Annual Meeting and Summer Reception
As part of our Annual Meeting and Summer Reception, our Vice-Chancellor, Professor Anthony Forster, gave a speech outlining our achievements in 2022-23, reflecting on our broader achievements over 60 years and looking forward to the next decade.
This is a joyous moment in the history of the University of Essex. We are celebrating both the University’s diamond jubilee year and welcoming our new Chancellor, Dr Sarah Perry. Sarah is a celebrated author and one of the greatest cheerleaders for the County of Essex and has already been a wonderful ambassador for our university. She has engaged throughout the last academic year with our students and staff through a wide range of events at all three campuses, and formally presided over our Graduation ceremonies in April and will do so again in July. Sarah, a very warm welcome to your first Annual Meeting.
And I want to say a big thank you to Jane Hamilton, who has been a valued member of the University’s governing body since 2015 and Chair since 2019. Through your wonderful leadership, Jane, you have played a key part in ensuring the University’s ongoing success. You have been a valued and trusted champion and ambassador for the University and we have been fortunate to have benefited from your leadership for the last 9 years. So, thank you.
I would also like to say a special welcome to all of our international guests who have made the trip to be here with us today.
Our University motto is ‘thought the harder, heart the keener’ and, despite all the challenges that we face, the University is in good heart and today I will share this year’s amazing achievements with you, as well as making time for us all to celebrate a university that has been making change happen for six decades.
Our achievements in Academic Year 2022-23
In financial terms: we had a cash surplus of £19m (5.8% of turnover), 160 days of liquidity (compared with a minimum of 60 days) and we are steadily reducing our borrowing which is now £140m. Our turnover increased to £334m, up 17.6% from the previous year, and we have met all our financial covenants.
Our total student population by head count was 19,100, and 16,488 in terms of full-time equivalent students, with 65% undergraduates, 30% postgraduate taught students, and 5% postgraduate research students.
I am delighted that we were ranked 30th in the Guardian University Guide, 30th in the Complete University Guide, and in the Times Higher World Rankings, we are ranked in the top 100 for Social Sciences and Law; top 200 for Economics and Business Studies and Psychology; and top 250 for Computer Science. We have also been ranked firmly within the top 100 institutions for the third year running in this year’s Times Higher Education Impact Rankings.
A particular highlight last year was that we rose 174 places in the research quality component of the final league tables which is a wonderful achievement and the product of a great deal of hard work.
Our achievements in Academic Year 2023-24
I do want to also offer my observations about this academic year 2023-24.
As many of you will know, it is a challenging time for all UK universities. Most notable is the continued reduction in the value of the UK undergraduate annual fee of £9,250 – which is now worth 33% less than when it was set in 2012 - and by next year will be worth £5,800 in 2012 prices.
All UK universities have been experiencing fragile international student recruitment over the past 12 months and we have not been immune from these challenges, but I hope that you will draw some comfort from the action we have taken and our values-led response.
We quickly put in place a range of measures that have allowed us to safeguard the student experience, protect jobs and the current range of subjects and disciplines that we have within the University, particularly in the arts, humanities and social sciences.
Our three-year forecast indicates that a return to a growth trajectory is likely, through a growing UK undergraduate recruitment pool, and a significant increase in students accepting offers for this October, a more positive environment for international student recruitment and significant opportunities for transnational education partnerships.
We want to grow, not shrink, the University, and we are aiming to submit about 1,000 researchers to the next Research Excellence Framework in 2029. Through holding on to our research power, and expanding on our 2021 submission, we should do even better in winning resources to support our research, so crucial to our mission and our identity.
Reflecting the less benign environment, our university Council has approved a reduction in our cash surplus target from 5.5% to 2% each year – and we have adjusted our investment plans accordingly. This will mean a cash surplus of around £3.2m this year and a turnover of £326m.
