Sophie's PDP Blog.

So this year is not going to fuck up like last year did. The placement went well over all. Had personality clashes with my boss (who I'm still working for), but handled it okay in the end. I learnt a hell of a lot about the comedy industry and working for a magazine, but probably I learnt how to stand up for myself in a professional situation.

I have Pat Holland as my dissertation tutor. I've never come across her before, so I hope we get along well and that she is enthusiastic about my subject matter. I've done a lot of reading around the subject, discussions on attitudes to religion, freedom of speech and so on.
I'm still not sure what angle I'm going to take. I think the main point will be what is more important, the right to offend, or the right to be offended, and whether there is any sort of possible solution. Not sure whether to make it solely in regards to comedy yet. I'm not sure there are enough examples. Or whether to make it solely about blasphemy. I don't know. I think basically I want to cover the key question about the right to offend/be offended. I guess I'll just see where the reading takes me.

My script ideas are both around the subject of religion too. I'm so fascinated by the idea of faith. I don't know who my tutor is yet. Hopefully John Foster.

I haven't got my outlines sorted out yet. Hopefully that will be fine.

I'm interviewing Stewart Lee on Monday morning about the idea of Freedom of Speech, offending religious sensitivities and the like. Hopefully it will be fun and I won't end up looking ignorant. I've prepared plenty of questions, so it should be okay.

I'm going to put Baby Jane (rat) to bed now. G'night.

Sophie x

(COPIED FROM www.ucubournemouth.blogspot.com)

We are calling on all staff & students to join a protest vigil
3-4pm Tuesday 9th October 2007
Outside Poole House on the Talbot Campus

Placards will be waved, badges worn and a balloon release will take place (release at 4pm). Please make every effort to come and support!

110 members of staff attended their UCU Branch meeting yesterday (Wednesday 3rd October), with many more messages of appologies from members who were teaching.

UCU members voted their unanimous agreement to two motions:

1. This branch condemns the compulsory redundancy of 50 academic staff without reservation and demands their withdrawal immediately.

2. This branch empowers its committee to call a vote of no confidence in the UEG’s actions when the time is appropriate; and to ballot on taking industrial action and/or action short of a strike in protest at the redundancies.

I'll be there!

Sophie x

What to do? I went to have a relaxing bedtime bath, but it ended up invigorating me. Maybe I should have done this at the beginning of the day, rather than waking up late, going to the post office to pick up a parcel I missed, then lolloping about feeling lethargic. I know. WWI?!?! ('what was it' to the gamers, 'world war 1' to the historians*) The parcel? Well it was a "roll around rat ball" for my new sticky eyed pet, Baby Jane. You know, like a hamster ball, but bigger. I thought she'd love it, after all it cost more money than I should have spent. But instead she sees it as a toilet. Fine. But she has conjunctivitis. Everybody now, aaaaaaaaahhhh. No, less like screaming. Arrrrhhhhh. No, less like a pirate....ah, forget it.

Also today I spent a lot of time downloading Christmas music. It's a comfort thing. I'm dreading a year of hard work, I'm away from my family and boyfriend. So Christmas Carols and the soundtracks to Muppets Christmas Carol, Dr Seuss' Grinch and more cheese besides are my love. It's all I need. I don't need sympathy. Especially from you weirders who don't even know how to 'ahh' properly. I'd probably end up accused of rape. Again (Lol...)

Erm.... I might get fired from one job tomorrow. Hooray! So I've got a back up. I'm back on the AQA bandwagon. Any Question Answered, it's fab. www.63336.com. I answer questions for them. It's nice. And...

(All this time I was wondering where my phone was, and there it was under my derrier**)

...Erm....so I'm back on the Freelance Researcher fun train. Nice. Might actually get paid. Oh it's HILARIOUS, I have no money. Send Cheques and postal orders NOW. Most amusing amount of money wins an AS NEW Roll-a-round Rat ball!! (Now with new exciting odours!)

Oh, also exciting, I have a new stalker. Though he hasn't written about me recently, and I've been checking his blog EVERY MINUTE OF THE DAY! Jeez...... Some people don't have the loyalty.

