Conclusion

In some ways, this strategic plan is relatively modest in ambition. That is because UCL is, at its core, an extraordinarily strong institution, with a deep commitment to excellence and a track record of remarkable success.  Ours could, for example, easily be described as one of the finest universities in health across the world (given the sheer size and quality of our activity in that field), were it not also one of the finest universities in fields as diverse as education, architecture, and so many others.  We are doing well, and it would be a bold strategy that disrupted too fundamentally our core activities in education and research.

The initiatives outlined in this strategy are nevertheless both crucial and urgent; initiatives to invest in our programme of Grand Challenges, to ensure transparency in our decision-making, to develop our educational offerings, and to prioritise a comprehensive programme of service improvements.  This is because we face sustained financial and organisational challenges that must be met in order to support the extraordinary creativity and academic excellence of our community of students and staff.  In that this strategic plan proposes change, it is change to sustain the very best of what we do in our core historic mission.

We remain a place of learning that is committed to excellence in research and teaching, to the discovery of new and useful knowledge, working with our partners around the world. We hold close to our values in all we do, using them as a basis for critiquing both existing practice and any change proposed, and keeping as our guiding principle the need to support our people, to ensure that they have the tools and the environment that they need in order to get on and do their remarkable work.