About us

To be recognised as a global authority on creative arts, creative technologies and business for the creative industries 1. Enhance staff engagement through effective two-way communication; placing greater focus on organisational culture and supporting staff to deliver the strategy. 2. Develop our approach to partnership-working with students and the Students’ Union, improving the student experience and support (pastorally as well as academically) to add to the success of students. 3. Foster alumni relations, ensuring they are seen, and see themselves, as ambassadors for the University. 4. Exploit and enhance our profile and reputation by attracting and retaining world-class expertise, fostering a credible postgraduate and research environment. 5. Develop highly agile and responsive teams that are able to flexibly adapt to a changing external environment. 6. Grow and diversify our income streams, increasing our student numbers and spreading the risks. 7. Foster and integrate new partnership activity within UCA approaches (such as overseas TNE and collaborative arrangements in the UK to not only deliver income but also enhance our reputation and educational experience). 8. Invest appropriate levels of this additional income to enhance our staffing, resources and estate and so improve our attractiveness further. 9. Review the nature and location of our provision to ensure it is effective and efficient, giving consideration to the scale and experience of campus communities, discipline mix and the wider opportunities that may exist between and across disciplines. 10. Develop our data capability, systematically basing decisions on analysis and evidence (such as performance, demand and demographics, changing student and economic needs, and costs). 11. Foster a reputation as a professional, industry-facing institution, with co-creation resulting in jobs or job-ready graduates. 12. Exploit the opportunity of the Business School for accessing new markets, fostering connections with employers and developing knowledge exchange activity across the University. 13. Develop and foster a cultural shift in redefining UCA staff and students to ‘UCA Creative Business Partners’; fostering an underlying culture and philosophy of entrepreneurialism and business within all academic schools and professional services departments. 14. Promote opportunities for staff and student mobility including through our partner network to develop reciprocal, richer learning environments. 15. Explore opportunities for international joint campuses which enhance the reputation and presence of the University. 16. Enrich the on-campus experience for students and staff through a greater proportion within the cohort with international and diverse cultural backgrounds 17. Enhance programmes through curriculum development adopting a global context. 18. Develop a portfolio of collaborative, impactful and internationally recognised research in the areas of creative arts, creative technologies and the business of the creative industries. Distinctiveness of our curriculum: 19. Undertake portfolio review and reconfiguration, building upon what we can do best, and ensuring our curriculum is fresh and designed to enhance the pipeline from FE to UG to PG. 20. Exploit the depth and breadth of our specialisms to extend opportunities for students. 21. Develop and enhance our research portfolio, specialising in the creative arts, creative technologies and the business of the creative industries. Flexible, inclusive and interdisciplinary learning: 22. Further embed personalised learning, promote inter-disciplinary opportunities and utilise inclusive approaches to close UCA’s equality gaps. 23. Develop non-traditional routes for students to access HE and flexible modes of delivery, exploring the opportunity for blended and online learning models and more fully exploiting the opportunities of OCA being within the University Group. A practice-based approach with embedded employability skills: 24. Ensure students have strong digital capabilities. 25. Ensure all students can reflect on their learning, understand their transferrable skills and have opportunities for meaningful interaction with employers at a number of key points. 26. Ensure all UCA graduates are agile and resilient in a challenging and competitive job market.