[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”off” specialty=”on” _builder_version=”3.17.6″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ specialty_columns=”4″][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column_inner type=”4_4″ saved_specialty_column_type=”2_3″][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=”3.17.6″ featured_placement=”above” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″]<\/p>\n
2025 has been quite a year for all of us. Thank you for everything you\u2019ve done to make it a good one.<\/p>\n
Alongside all the brilliant things you\u2019ve achieved individually, I hope you feel proud of the way we came together to create our new strategy From Manchester for the world<\/em>.<\/p>\n When we began that work, we started with a simple question: what kind of university do we need to be in 2035?<\/p>\n From there, we listened. And listened. More than 12,000 of you \u2013 colleagues, students, alumni, partners \u2013 shared your ideas, stories and ambitions for the future.<\/p>\n The answer we arrived at together \u2013 the thing that has become our north star \u2013 is that we want to be a great civic university for the 21st century, creating knowledge for the public good, locally and globally.<\/p>\n Getting to this point has been energising \u2013 from listening and discussion, to developing the ideas, to finding agreement \u2013 with plenty of debate and honest challenge along the way. It was a shared effort from start to finish.<\/p>\n Now comes the exciting part. We get to bring it to life.<\/p>\n Today, we\u2019re sharing two of the things that will help us do that.<\/p>\n First, a three-year work package that sets out what we\u2019ll focus on first. Second, a practical handbook that looks at the how<\/em>, and gives us a shared way of doing things.<\/p>\n The strategy works because we created it together. It will become a reality because we make it real together.<\/p>\n We won\u2019t get everything right straight away. And we shouldn\u2019t expect to.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll reach the answers together as a community \u2013 of colleagues, students, alumni and partners.<\/p>\n The three-year work package<\/strong> This work package isn\u2019t fixed. It will shift as we learn and as the world changes around us. It gives us a strong starting point and helps us focus on the things you\u2019ve told us matter: working out what comes first, involving the right people, managing our workload sensibly, and paying attention to the order in which things need to happen. And you\u2019ll see more detail as the different initiatives kick off. Some things we\u2019ve already begun. Others haven\u2019t been started yet.<\/p>\n Next year we\u2019ll share more about the different ways to get involved in making all this happen. Please lean in, speak up and keep driving us forward.<\/p>\n The handbook<\/strong> Looking ahead<\/strong> The world around us is changing fast \u2013 in our city, our country and far beyond \u2013 so we need to be more innovative, more engaged and more committed to excellence than ever before.<\/p>\n Our University is full of talent and energy, and we have the chance to make an even bigger difference. We should feel confident about what comes next.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s keep going. Together.<\/p>\n Best wishes, D<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=”3.17.6″ prev_text=”Previous” next_text=”Next” in_same_term=”off” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.17.6″ custom_button=”on” button_text_color=”#ffffff” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Related posts” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=”Subscribe” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ area=”et_pb_widget_area_3″ locked=”on” \/][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=”3.17.6″ area=”sidebar-1″ show_border=”off” locked=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 2025 has been quite a year for all of us. Thank you for everything you\u2019ve done to make it a good one. [et_pb_section bb_built=\"1\" fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\"][et_pb_column type=\"2_3\" specialty_columns=\"4\"][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=\"Row\"][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\" saved_specialty_column_type=\"2_3\"][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" featured_placement=\"above\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=\"3.17.6\"]<\/p> When I\u2019m out and about meeting staff I hear much debate about the why, what, when and how of change in our University. I wanted to share my thoughts on this often contentious topic \u2013 and hear your views too.<\/p> Early in 2020 we will launch our University\u2019s new vision and strategic plan \u2013 Our future. In order to fulfil Our future we need to ensure that we are in a financially sustainable position so that we have the funds to invest in the new staff, facilities and infrastructure which will be needed to bring our plans to life.<\/p> Our Financial Statements<\/a> for 2018\/19, which have been published following approval by the Board of Governors, confirm that more than 95% of our \u00a31.1bn income is spent on our core goals - on our staff and our students - to deliver research, education and social responsibility; with the remainder invested in the long term sustainability of our University. You can find a summary<\/a> of the Financial Statements on StaffNet.<\/p> However, this is a testing time for UK universities, due to the many external factors that have an impact on us - current home tuition fees are falling in real terms, whilst our costs (not just pay but non-pay too) are increasing. There are further and even greater tuition fee funding risks outlined in General Election manifestos as well as a range of Brexit-related risks that could affect our operations. The Office for Students (OfS) demands that we demonstrate both value for money for our students and our financial sustainability (in the sense of being able to invest to deliver our ambitious strategy, rather than survival). There are, of course, also ongoing unresolved national issues around pay and the continuing challenges around funding pensions in the higher education sector.