Good cost control is important, but on its own can never be enough, and we know that adaptation and innovation is key. We are adapting rapidly to the new challenges that we face: updating our curriculum and identifying new activities, including Continued Professional Development and apprenticeships (of which we now have 378) and new forms of UK and international partnerships.
We are not feeling sorry for ourselves, we know that we need to be the masters of our future, and we know what we need to do – not only to survive but to thrive. This is the Essex Way and I am truly proud that we have embraced a ‘one-university’ approach to these challenges.
Our successes this year
We expect to record the largest amount of research income in our history with almost £40m being awarded to our researchers. In terms of research income for this academic year, we are forecasting a 14% increase on our previous all-time high of £34.3m in 2022-23, which in turn represented a 10% increase on our previous year’s performance of £30.2m. In addition to this, we were awarded £138m for national social sciences infrastructure in our Institute of Social and Economic Research and the UK Data Archive. Not only is this the largest single investment in a university from UK Research and Innovation, but it also further consolidates the University of Essex as a global leader in authoritative social science.
I am delighted that we have performed exceptionally well in this year’s Higher Education Business and Community Interaction survey. The survey collects financial and output data related to a range of activities including: business and public or third sector involvement in research, consultancy and the commercialisation of intellectual property; and other activities intended to have direct societal benefits. We returned over £37m, an increase of £8.6m on last year and our ranking of 14th in the sector in the Knowledge Exchange Framework is impressive.
Our latest new building on the Knowledge Gateway, Clingoe House, was opened in March at an exciting launch event attended by our key partners in Mid and South Essex and Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Systems. It is the new home of three wonderful research, teaching and practice investments:
- our Institute for Public Health and Wellbeing led by Professor Chiara di Cesare;
- our new Centre for Coastal Communities led by Dr Emily Murray; and
- our groundbreaking new Health, Wellbeing and Care Hub, created in partnership with Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System and led by Professor Vicky Joffe.
I want to say a little more about the activities within this Hub because they epitomize everything that we stand for. It will provide inter-professional student placements, offer services that meet local needs and generate cutting edge impactful clinical research. The Hub will offer a range of services in partnership with our NHS and health and social care partners, services that are co-produced by our local community, users, staff and students. We are already offering an online and face to face neuro rehabilitation clinic run by our health and social care students, supervised by our Hub clinical staff, and we have a number of services launching in the next few months, including: a falls prevention clinic, resilience training, adolescent neurodivergent support group, parental support workshops, Makaton Signed English training and a support service for the bereaved and lonely. This is the very best example of how we put benefitting our local communities at the forefront of our mission and of our staff and students “doing well by doing good”. Nothing on this scale has been attempted in the UK, it is truly groundbreaking, and we are really excited by the scale of our ambition.
New and improved farming methods will be crucial to solving some of the great challenges of the 21st century, not least global food security - especially in the context of a changing climate. And in May we opened a major new vertical farm with £1m of funding from the Wolfson Trust supported by £2.3m funding from the University. This unique facility will build on our world-leading strengths in plant productivity research and allow us to exploit the latest technologies to improve key plant processes. It will also provide a platform to increase the visibility of plant science research through community engagement and outreach and highlight the global challenges in this area. We continue to successfully bid for funding to support this vital work, recently securing eight further awards totaling £4.35m.
Our Students’ Union
I am delighted that our Students’ Union has been awarded the King’s Award for Voluntary Service. Within the context of volunteering being at a historic low in England, for over 20 years our students have been making change happen through volunteering. This remarkable commitment has now earned our V-Team this most prestigious award, the highest possible accolade for volunteering in the UK.
Ours is the first Students’ Union to win the award in many years and it is worthy recognition for our incredible student volunteers who have this year contributed an amazing 40,000 hours of their time to projects that make a positive difference to the lives of others.
This achievement would not have been possible without truly outstanding student leadership over many decades and it has been a personal honour of mine to create a ‘wall of fame’ on Square 3 listing all the student leaders since 1964 which we officially opened in May.
