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Strategy 2030

Unleashing people's potential

Introduction

The potential and adaptability of Queen Mary students is unnerving. We attract some of the brightest and best students from across the world and from all walks of life. Our students themselves do not always realise just how far they can go and how high they can aim. All our students bring their own unique premium of talent to get into Queen Mary. We will ensure that premium is embellished at our University and translated into greater attainment and opportunities.

In some cases, our students do not have the networks and in-built confidence to enable them to aspire to the careers they deserve. In many cases, they do not have the support they need to manage the many conflicting demands of their lives whilst at university. It is our responsibility to provide that support, tailored to each and every student, to ensure that they can reach their full potential. To realise this ambition this core area of our strategy is delivered through our education and student experience principles supported by four pillars of excellence outlined below.

 

The education and student experience principles informing this strategy are to:

  • Be the most inclusive and diverse Russell Group University and ensure that anyone who is able to flourish at Queen Mary can join us, irrespective of their background. We will actively seek out and recruit students from backgrounds currently under-represented at universities like ours, and will further develop, significantly enhance and champion the international diversity within our UK campuses.

  • Raise the profile of Queen Mary, so that any student who might wish to apply is fully aware of the University’s strengths and unique offering. We will offer support to all our students so they can successfully transition to our University.

  • Ensure everyone who has the potential is able to access a Queen Mary education without necessarily coming to London. This will include significantly increasing our community of transnational students and increasing the number of partners with whom we deliver such education. It will also include significant investment in postgraduate online learning and part-time opportunities. We will continue to broaden our portfolio of short courses including continuing professional development and executive education, enabling students to move seamlessly between different delivery options.

  • Ensure that the holistic education and learning experience we provide is world-leading, co-created with students and employers, as appropriate, and reflects our diverse and international community. To deliver our cutting edge curricula, we will develop, implement and promote new pedagogical approaches using the latest, or our own bespoke, technological advances to enhance the student experience.

  • Ensure that our community of undergraduate, postgraduate and international students creates a vibrant and cohesive education environment, consistent with a world-leading university.

 

Our four pillars of education and student experience excellence that inform this strategy are:

  • Excellence in education.
  • Excellence in student engagement.
  • Excellence in student employability.
  • Excellence in the learning environment.

 

The four pillars of excellence are presented below.

Excellence in...

Education

The education we provide is led by world-class academics: our students are taught by the people who wrote the textbooks. Our strategy builds on existing excellence to ensure that students are co-creators in their education and the learning environment. Our teachers are equipped to meet the needs of diverse learners, and can support students to achieve their full potential and be leaders in their chosen fields. We will ensure:

  • The distinctive Queen Mary Graduate Attributes are embedded in all our programmes, so that our students develop the knowledge, skills, adaptability and resilience to succeed in an ever-changing global job market and become active global citizens.

  • Our curriculum is progressive, inclusive, offers inter-disciplinary opportunities and reflects our international standing.

  • Our programmes are always devised with the student at the centre, and are coherent, easy to navigate and support overall progression.

  • Our streamlined portfolio of modules is kept under review, working with students and employers, to ensure high-quality and relevance to society and the world of work.

  • Assessment and feedback is focused, streamlined, aligned with progressing learning and supportive of students realising their academic potential.

Student Engagement

We will continually develop new approaches to support students in their learning and make sure they have a clear voice in the development of the University, working closely with Queen Mary Students’ Union. We will ensure that:

  • Learning is individualised and our pedagogic development meets the needs of our diverse learners.

  • We continually seek feedback from and work with our students to ensure that the curriculum, pedagogic approaches, assessment and feedback, and academic advising processes support the learner journey.

  • Students are empowered to engage in peer-to-peer learning, assessment and teamwork, creating greater engagement.

  • A range of extra-curricular opportunities is provided to engage students in skills development that will support their ability to achieve their own goals, learn and understand different cultures, and understand and contribute to addressing societal challenges.

  • Student research internships are available every year to support the University in gaining student feedback on the entire student experience.

Student Employability

We will ensure our students are supported in obtaining the careers to which they aspire. We will provide:

  • Individualised, coherent career management support for our students and graduates.

  • The richest possible international experience for all our students through access to mobility opportunities, mentoring, enterprise support and international internships.

  • Integrated placements, internships and research projects embedded in our programme curriculum.

  • Opportunities for students to engage with our local communities, through volunteering and working in partnership with local organisations.

  • Support for all our students to recognise, record, and see the relevance of their wide-ranging higher-level skills development so that they can effectively develop and market themselves to future employers.

  • Opportunities for our alumni, who live all over the world and are leaders in a vast array of fields, to engage with our students to broaden their minds and employability opportunities.

Learning Environment

Providing a world-class digital and physical learning environment for students is crucial for their success. At Queen Mary, students are partners in the development of their environment. To ensure we keep pace with and predict their future needs we will:

  • Ensure that our entire physical and our digital estate is accessible, flexible, effective, easy to navigate and fully utilised.

  • Work with our students in the development, implementation and promotion of technological advances, continually focusing on enhancing the student learner journey.

  • Work closely with our Students’ Union, to ensure that our campuses are vibrant and promote students’ health and wellbeing, engagement and sense of community.

  • Work with our alumni around the world to extend the global Queen Mary community, provide a first-class support network to help students and alumni take the next step in their careers, and contribute to our outstanding student experience.

  • Ensure that everyone at Queen Mary lives and breathes our core values and behaviours that underpin the Queen Mary ethos in all we do.
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