Welcome back to the new academic year

Dear colleagues,

August is rarely, if ever, the ‘quiet’ month that it is held to be, but I hope everyone managed to have some time to take a break and relax. Without being Pollyanna-ish, and recognising that the environment is going to continue to be difficult in a variety of ways, I would like to start the new academic year with a note of optimism, and a focus on the things we can celebrate and the things we can fix.

This coming term we are seeing a genuine landmark in the life and history of UCL, with UCL East now fully open after the completion of the Marshgate site, following the opening of Pool Street last year. From this year, over 2,000 students will live and study on the new campus, rising to 4,000 over the next few years; since this time last year, around 500 students have already completed postgraduate degrees at UCL East. Many hundreds of staff have been involved in the creation of the new campus and all deserve enormous thanks, especially Professor Paola Lettieri, Pro-Provost (UCL East), who has overseen this enormous project with tremendous vision.

UCL East means a whole new mind-set and way of working for UCL; we can no longer refer to Bloomsbury as ‘the campus’, and making sure that we are thoroughly integrated across all our sites will be really important. And just as Bloomsbury has become imbued with UCL traditions, histories, stories and nostalgia thanks to successive generations of students and staff making it their home, so the area around the Olympic Park will be shaped by UCL and we will be shaped by it over the years and decades to come.

The bulk of the planning and delivery for the new campus was done prior to me joining UCL but of course I am aware that some staff had concerns about the project. Now that it is up and running, however, it is hard not to be thrilled by how it expands and evolves our academic focuses in ways that would not have been possible at Bloomsbury. If you are not going to be spending time on the new campus as part of your work, please do take some time to visit as opportunities to do so arise (there will be plenty).

UCL East is probably one of the most significant developments for UCL since we were founded nearly 200 years ago, and comes as we prepare to mark that bicentenary in 2026. The bicentenary is not just a moment to celebrate a journey that has taken us from small subversive challenger institution to one of world’s top 10 universities in a comparatively short amount of time (though it is that as well), but also a huge profile-raising, fundraising and engagement opportunity, and a chance to reflect on the ways in which the world is better because of our being part of it and the legacy we want to build for our next 200 years.

Activities will take place through the year, focused on our past, current and future impact, and we also intend to create a physical legacy on our estate that will enhance accessibility and experience for current and future generations. Planning is now well in train, led by Professor Dame Hazel Genn in the role of Pro-Provost (Bicentennial), and many of you will already have fed in ideas on behalf of your departments or faculties. More details will be coming later in the year but any comments or questions before then can be sent to UCL200@ucl.ac.uk.

And also on a celebratory note, we are welcoming students back to campus to the news that UCL has been named as the Sunday Times University of the Year. Although it is easy to be cynical about newspaper league tables, in the incredibly competitive international market in which we are operating they really matter. This is a ‘money can’t buy’ kind of accolade that reflects what is genuinely the truth: that UCL is an exceptional place full of exceptional people.

The start of the academic year feels like a good time to remind ourselves of that fact. With the context in which we are operating likely to remain unpredictable and challenging, it is inevitable that there will be complex conversations we will need to have and frustrations and disagreements to navigate in the coming year. As we do so, I hope we can also keep a sense of everything that is good and positive about working together in this tremendous community.

Postscript: supporting MAB-affected students

Finally, I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has worked over summer to support students affected by the marking and assessment boycott (MAB) and reduce the harm to them as far as possible. Although across the UK HE sector there has been a decent level of flexibility for MAB-affected students holding postgraduate offers, a number of students, especially those hoping to go on to further study at non-UK institutions, found themselves at real risk of losing their place and, along with it, their funding and visa status. A large number of people across UCL have worked with extraordinary compassion and ingenuity to help those students in a variety of ways, and I am incredibly grateful for all of that activity.

The dispute over pay and conditions unfortunately continues, but I hope the ongoing work outlined in the Strategic Plan to reduce pressures on staff and make UCL a smoother place to work, alongside the new pay and reward strategy announced in July, will start to ease at least some concerns. I unfortunately cannot deliver a big bang of change, but I am confident that over the coming year we will see incremental improvements to how we work and the places in which we work.

Over the next year, we will be giving a new emphasis to health and sustainability and to our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion and ‘values’ work, with new ways of approaching those areas, and we will be able to discuss that in more detail in the coming months.

All thoughts are welcome to president.provost@ucl.ac.uk.

Best wishes,

Dr Michael Spence
UCL President & Provost