Our Outreach team
Our amazing Outreach team provide targeted support for prospective students who are typically least represented within Higher Education, for example those from low income households, first in family, care experienced students, refugees and mature learners.
The teamwork with local schools, colleges and organisations to deliver tailored interventions that build the confidence, knowledge and aspiration and attainment needed to access Higher Education. We have reached around 13,000 local young people and residents this academic year through our interventions and our outreach delivery has expanded through key partnerships between the team and local authorities, third sector organisations and employers.
This includes a partnership with the North East Essex Integrated Care Board which provided £100k of funding to expand activities in Greenstead. As a result of successfully delivering on this contract, the team secured an additional £79k from Essex County Council to expand activity within Tendring. These partnerships will enable an additional 6,000 young people and residents to be reached over the next 3 years.
Sport and the student experience
Sport is at the heart of our student experience on the Colchester Campus. Through the amazing Essex Sports Arena – the largest indoor arena in the East of England – we have a unique asset to encourage students to participate in sport at all levels, and to watch our Essex Rebels basketball and volleyball teams, who play in the highest professional leagues.
It is also the jewel in our crown of community engagement. This year 17,268 spectators have watched a game, an increase of 40% on last year, with about half students and the remainder from our local community. We now hold the record for the highest and second highest spectator attendance at a women’s league game and hold some prestigious awards for the basketball and volleyball game day experience. All the teams share in common a breathless playing style that keeps spectators on the edge of their seats. I’m delighted that in basketball the men’s teams reached the semi-finals of the cup and the women’s team the final.
We are in the top 30 in the UK in the BUCS overall league table - our highest ever finish and our highest number of BUCS points – a remarkable achievement for a University of our size. We’ve also won a prestigious National CUBO Award in recognition of our innovative approach to delivering an outstanding student experience and a Basketball England ‘Best Gameday Experience Award’.
The education we offer our students is as important as our research and I am delighted that we have bounced back to higher levels of student satisfaction, measured through the National Student Survey, with the University ranked 28th by the Times Higher for student satisfaction for mainstream English universities. Our Students’ Union is ranked 16th nationally for its effectiveness in representing students and has recently been ranked within the top 10 Students’ Unions in the country in the WhatUni Student Choice Awards 2024. This is the sixth year in a row that our Students’ Union has been ranked in the top 10.
Our amazing staff
We know that our staff are amazing and it is energizing for our community to see the University shortlisted for four awards in the latest year’s Times Higher Education awards, the highest number of shortlisted nominations of any university:
- We were recognised in the Outstanding Support for Students category, for our Essex Preparation Programme that gives applicants the support they need and makes them feel connected to our community before they enrol.
- Dr Rebecca Warren, who was inspired by her own experience as the first in her family to go to university, was recognised in the Most Innovative Teacher category.
- The multi-million-dollar-funded RIPE project, which aims to end world hunger by engineering plants to improve crop yields and is led by scientists at the University of Illinois, was shortlisted for the International Collaboration of the Year award.
- Psychologist Dr Nick Cooper and former PhD student Dr Mark Wheeler were shortlisted for the Research Project of the Year (STEM) award in recognition of their work on transforming the rehabilitation of veterans suffering from PTSD.
The power of Campus Cat
We take our work seriously, but we also have a sense of fun and a highlight this year was the unveiling by the Chancellor of a sculpture in March to celebrate our campus cat ‘Pebbles’ who has chosen to live with us since 2012. Beloved by students and staff, more popular than any Vice-Chancellor, we now have a permanent bronze sculpture at the top of the stairs between Squares 3 and 4, which I hope will create a new tradition of rubbing parts of the sculpture to bring good luck – and if any of you here today are in need of some good luck, please feel free to go the sculpture, but I should warn you, you only get the good luck if you truly believe in the power of Campus Cat.
