Key enablers objectives

Objectives relating to this key enabler:

• invest in high-quality learning resources for students on campus and studying elsewhere, on placements or on distance learning programmes
• invest in infrastructure and staff time to support a strategic enhancement of our use of technology to support learning, with a primary focus on students on campus
• provide high-quality student services that support health and wellbeing, enable students to focus on their studies and so maximise completion rates and achievement
• enhance our high-quality career development support for all students and recent graduates
• invest in residential accommodation so that UCL can continue to guarantee affordable accommodation to first year undergraduates and provide suitable accommodation to postgraduate students
• ensure that we have high-quality excellent spaces for learning and teaching and extracurricular activity, and sufficient capacity to accommodate increases in student numbers.

Objectives relating to this key enabler:

• continue to attract, recruit and retain global talent
• institute systems for managing performance that enable us to support and reward staff in line with our objectives, including achieving an appropriate balance between support for learning and teaching, research, innovation, enterprise, entrepreneurship, engagement, internationalisation and other activities
• ensure that we employ, develop and reward the best people on the basis of merit and fairness with excellence as the key criterion for success
• continue to remove barriers to recruitment, development and promotion of a diverse workforce. Address issues driving lower levels of satisfaction with UCL expressed by ethnic minority staff and staff with disabilities
• ensure that all staff understand the importance of their role, and the role of others, to the success of UCL. Ensure that the contribution of all categories of staff is acknowledged and celebrated
• address the personal development needs of all staff through mentoring, training and development and other mechanisms
• consider the potential for providing some accommodation for particular staff groups in recognition of the costs of relocating to London.

Objectives relating to this key enabler:

• To generate sufficient annual surpluses that allow us to invest for sustainability over the long-term;
• To ensure that resources are allocated in ways that encourage desired behaviour;
• To ensure that growth is fully costed and sustainable on an enduring basis, and seek to take advantage of new sources of income that can potentially generate a surplus for reinvestment;
• To enable appropriate financial and infrastructure planning for all new developments, specifically including the ongoing UCL Capital programme, UCL East, the Queen Square development, REF2020, planned improvements in both the quality and the cost efficiency of UCL support services, any actions arising from the Size and Shape project, and faculty driven initiatives approved as part of the annual planning process;
• Seek value for money (economy, efficiency and effectiveness) in all our activities, with a particular emphasis on the contribution from procurement;
• Monitor the volume of philanthropic income at a level that enhances our ability to deliver the strategy.

Objectives relating to this key enabler:

• have processes that are focused on the needs of the user of the service
• ensure effective linkages between our core strategies and systems development, so that systems support the changing needs of UCL
• be an acknowledged leading university in system development and deployment
• continue to invest appropriately and strategically in IT
• improve our management information systems to support informed decision-making
• invest in infrastructure and other support for core academic purposes in learning and teaching and research.

Objectives relating to this key enabler:

• finalise and implement a comprehensive capital programme that will deliver a world-class estate for UCL
• improve our planning processes to ensure that the development of UCL does not run ahead of the capacity of the estate
• continue to invest in long-term maintenance at a level that will ensure that the improvements in the estate are sustainable
• ensure that our estate lives up to the world-leading status of our research and education in sustainable built environments
• ensure that the UCL community is appropriately engaged in the estate transformation programme and that it is implemented with sensitivity to the need to minimise disruption.

Objectives relating to this key enabler:

• deliver a targeted and evidence-based approach to the recruitment of the very best students, reflecting the future challenges in different markets
• develop a clear set of messages about the history, values, performance and distinctiveness of UCL, ensuring that staff and students have confidence in these messages and are able to communicate them effectively
• use our global alumni community and other supporters to project ourselves effectively to the world
• develop a comprehensive approach to engaging with stakeholders and key audiences, maximising the opportunities for dialogue, the promotion of insights and solutions and the enhancement of our reputation
• be recognised as a leading university in the use of cutting-edge communications technologies.