strategy. The University has a detailed and
specific Race Equality Policy and Action Plan,
reviewed and revised in October 2005.
The University was one of only 9 HEIs within
the UK to take part in a two year collaborative
project with the Campaign For Racial Equality
and the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU). This
developmental, exploratory and supportive
approach was designed to produce outcomes
that will be beneficial to the sector as a whole
and best practice guidance is being produced
and will be distributed to all HEIs. Already,
Swansea has been involved in the dissemination
of best practice through presenting experience at
Swansea to other institutions in Wales, and also
at the Annual ECU Conference.
Following the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
2005, the University is required to produce its
own Disability Equality Scheme and associated
Action Plan. These are being developed.
The Equality Act 2006 introduces a public
sector duty on gender equality for all public
authorities including Higher Education
Institutions. Preparatory work with regard to
preparing draft guidance and establishing
the necessary consultative mechanisms will
commence in autumn 2006 with a view
to having a scheme in place by the
implementation date of the proposed legislation
in April 2007. Equal pay is an expressed
priority of the WAG and a target of Reaching
Higher. The University’s actions in this area are
addressed in the Equal Opportunities section
of the HR Strategy and as part of the
implementation of the Framework Agreement.
In response to the Employment Equality (Age)
Regulations 2006 the University has produced
a Policy on Age Discrimination. All policies are
being reviewed to check whether they include
reference to age related or length of service
related entitlement. The Regulations create a
right for employees to request working beyond
a compulsory retirement age. The University
will put in place a system to consider this.
Cross-cutting Theme
– Estates
Estates Strategy
In 2005 the University appointed consultants to
assist in the development of a new ten-year
Estates Strategy and Development Plan linked to
a campus Masterplan. The Estate Strategy will
be used to ensure the optimum use of the estate
resource and to understand which buildings
and facilities are be needed to deliver the
University’s strategic plan now and into the
future. The strategy will aims to continue to
improve the quality of the estate and to expand
space provision through development of the
campus and adjacent sites and through a
programme of repair, space re-engineering
and refurbishment.
The findings of the Estate Strategy highlighted
a number of key strategic issues:
• the need for the estate to reflect the success
of the University as a research led institution
and provide a “shop window”.
• there is a lack of first class student support
and recreational facilities on campus.
• space generally is now at a premium and
will inhibit further growth in staff, students,
teaching and research without significant
development.
• the campus is not big enough to provide for
future technology and knowledge transfer.
• the campus is dated and looks “second
league” with a significant backlog of
maintenance.
When modelling the current estate against known
space models the strategy has revealed that:
• the University is operating with a current
space deficit of about 5,000 sq m and that
some of the existing space is not
appropriately configured.
• a total of 25,000 sq m of additional space
is required to support the modest growth
patterns predicted up until 2015.
• the University cannot expand in student
numbers unless more space is created
within the next five years.
The strategy recommends that where future
space is developed or refurbished it
incorporates a best practice flexible and open
plan approach to maximise space utilisation
across the estate.
After looking at a number of options the firm
recommendation is that:
• “The University transforms and redevelops
the central part of the campus on the site
of Fulton House to provide an additional
30,000sq m of additional space”
In going forward the University will need to
take the following decisions and develop its
plans over the next 12 months:
• plan for the redevelopment of the central
area of the campus including the demolition
of the listed Fulton House
• commit to a programme of planned
maintenance to remove backlog issues.
• refurbish and improve the existing estate
over the next ten years
• decide the future of Hendrefoelan Student
Village and plan for its replacement.
• plan for the development of an off-campus
Science Park.
Space Planning
The policy developed last year for the
allocation and use of space within departments
has been well received across the campus, as
has the policy for timetabling central teaching
rooms. Targets are now being developed to
bring all teaching space across the campus into
a centrally timetabled and managed process
Student Accommodation
The provision of additional student
accommodation on campus through a
partnership based approach with an external
provider is progressing and is aiming to deliver
a further 320 beds by the 2008 academic year.