Speaking of which, you guys ain't commenting. Sure I'm a flaccid blogger. It happens sometimes, you forget you have a blog, you realise that when you're busy or doing something interesting you don't want to write your blog. So you don't. So drop a comment at the bottom. Maybe argue over who likes me most. Or who you think my new stalker might be (it is a myspace friend of mine, so that narrows it down to 180)

Oh anyway, I was talking about downloading Christmas music, which is what the title of this blog is about. Some of you may be familiar with a Carol called Quem Pastores Laudavere... No? Well you'd know the tune if I hummed it. Hmmmmm hm hmmmmm hm hm hm hm hmmmm hm, hm hm hm hm hm hm hmmmmmmmmmm hm hmmmmmmm hm*** Yeh that's the one. Well I was searching for this, and as always I got the porn virus fake files option. "Quem Pastores Wet 'n' Wild" - Obviously I'm being kind on the correct elision of and to 'n', but you don't want to slander the poor people who are just trying to make a buck by mending computers that they have put viruses on....CONSPIRACY!?

***STOP PRESS!!!GREAT NEWS!!!****
Bournemouth University ("BU") is going to become academic rather than vocational. Oh good, so rather than sticking to our strengths, we're going to be a tiny rotton fish in a big old posh pond, with polytechnic scales still stuck to us, and noone but drunks choosing to fish us out... It's not like there are lots of successful academic fish who can swim strongly in their pond, that people really want to go to, or that in the pool of vocational courses, Bournemouth is one of the strongest vocational fish, oh no, we'd rather be wimpy and try and swim with the academic salmon as they burst upstream, and we just can't even remain stationary against the current. We're going backwards. And we've got redundant eggs. 50 redundant eggs that showed such potential. Is it unprofessional and perhaps dangerous to say the VC is a bit of a cunt? Well maybe I mean the Victoria Cross, so FU BU VC!*

Rant over.
A picture to cheer us up again:

Ah Guardian, you do so well to cheer us up on a dull day. I took this photo while on the train and laughing alot, so apologies if it's a bit blurred.
Good day.

Sophie x


*Paul made this joke, but it was in a shared moment, so if it wasn't for me it wouldn't exist. Anyway, I'm not plagiarising because I'm referencing. (Bandism, P. 2006: 2) See. So fuck you.
**ARSE
***If you do actually know this you should be impressed. Are you?
**** I think this is the best thing ever. I wonder if I can submit it as a dissertation? Or maybe I should do my final feature on a VC who's after the glory, but fucks up. I could mean Vain Choirboy.

CORPORATE PLAN

A statement of strategic intent

Imagine 2012

Bournemouth University is a youthful and innovative international institution offering a range of high-quality academic programmes geared to the professions. Our student-centred learning environment emphasises both intellectual achievement and employability. We are proud of our strength in research and enterprise and the world-class standing of our centres of academic excellence.

1.

Introduction

We are proud of the University’s traditions and accomplishments, excited by its potential and committed to the shared aspirations of our staff and students. We have come a long way in a short time as a University but we need to make a transformational change if we are to be the University we wish to be by 2012. This Corporate Plan provides the direction and framework needed for us to make this transformation.

2.
Values

Our values acknowledge our history, provide the foundation on which our future is built and shape the way in which we both move towards our vision and interact with the world around us.

We are a University geared to the professions with a passionate commitment to academic excellence and student-centred and relevant higher education delivered in a financially robust and sustainable manner. We value creativity, innovation, partnership and enterprise, have an attitude that is friendly, professional, inclusive and supportive, and while committed to our region, have an outlook that is truly global.

3.
BU 2012

In 2012 our University will be 20 years old; potential UK undergraduate numbers will be falling; core government funding for research will be much more open to us; full economic costing of teaching will be well established; the cap on undergraduate fees will, in all probability, have been raised or removed; student expectations will have increased markedly; our HEFCE grant will provide under a third of our income and we will be in an extremely competitive environment for all of our activities.

In 2012 we envisage a larger University that can be described as follows:
Bournemouth University is a youthful and innovative international institution offering a range of high-quality academic programmes geared to the professions. Our student-centred learning environment emphasises both intellectual achievement and employability. We are proud of our strength in research and enterprise and the world-class standing of our centres of academic excellence.

This vision for our University is innovative (moving us away from the current teaching to research-led hierarchy of universities into a position that emphasises academic excellence and professional relevance); focused (emphasising student-centred and applied learning); difficult to emulate (our excellent links with the professions have taken many years to develop); internationalised (through offering students an international curriculum, a European dimension and an internationalised environment); ambitious (in particular the desire to offer demonstrably high quality, supportive and innovative education) and sustainable (although we will need to use additional fees income to get there). The overall position in the market is differentiated with broad appeal and the added values (e.g., of a high quality student experience, professional links and employability) are very strong. The image of the University will be determined by the things that make us special and these will be found primarily, although not exclusively, in our focused centres of academic excellence. This position is different from that taken by the vast majority of our competitors and we should be able to command premium prices for programmes in our centres of academic excellence and above average prices for our other demonstrably high quality programmes. Achieving our vision will require us to become more internally coherent and externally facing. Moreover, it will require us to grow selectively. The sections below outline the major challenges ahead.