Our fundraising campaigns
I am delighted to report that our fundraising campaigns are going from strength to strength. The Essex Futures appeal has now raised its target of £1m. In October, our first Essex Futures scholars stepped foot onto campus ready to start their journeys. Among the hundreds of inspiring individuals are aspiring human rights lawyers, biologists and social justice activists. Their goals to make the world a better place are starting at Essex thanks to contributions from alumni, friends and, of course, our staff.
I must say a special thank you to our Essex staff, over a third of whom donate every month through our Donate Your Pennies scheme. In 2023 over £6,000 was raised and put towards the scholarship fund, just from rounding up the extra pennies in monthly paychecks.
I also launched a Hong Kong Scholarship Fund in January, funded by generous donations from our Hong Kong alumni to support the next generation of students to come to Essex. The fund has already raised over 800,000 Hong Kong Dollars and attracted a lot of interest from alumni in the region, not only with financial gifts but also offers of support to play a role in growing our community of Essex in Hong Kong through partnership and innovation. It is only the start for the Hong Kong Student Fund, but we’re looking forward to welcoming our first scholarship recipient to Essex in the autumn term.
Broader Achievements over 60 years – the long view
This is our 60th anniversary which I think allows me the special privilege of reflecting on six decades of achievements. We opened our doors to our first 122 students in October 1964 with an aspiration to grow to 20,000. I am delighted that we have grown from one of the smallest multi-faculty universities to a medium sized university of 16,672 students and 978 academic researchers with 20 academic departments, across our three campuses at Loughton, Southend and Colchester. If we include those studying at partner institutions, we have a further 5,900 Essex students. Getting to 20,000 students on our campuses will provide us the critical mass and economies of scale that we need to be a major international research university – even if getting there will take a little longer than our founding Vice-Chancellor, Sir Albert Sloman might have hoped.
Sir Albert pretty much invented the concept of the student experience, where ‘living’ matters as much as ‘learning’ and unashamedly focused the work of the University on preparing graduates for their future lives. 60 years on we are reinventing the campus-based student experience.
We now have over 125,000 graduates who have made the world a better place and at Essex we are avowedly a progressive university. Social action is something that really matters to us.
- In the last year, Human Rights graduate Kola Alapinni has been awarded a prestigious US Secretary of State award for International Religious Freedom, for his work fighting blasphemy cases in Nigeria, including those facing capital punishment.
- Closer to home, Life Sciences graduate Dr Leanne Cullen-Unsworth was recognized in the BBC’s 100 Women 2023 list for her work in protecting the planet. She is Chief Executive Officer for ‘Project Seagrass’ and leads pioneering research into seagrass systems and the value of their ecosystem across the world.
- I also recognised four inspiring individuals at one of our flagship events of the year, our Graduation and 60th Celebration in New Delhi back in February. Sanchita Ain, an advocate in the Supreme Court and disability champion, Anushree Srivastava, an astrobiologist exploring life on Mars, Manish Michael, a human rights defender and Ankit Mehrotra, a leading entrepreneur and technology mogul.
Recognition has come in many forms. In the British Council Alumni Awards, which celebrate the outstanding achievements of alumni around the world and recognise the impact and value of a UK degree, it’s been another great year for our graduates. The success our alumni have achieved in recent years, where Essex has been noted as one of the UK universities with the most applications, one of the best gender balances, and consistently reached the final and most competitive stage of the awards, is clearly inspiring others. University of Essex alumni were strongly represented in the 2024 Awards, with Essex alumni celebrated as national finalists in Brazil and Saudi Arabia and a national winner in France. Two Essex alumni are also amongst just 28 Global Finalists; Emma Camp in Australia for the Science and Sustainability Award and Simina Tulbure in Romania for the Social Action Award. The Global winners will be announced in August and I would like to wish Emma and Simina the very best of luck.