Energy Services
With the cost of energy rising at an
unprecedented rate it is vital that the University
takes every opportunity to manage its energy
consumption effectively. The project to install
the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant is
progressing, together with a plan to install a
building management and control system. The
University’s commitment to reducing its energy
footprint can also be evidenced in the new
build Institute of Life Science (Aim Seven).
Planned Maintenance and
Legislative Compliance
The significant and continuing under-investment
in the estate means that the level of backlog
maintenance and renewal remains a key issue.
Funding is now being targeted at the renewal
and upgrade of mission critical areas of the
estate, however, the low level of funding
available means that the backlog will continue
to grow in future years. Continued expenditure
on DDA, Legionella, fire and risk management
is targeted to reduce our exposure to the
identified risks.
Procurement
The Estates Department has continued to be
at the forefront of the Rethinking Construction
agenda nationally and within Wales is
considered to be a leader. This year we will be
seeking to re-tender our framework partnering
arrangements for contractors and consultants.
Over the period of the existing framework the
department has delivered over 20 major
capital projects within budget, to time and
with continuous improvements in quality.
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Cross-cutting Themes
Cross-cutting Theme
– Finance
Financial Position
The Higher Education Funding Council for
Wales (HEFCW) has assessed the financial
health of the institution as Category B: facing
short term difficulties that is not serious,
nor likely to become serious within the next
four years.
Sustainability
An institution is defined as being managed in a
sustainable basis, if “taking one year with
another, it is recovering its full economic costs
across its activities as a whole, and is investing
in its infrastructure (physical, human and
intellectual) at a rate adequate to maintain its
future productive capacity appropriate to the
needs of its strategic plan and students’,
sponsors’ and other customers’ requirements”.
The priority up to the 2008 Research
Assessment Exercise (RAE) is to invest in the
human capacity of the University at the expense
of the physical capacity. It is recognised that
this is unsustainable in the long run. The results
achieved over the last six years have not
generated sufficient cash for the essential
capital investment required in order to replenish
the estate. The University must generate an
annual surplus of at least 3% of turnover which,
in 2005/06, is equivalent to £3.4 million in
order to generate sufficient cash to maintain
the estate in an adequate condition.
From 2008/09, the University will be retaining
sufficient cash balances to maintain a days
ratio of net liquid assets to total expenditure of
35 days, with the balance of cash generated
being available for capital investment.
Business Planning
In 2003/04, a new business planning
approach was introduced in order to facilitate
planning, budgeting and resource allocation.
This is discussed in Aim Four.
Central Support Departments
During 2005/06, the University engaged KPMG to undertake a high level review of its
administrative and central support functions. The review identified recurrent savings of £1 million
per annum from 2006/07 rising to £1.5 million per annum by 2008/09. The savings will be
achieved, in part, through a voluntary early retirement scheme funded from the University’s
endowment funds.
The University has entered into a new two year contract for the supply of gas and electricity from
1 July 2006. The new contract has resulted in a 74% increase in the cost of electricity and a 88%
increase in the cost of gas, increasing the cost of utilities by over £1.4 million.
Flexible Tuition Fees
Following the decision of the National Assembly for Wales (NAW), Welsh HEIs will be allowed to
charge flexible tuition fees of up to £3,070 from 2007/08 to full time undergraduate students.