4.
An Academically Led University

4.1

The University will move swiftly from a position where it is financially driven on an annual cycle to one where it is academically led and underpinned by a robust financial strategy on a five year cycle and tight financial control on an annual cycle.

4.2

The University will increase the size of its intellectual footprint to encompass areas that are academically supportive of professional activity and respond to sustainable market need and opportunity.

4.3

The University will retain its current framework of Schools and Professional Services. However, new academic areas that cut across existing School structures and are aligned with the University’s Strategic Plan will be encouraged.

There will be a redesign of many of the relationships and processes that link Schools and Professional Services so as to reduce bureaucracy and provide direct connections across Schools, across Professional Services and between academic objectives and the professional and administrative support required. The new relationships will place great responsibilities on (i) Schools, (ii) new corporate and management information processes, (iii) a new strategic five year rolling planning process that blends School and University level planning and (iv) a new transparent resource allocation model (TRAM) that provides incentives to Schools while allowing strategic investment at University level. During the period of this plan the University will invest in capital projects, infrastructure and equipment and in specific academic and professional areas that will underpin development of the University.

4.4

The University will develop a taxonomy of its inter-School and intra-School academic activities and these will define its portfolio and overall shape. The taxonomy will recognise that not all of its academic activities are at the same stage of development and may be classified into four levels.

Centres of academic excellence:

world class centres in a very focused area of academic endeavour providing high quality education, research of national and international standing and enterprise activities connected to both. These centres are leaders in their field, are the high profile academic powerhouses of the University and are, or have the potential to be, sustainable.

Areas of academic strength:

academically broad and strong areas of activity providing high quality education, a developing base of research of national standing and enterprise activities connected to both. These large areas are the backbone of the University, are sustainable and contain within them aspiring centres of academic excellence.

Areas of academic activity:

existing or new areas of great academic potential, capable of offering high quality education, research aspiring to national standing and enterprise activities connected to both. These areas represent the future of the University and have the potential to be sustainable.

Transitional areas of activity:

existing areas of academic activity which are problematic academically, financially, or both and which require intervention to provide remedial action over a period of years or disinvestment.

4.5

The University will lead and support all Schools through the strategic planning process and otherwise to help, wherever possible, their areas of academic activity move up the ladder of academic strength and grow. Our flagship centres of academic excellence, at the top of that ladder, will represent distinctive peaks of activity. They will have achieved a powerful alignment of research, education and enterprise that has yet to be achieved further down the ladder.

4.6

The Corporate Plan is the framework within which Schools and Professional Services will be empowered to ‘dream the dream’ and plan how they lead, foster and support the growing academic strength of the University. The strategic plans of Schools, investment in buildings and initiatives, clarification of staffing structures and development of a transparent resource allocation model (TRAM) must be seen as interlocking and designed to deliver an academically led and financially robust University capable of achieving its strategic objectives.

4.7

The University Executive Group (UEG) is responsible to the Board via its various committees for the management of the entire portfolio of University activities including their selection and sustainability. Crucially, it will be responsible for creating an environment in which Schools can succeed.

4.8

Influence and responsibility will be aligned for best effect within the University. Some activities are best done at School level and they will stay in or move to Schools. Some activities are best done, or can only be done, at University level and so they will stay in or move to the appropriate Professional Service. The aim is to produce a more cohesive and efficient University that is stronger than the sum of its parts.

4.9

We are committed to fostering a global outlook. To facilitate this we will encourage internationally significant research; the recruitment of students and staff with experience of a wide range of countries and cultures; the development of opportunities for international engagement for all students and staff; the delivery of a curriculum which prepares for global employability; the establishment of strategically significant international partnerships and active engagement with appropriate networks and initiatives – within Europe and beyond.

4.10

Previous underinvestment and increasing costs, notably in areas of estates, IT, academic facilities and professional services, mean that our size (i.e., gross turnover) will need to increase at a rate greater than inflation. The advantages offered by growth will encourage us to seek out opportunities for strategic alliances, partnerships and merger.

4.11

Our three-part management/governance structure of Board, Senate and Executive will be reviewed and where necessary, reconfigured for efficiency and effectiveness; one of the outcomes will be a stronger academic voice.