Closer to home, our thriving alumni community continue to volunteer their time and expertise to support our students and new graduates to succeed. Each year, we honour one of our alumni volunteers who has made an outstanding contribution, and I am delighted that in 2024 we are celebrating Barry van Eupen as our Volunteer of the Year. Barry has been one of our most engaged alumni volunteers for many years, supporting almost all areas of the university including the Students’ Union and the Department of Economics, as well as generously giving his time as a student mentor. On behalf of all of us, thank you.
Over our six decades we have wanted to champion excellence in research. Few universities of our age can boast three Nobel prize winners: President Oscar Arias (Government, 1975) winning the Noble Prize for Peace: Professor Sir Chris Pissarides (Economics, 1970) for economic sciences; and Professor Derek Walcott (Visiting Professor at the University) for literature.
We have been awarded two Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for Human Rights and authoritative Social Science research and hold the only Regius Professorship for Political Science. We have a global reputation in the social sciences, Law and Computer Science – and an emerging reputation in newer academic disciplines, notably hospitality and tourism, public health and marine biology.
Our community of changemakers from University of Essex on Vimeo.
The University was founded in, by and for the people of Essex and we continue to fervently embrace the idea that at Essex, our research and education must benefit individuals and the local communities of which we are a part. I am delighted that today the economic impact of our three campuses is £792m. But we also make a difference through our Human Rights and Law Clinics and the new Healthcare and Well-being hub, schools outreach in our local communities – and volunteering where we lead the sector.
Last October, we signed a Civic University Agreement with partners committed to improving the prosperity and wellbeing of communities across North Essex. We have always been committed to making a difference and working towards positive change in our surrounding communities. However, through this partnership with Colchester City Council, Tendring District Council, Essex County Council, and the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance, we will have even more of a positive impact within our communities and help to drive forward positive social change.
The investment of nearly £80m in creating the Knowledge Gateway, our 34-acre science and business park, has allowed us to relocate our Business School adjacent to the Knowledge Gateway, the creation of an Innovation Centre, 14 business units and a new 44,000 square foot building at the Colchester entrance of the University. It is no accident that we are ranked first in the country for Knowledge Transfer Partnerships with a KTP portfolio expected to surpass £10m this year; and that the Knowledge Gateway is designated a University Enterprise Zone by the Government and UKRI – one of only 22 in the country. And our impact at Southend mirrors this, with the University playing a major role in the cultural regeneration of the city and the presence of 1,744 students and 330 staff.
We also treasure our cosmopolitan and international identity. At Essex we say that you can find “the world in one place” - something that our UK students really benefit from. Many of our students have come to Essex from all corners of the world: in the 1960s we recruited well in Greece and Cyprus then the EU, in the 2000s from the middle east, in the first part of the last decade China and south east Asia and in this decade from the Indian sub-continent and west Africa. Today, despite the loss of 80% of our EU students following Brexit, I am delighted that 49% of our students come from outside the UK, ranking us 15th in the world for international outlook in the Times Higher World Rankings.
Over 60 years, I know that former Vice-Chancellors have worked hard to build on the amazing founding vision set out by Sir Albert Sloman: creating a strong research reputation for the University; developing a close relationship with our local communities and our local authorities – something that with the student protests of 1968 and 1972-1975 was not straightforward; growing the size of the university with three campuses making it truly a University for Essex; and seeking the recognition we deserve for what we do and who we are.
The next decade
We are a university that has reached its 60th year: respectful of our past, but relentlessly focused on shaping our future, with a fantastic sense of fun – and long may this continue. We have appointed a wonderful new Chancellor in Dr Sarah Perry and Professor Maria Fasli as the Acting Vice-Chancellor for the coming year.
Our 60 Stories from University of Essex on Vimeo.
My final comment is one of optimism: our mission is one of an equal commitment to education and research delivered through a predominantly campus-based residential experience, a strong commitment to social mobility and a university committed to making a difference to the lives of individuals and communities. Our staff have chosen to work at Essex because they care profoundly about these issues – and our leadership challenge is to harness this commitment and their talent to ensure this is as relevant today as it was when the University was founded in 1964.
Thank you.