The University has decided to charge the maximum permitted for all eligible courses. In order to
compensate HEI’s for the one year delay in the introduction of flexible fees, NAW has agreed a
Supplementary Income Stream (SIS) for 2006/07. The following figures have been included in
the forecasts:
SIS and Fee Plans
The ability of institutions to charge flexible fees will be dependent on HEIs securing approval from
HEFCW for institutional fee plans which set out their proposals for utilising the additional income
generated by flexible fees. In particular the fee plans must specify:
i) the proposed level of fees from September 2007 onwards;
2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10
fte fte fte fte
Eligible full time undergraduates – 4,970 7,575 7,575
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Supplementary income stream 3,896 – – –
Additional income from flexible fees – 9,170 14,320 14,670
______ ______ ______ ______
3,896 9,170 14,320 14,670
ii) measures funded from fee income that promote equality of opportunity so far as that relates
to access to HE. These measures will need to include institutional proposals for investment in
bursaries, including the National Bursary Scheme, along with other widening access
activities; and
iii) wider institutional proposals for harnessing additional fee income to promote HE in Wales
in line with Reaching Higher principles.
Fee plans must cover 15% of income derived from the SIS and 30% of additional income
derived from flexible fees:
The SIS plan has been submitted to HEFCW with approval anticipated by the end of July 2006.
Bursaries
Under the National Bursary Scheme, the University will be paying a bursary of £300 from
2007/08 to each student where the household income is less than £17,500. In addition the
University is setting aside funds to provide further bursaries in order to promote widening
access. The figures included in the forecasts for the new bursaries are as follows:
Pay Costs
The forecasts contain the following increases in respect of pay costs:
Pension Costs
The following employer’s contribution rates have been assumed:
2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
SIS and fee plans 584 2,750 4,295 4,400
2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
National Bursary Scheme – 350 500 550
Other bursaries – 100 250 250
______ ______ ______ ______
Total – 450 750 800
2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10
% % % %
Annual cost of living rises 3.6 4.4 4.7 3.4
Incremental progression 0.7 0.5 0.5 0.5
Promotions 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5
Framework agreement 1.5 1.5 0.0 0.0
(non-professorial paybill only) ______ ______ ______ ______
5.3 6.9 5.7 4.4
2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10
% % % %
Universities Superannuation Scheme 14.0 14.0 14.0 14.0
The employee’s contribution rate in respect of
the UWS pension scheme increases to 7.85%
with effect from 1st August 2006, with the
rate for USS remaining at 6.35%.
Framework Agreement
HEFCW has provided funding for the ‘All
Wales Pay Modernisation Project’ which
will establish pay and grading structures
throughout the HEIs of Wales. The project will
be completed by June 2007 and will provide
information to HEFCW/WAG on the cost of
implementing the new structures. The Minister
for Education and Lifelong Learning has
indicated that WAG will consider providing
additional funds for the implementation.
The Framework Agreement proposes an
implementation date of ‘no later than 1st
August 2006, subject to funding in the
devolved administrations’. The forecasts include
an allowance of 1.5% of the non-professorial
paybill with effect from 1st August 2006 and a
further 1.5% from 1 August 2007. However,
the Framework Agreement will not be
implemented unless additional funding is made
available by the WAG.
Financial Reporting Standard (FRS) 17
The implementation of FRS17 is mandatory with
effect from the 2005/06 financial year. FRS17
valuations provide a snapshot of the scheme’s
financial position at a particular date, based on
assumptions linked to bond yields and the
market value of assets at the financial year end.
As a result the valuations are volatile.
The actuary to the UWS Pension Scheme has
estimated that an FRS17 charge of £0.5 million
in the Income and Expenditure Account will be
required in 2005/06, reducing to £0.3 million
in 2006/07. It has been assumed that the latter
figure is required for each remaining year of
the planning period.
The estimated pension liability at 31 July 2006
of £20 million has been carried forward for
the remainder of the planning period.
An FRS17 valuation is not required for the
Universities Superannuation Scheme.