4.12

Bournemouth University will embrace diversity and equality and embed them into all aspects of the working and learning environments of its staff and students. All staff at Bournemouth University will have a responsibility to promote good practice with regard to diversity and equality.

Education and Widening Access

5.1

Bournemouth University is, above all else, an organisation dedicated to student achievement and cannot be in a position where it offers anything other than high quality, student-centred education by 2012. Clarity on the roles of students as customers, clients and colleagues (and future ambassadors and alumni), coupled with changes in the way academic staff use their time and programmes are delivered, will promote year-on-year improvements in the education we offer and the way we offer it.

5.2

We are committed to the development of our students as self-motivated and independent, lifelong learners. We will enable them to become analytical and constructively critical and so empower them to make a significant contribution in their chosen careers.

5.3

Strategies to enhance educational quality will be sensitive to the wide range of current and future educational provision from Foundation degrees to Doctorates, in-company CPD to full time degrees, distance learning to campus-based learning and NHS-funded to HEFCE-funded. In all of these areas the University’s overarching aim is to match the capabilities and potential of students to high quality and challenging education geared to the professions and provide the services and support (e.g., Virtual Learning Environments) that will allow each student to achieve their potential.

5.4

We aspire to be the University of choice for students in our region and to increase our attractiveness to students both nationally and internationally. The University will seek to increase, wherever it can, HEFCE-funded undergraduate numbers in the knowledge that growth in this regulated market will be modest and concentrated on Foundation degrees at partner FE institutions. However, significant growth will be achieved in five overlapping student groups (i) postgraduate Masters, (ii) international, (iii) CPD, (iv) PhD and (v) part-time (undergraduate and postgraduate). In addition, we will strive to achieve significant growth in the number of students funded by health providers.

5.5

The University will seek to balance the number of undergraduate students recruited to each programme with the entry qualifications of those students. The aim will be to achieve a gradual year-on-year increase in the reported entry qualifications of undergraduate students and to match this with a year-on-year increase in value-added.

5.6

The employability of our graduates will be used as a major discriminating factor in our positioning as a University geared to the professions. As such we will aim to achieve a year-on-year increase in our ranking of graduate level employment.

5.7

Undergraduate placements are a great strength of this University as they enhance the popularity and quality of our programmes, the employability of our undergraduates and our links to employers in the region. By 2012 placements will be available for most of our programmes. To achieve this aim new placements with employers and study placements with universities overseas will be developed.

5.8

We will work closely with our partner FE institutions to increase the number of students reading for a Foundation degree and also, the proportion of those students who progress to Bournemouth University. New Foundation degree programmes will be developed and validated by Bournemouth University but only in areas where we have academic strength, or can collaborate with others who have the necessary academic strength.

5.9

The education at Bournemouth University will continue to develop in terms of quality, number of students and academic breadth. To bring these changes into effect we need to make changes to our organisation, structure, culture and the means by which we allocate resources and incentivise and reward staff. Mechanisms to facilitate these changes are alluded to elsewhere but ten, by way of illustration, are given below.
(i)

Moving rapidly from a focus on academic staff teaching hours to a focus on students as self-motivated and independent lifelong learners.
(ii)

Investing over time from additional fees income to enhance the quality of the undergraduate cultural, artistic, sporting and social experience.
(iii)

Strengthening our partnerships with public sector employers (e.g., health providers) and private sector employers (e.g., language schools).
(iv)

Investigating our options for offering high quality educational programmes overseas, as part of our internationalisation strategy.
(v)

Collecting and analysing feedback on every aspect of the student experience and using it to make year-on-year improvements to our academic and other provision. This will involve the full and integrated use of annual unit questionnaires, focus groups and reports from the Students’ Union and External Examiners. There is nothing we do that cannot be improved.
(vi)

Using an effective load-transfer (i.e., resource sharing) model to facilitate both cross-School education and the alignment of staff skills and units.
(vii)

Enhancing, through Schools and Academic Services, educational practice and curriculum development in Schools as well as the delivery and development of pan-University learning resources.
Corporate Plan Final Document Page 7 of 14
(viii)

Transitioning quality assurance mechanisms from those rooted in compliance and process to those informed by student feedback and rooted in continuous improvement, professionalism, high standards and trust.
(ix)

Implementing a clear promotion and reward system that recognises innovation and excellence by all staff.
(x)

Developing a global awareness among our staff and students that feeds into research, enterprise and education.
5.10

Accreditation of programmes by professional bodies is a powerful means of aligning these programmes with the world of work. Accreditation will be sought wherever possible.
5.11

Bournemouth University is committed to admitting students from all sections of society who would benefit from the programmes we offer. At the moment we recruit from only part of our potential market.
In partnership with FE Colleges in the region we will identify and recruit students who may not have followed a traditional route to higher education but who can be identified as having the academic ability to succeed on the University’s programmes. In addition, we will provide financial support to students who would otherwise be unable to take up an offer of a place at the University on the grounds of financial hardship.