<\/p> Our Financial Statements show an improved operating surplus (3.7% of income compared to \u00a324.7m (2.3%) in 2017\/18), with a rise in income from tuition fees, education contracts and research. As I mentioned earlier, we re-invest the surplus we achieve each year in activity in line with our strategy. Recently our funds have been used to create some new academic and Professional Services posts; to invest in key infrastructure including IT; to invest in some new buildings like our student accommodation at Unsworth Park; to improve the student experience by funding more full-time Residential Life staff and to upgrade a range of buildings and research and teaching spaces and resources. Increasingly it is also invested in environmental sustainability and meeting our ambitious carbon targets. So even when we are making difficult decisions in some parts of the University we continue to invest our surplus.<\/p> Whilst we have reported an operating surplus, our Board of Governors expects us to deliver a much larger surplus than this (at least 5%) if we are to be sustainable in the long-term. Our strategic change programme (including IT Modernisation<\/a>, the Student Experience Programme<\/a>, and the Research Lifecycle Programme<\/a>), alongside our continuous improvement plans, will ensure that we create the financial headroom to invest in people and facilities. The strategic change programme will also enable us to embrace new technologies and new ways of doing things that better support all our staff and students to be the best that they can be.<\/p> Yes, this means that some individual roles will change. New roles (some that we haven\u2019t yet identified) will be created and some roles will no longer be required. I appreciate that this will cause some uncertainty and where that is the case we will do everything we can to support staff, but the alternative is that we never change anything. If we fail to take advantage of advances in technology and develop more joined-up ways of working we will ultimately find ourselves outdated in the eyes of future students, funders and other stakeholders. Staff want to work for a progressive and successful institution, of which they can be proud. This means we cannot stand still.<\/p> When I talk to staff and students I often hear their frustrations about how difficult it be can be to get some straightforward things done, grappling with paper-based, manual and repetitive processes, on outdated systems and infrastructure, all of which serves to increase staff workloads. Everyone wants to do a good job, but regularly feel that our world-class status is earned in spite of our internal systems and processes, not because of them.<\/p> To deliver our new vision and strategic plan we will need to embrace new opportunities and face challenges with courage and determination. That will sometimes mean we have to make tough decisions and no-one is claiming it will be easy or that mistakes will not be made along the way. But where we do have tough choices to make we will commit to implementing changes fairly and with compassion to support the wellbeing of all our colleagues.<\/p> [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" prev_text=\"Previous\" next_text=\"Next\" in_same_term=\"off\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" custom_button=\"on\" button_text_color=\"#ffffff\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Related posts\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" locked=\"on\"]<\/p> [related-posts-thumbnails]<\/p> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_3\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Subscribe\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" area=\"et_pb_widget_area_3\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" area=\"sidebar-1\" show_border=\"off\" locked=\"on\" \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,38,40],"tags":[43,41,42],"class_list":["post-4076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-2035","category-president-vice-chancellor","category-ue","tag-delivery-handbook","tag-m2035","tag-strategy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4076"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4194,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4076\/revisions\/4194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
We can\u2019t do everything at once, so we\u2019ve set out the things we need to get moving on first. We\u2019ve looked ahead to where we want to be in three years\u2019 time. We\u2019ve set some clear priorities for this year. We\u2019ve agreed simple ways to check whether we\u2019re on the right track.<\/p>\n
The handbook explains how we\u2019ll approach making improvements at Manchester \u2013 openly, with shared principles and approaches, involving our whole university community. It’s designed to be a practical and usable guide, with people at the heart of our approach.<\/p>\n
Next year we\u2019ll keep working in the same open, collaborative way. We\u2019ll need your ideas and your voice to help us turn this strategy into reality.<\/p>\n\n
Related<\/h1>\n
Related posts:<\/h3>
Nalin Thakkar and Ele Morrissey - Manchester 2035: Advancing our social responsibility\u202f<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
From Manchester, For the World: turning our research ambition into action\u00a0<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
Allan Pacey and April McMahon: Manchester 2035 - Reimagining our student experiences<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div>
\nAlongside all the brilliant things you\u2019ve achieved individually, I hope you feel proud of the way we come together to create our new strategy From Manchester for the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":4188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"
Improving our financial performance will help to deliver our ambitious future plans, but we must also increase our capacity to create the funds and time to invest in our core goals. One of the ways we can do this is by changing what we do and how we do things.<\/p>Related<\/h1>