UWS Pension Scheme 18.5 18.5 18.5 18.5
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Cross-cutting Themes
Key Assumptions
Student Numbers
The following student loads (i.e. full-time and part-time) have been assumed:
2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 % change 2005/06
fte fte fte fte fte to 2009/10
Undergraduate (home and EU) 7,200 7,695 7,902 7,902 7,902 9.8
Postgraduate taught (home and EU) 641 718 800 850 900 40.4
Postgraduate research (home and EU) 350 428 450 475 500 42.9
Overseas 846 939 1,052 1,102 1,152 36.2
Scheme Source of Previous 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 Total
funding £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Externally funded
Refurb. Talbot & Faraday SRIF 2 2,200 – – – – 2,200
Reclad Faraday Tower SRIF 3 – 2,044 – – – 2,044
Biobank SRIF 2 242 – – – – 242
Institute of Life Science Various 11,000 1,500 1,000 – – 13,500
Arts etc Post Grad facility SRIF 3 67 435 – – – 502
Richard Burton Centre SRIF 3 – 500 200 – – 700
CHP Project (part funding) Carbon Trust – 535 – – – 535
Internally funded
Research Grants and Contracts
In order to fulfil the mission of the University as a research-led institution, a challenging target of annual increases in research grant income has been
assumed for each year of the planning period (These are discussed in Annex A)
Other Schemes Internal funds 4,870 2,000 2,000 6,000 6,000 20,870
Total 18,379 7,014 3,200 6,000 6,000 40,593
Contingency
As a result of a thorough analysis of the sensitivities and other risks, the University has included a contingency of £1.075 million in each year of
the planning period.
Consideration will be given to releasing part of the 2006/07 contingency in the autumn, in the light of student recruitment.
Reserves and Cash Position
The University’s reserves position, reflecting the above results on the Income and Expenditure Account, will be as follows:
The cash balances held by the University are estimated as follows:
Income and Expenditure
The results of the financial forecasts 2005/06 to 2009/10 may be summarised as follows:
2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
31.07.06 31.07.07 31.07.08 31.07.09 31.07.10
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
General reserve excluding pension liability 20,849 19,141 21,465 26,714 31,890
General reserve including pension liability 772 (1,236) 788 5,737 10,613
Income 114,161 123,620 135,915 145,717 152,892
Expenditure 117,384 125,519 133,782 140,659 147,907
Operating (deficit)/surplus (3,223) (1,899) 2,133 5,058 4,985
Surplus on disposal of asset 647 – – – –
Transfer (to) specific endowments (70) (109) (109) (109) (109)
(Deficit)/surplus (2646) (2,008) 2,024 4,949 4,876
2005 forecasts (2,161) (1,712) 4,611 8,638 N/A
Financial Indicators
Key financial indicators are represented in the charts shown below:
Balance at Balance at Balance at Balance at Balance at
31.07.06 31.07.07 31.07.08 31.07.09 31.07.10
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Cash balances 13,702 9,345 12,492 14,550 16,030
Days ratio 43 27 34 38 40
Capital Programme
The University has approved a capital programme to 2009/10 totalling £40.6 million as shown:
In addition the University is planning to provide 350 further student residence places on the Singleton Campus via a PPP scheme.
The cost of the development is estimated to £14.4 million. The University will be allocating £2 million per annum for capital expenditure
to 2007/08 increasing to £6 million per annum from 2008/09, funded by cash generated.
The strategy of generating an annual surplus of at least 3% of turnover will be achieved in 2008/09.
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Cross-cutting Themes
Financial Indicators
Key financial indicators are represented in the charts shown below:
Surplus/(Deficit) as a percentage of total income
4.0%
3.0%
UWS
94 Group
Wales
2.0%
1.0%
0.0%
-1.0%
2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10
-2.0%
-3.0%
General reserves and endowments as a percentage of annual turnover
50.0%
45.0%
40.0%
35.0%
30.0%
25.0%
20.0%
15.0%
10.0%
2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10
Days net liquid assets to total expenditure
120.0%
100.0%
80.0%
60.0%
40.0%
20.0%
2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10
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The strategy of generating an annual surplus of at least 3% of turnover will be achieved in 2008/09.
Professor Richard B. Davies
Vice-Chancellor
Sir Roger Jones
Chair of Council