Although inclusivity is of great importance to us it will not be used to differentiate Bournemouth University.

6. Research

6.1 Research underpins high quality education and enterprise and is the most powerful indicator of institutional prestige. Therefore, the University will build on areas of research strength and research potential in order to develop centres of academic excellence and build its research capacity. In doing so it will aim to maximise its research standing, rather than the number of staff submitted, in RAE 2008 and its research standing more broadly by 2012.

6.2

To achieve these outcomes the University will build, selectively, its academic strength using the framework discussed in section 4.4. Significant responsibility is given to Schools who will drive their own research strategies, supported by a five year strategic plan with an annual review. Each School will increase its research strength over a five year period. The University regards all upward migration from one level to another to be of equal importance, whatever type of research and whatever the level.

6.3

The bedrock of research development will be found in the Schools. However, this will be facilitated by appropriately resourced, University-wide activities (Graduate School, Centre for Research and Knowledge Transfer, PhD studentships, estates programme) and strategic collaborations with professional bodies, commercial organisations, health providers, Research Councils, Government Bodies, other universities and the Armed Forces in the UK and similar bodies overseas.

6.4

Through the new annual strategic planning processes the University will identify and invest selectively in areas of research activity that have the potential to gain international levels of research standing. These will normally be in interdisciplinary professionally related areas and have the potential to become self-sustaining within three years.

6.5 The creation and development of vigorous research environments will require support. Initially, this will take the form of changes to our staffing profile (Section 8.2), selective allocation of PhD studentships to centres of academic excellence and some areas of academic strength, the introduction of a study leave scheme, the support for research applications to the Research Councils, industry, commerce, Government and EU and the very selective deployment of a Strategic Development Fund (SDF).

7. Enterprise

7.1 Bournemouth University will contribute to the national and international knowledge economy and in doing so will engage closely with and bring benefit to our students, our staff and employers in our region.

7.2 Bournemouth University will establish its position as one of the leading universities in the exploitation of its intellectual assets across the full breadth of its activities for the benefit of the University, its staff, students and the local, regional and national economy. The University will create and reward an entrepreneurial culture by developing strong external relationships and the entrepreneurial skills of its staff and students.

7.3 The University’s enterprise ambitions will be achieved through educational programmes, targeted CPD programmes, knowledge exploitation through licensing and spin-outs, knowledge transfer through consultancy, facilities provision, partnerships with external organisations and incentivising and rewarding staff.

7.4

‘Bournemouth University Consultancy’ will be established as a separate company to provide University consultancy and act as a ‘shop window’ to University expertise.

7.5 Knowledge Transfer Partnerships will continue to be a feature of enterprise at Bournemouth University. However, they will be seen as a means of developing academic staff, promoting intellectual enquiry and initiating partnerships, rather than as an end in themselves.

7.6 Access to venture capital will be sought both locally and in partnership with other universities in the region.

8. Staffing

8.1 Our staff are our key resource. The University will seek to establish itself as an employer of choice by recruiting and retaining excellent staff.

8.2

Bournemouth University takes pride in its committed, creative and professional academic staff. Our staff have a wide range of academic and career backgrounds and conceptualise the role of a contemporary University academic in many different ways. For the purposes of this plan it is helpful to draw a distinction between two points on a spectrum of staff roles, representing those who take a more outward facing stance and those who take a more inward facing stance. The first group are academics in the fullest sense, who combine their educational activities with academic research, professional practice and enterprise activities. In addition to learning and teaching, they give papers at conferences, win research grants and contracts, secure other forms of external funding, supervise PhD students, engage in professional practice, consult, start companies and (crucially) publish. They work in a competitive externally facing environment and, as such, are well-known nationally and internationally. These staff inspire students with the excitement and enthusiasm associated with such activities and most importantly they enable students to learn from those who are themselves learning.

The second and currently much larger group are teachers. These staff are focused primarily, although typically not exclusively, on teaching and learning, are committed to student wellbeing and are passionate about their programmes and the scholarship which drives them.

