Update from 24 June Court
A meeting of University Court has just ended, and we would like to update you on the decisions taken today.
As part of routine business, Court approved a financial plan for the University covering the next three years. While the current year, 2025/26, is looking much better than expected with a £4m surplus forecast, a significant proportion of this is attributable to “one-off” items which will not be repeated in future years.
With continued rising costs and pressures on projected international student intakes, the budget incorporates the £10m savings plan agreed by Court last month and will see the University return to break even by 2028 with a small surplus targeted for 2029.
Court also approved a resolution that will now see the University move to a new four-faculty academic structure, with the transition beginning on 1 August 2026 and completing 1 August 2027.
Why create faculties?
Our 12 Schools are vastly different in size, shape and composition which has led to challenges arising from operational inconsistencies, a flat structure, varying deficits and structural barriers which impedes collaboration and innovation in the delivery of education and research activities.
This is about delivering wider benefits and consistencies in approach by removing blockages. With final naming to be informed by staff, the faculty structure will look like this:
Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Faculty of Business, Law and Social Sciences
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
Faculty of Science and Engineering
The new structure will better enable us to improve performance, increase efficiencies, remove duplication, bring more agility to decision making and increase consistency to our processes and governance. We will now begin work to deliver these commitments.
The Court considered all representations submitted as part of the consultation, including those from Senate and the General Council, to which due respect and weight was given. We would like to thank everyone for their thoughtful representations.
After a lengthy discussion, after having considered the available evidence, the Court, by majority vote, approved the resolution for implementation from 1 August 2026. Court believes that this decision was necessary and was taken in the best interests of the University, noting the risks of both proceeding and those of not doing so.
Next steps
We will now move to recruit four Executive Deans, one for each of the four faculties, and these will be advertised shortly. A workstream has been established to coordinate the delivery of key activities required across the University’s operations to establish faculties.
This will include necessary changes to our internal systems, our externally facing interfaces, for example, our website, and marketing materials. These activities will be prioritised for delivery on a phased basis from 1 August 2026 through to August 2027. More information will be shared as progress is made toward delivering key milestones.
Meanwhile, work will continue to review how administration services are organised and operate within the Directorate of Academic Administration; additionally, we will take forward the Technical Services Review.
We thank you for your consideration of this update and look forward to working with colleagues across the University to ensure the successful delivery of the faculty model.
Gary and Pete
Gary McRae
Senior Governor
Peter Edwards
Principal & Vice-Chancellor