A major challenge for the University will be to facilitate a transition from teachers to academics, so that by 2012 the balance within the University will have changed and academics will be in the clear majority.

This will involve (i) providing the time, encouragement, resources and structures (e.g., standard academic staff profile) needed to enable teaching staff, who so wish, to develop an academic career, (ii) facilitating, through voluntary severance, the departure of teaching staff and the recruitment, wherever possible, of academic staff and (iii) modifying the appraisal system in order to recognise and reward our staff appropriately (e.g., excellent educators).

8.3

A key aspect of the University will be an appropriate blending of leadership, line management and collegial management within a framework of accountability and responsibility (good governance). This will give voice to all within the University while strengthening our commitment to clear, well-informed management. To facilitate this development the University will (i) provide senior staff with the opportunity, appropriate training and support they need to become effective leaders and managers of the future; (ii) recognise explicitly the academic leadership role of the Professoriate: (iii) work in partnership with the recognised Trade Unions and other elected representatives (e.g., Students Union).

8.4

The University has a career structure that is seen by some staff to incentivise one route over another. The career structure will be reviewed and revised to ensure that it enables staff to realise their own potential within the framework provided by this Corporate Plan.

8.5

At this stage in the University’s development it is appropriate to identify the challenges before academic staff as these staff are in the vanguard of change. However, all staff are valued for their contribution to the University. In fact, the success of this University will be dependent upon the development of productive and mutually supportive working relationships between increasingly diverse academic, professional services and administrative staff, each of whom make specific and valuable contributions to University activities.

8.6 The Board will be assured annually that the University is a healthy and safe environment in which to work and study.

9. Estates

9.1 The University has been trading on its assets with relatively little in the way of new build in the last decade. During that time student numbers have expanded, academic needs have changed, environmental standards have improved and today our estate has inadequate capacity and in some cases is not fit for purpose.

9.2 The principal need for additional and different types of space is educational, as our current provision leads to inefficient use of staff resources for teaching, limits academic development and does not offer the potential for us to create the cultural, artistic, sporting and social experiences we would wish to offer our students. We are aware that the physical environment has a significant influence on the delivery of a high quality university experience and that this is a key issue in the competitive market for students.

9.3
We will achieve a step change in integrated student support through the development of a ‘Student Centre’, in a prominent location on the Talbot Campus and by the development of a ‘Student Centre’ in modified accommodation on the Lansdowne Campus.

9.4
We will continue to refurbish and modernise our existing building stock to optimise its academic use, facilitate interaction between staff and students and further demonstrate our commitment to the development of our two environmentally sustainable campuses.

9.5 The next six years will be characterised by the most intense period of building activity the University has known. The first phase of building will be academically led, within the framework of an estates master plan. By 2012 we will have rationalised on academic grounds the use of our two campuses; we will have refurbished much of our current space and have built, or be in the process of building, substantial new academic buildings.

9.6 We will work with partners to build high quality student accommodation in Bournemouth and Poole to support current undergraduate student recruitment and complement increasing international and postgraduate student recruitment.

10. Marketing

10.1 The University recognises that despite its considerable strengths it does not have a brand and an associated level of visibility. Nor does it project to the outside world an ‘aura of an excellent University’. Also, the major contribution that the University makes to the economy and the social and cultural fabric of Bournemouth and Poole is not generally recognised or appreciated. A strengthened marketing function will enable us to project our message much more clearly and confidently to our target audiences, locally, nationally and globally.

10.2 Corporate communications will focus on links to professions, employability, centres of academic excellence, the student experience, the appeal of joining our University to ‘Be You’ and the virtues of an academic over a teaching environment. Moreover, these communications will, in their proportion and tone, acknowledge that academic achievement is at the pinnacle of our esteem. Working within a powerful and coherent marketing framework will be to the benefit of the University and its Schools.

10.3 The University is heavily devolved and this restricts the ability of all staff to know, understand and work with colleagues elsewhere in the University. High quality corporate level communication, University-wide events and other initiatives outlined in this Corporate Plan will be used to inform and engage staff across the University.

11. Corporate and Management Information

11.1

The University’s success is dependent heavily on the quality and shared ownership of its corporate information. The University will develop its corporate information function alongside its planning function to ensure that corporate information is accurate, timely, relevant, spans all of our activities and supports our Strategic Plan.

11.2

The University is seen by the outside world through its returns to various Government and non-Government agencies. Procedures will be put into place to ensure that all such data are reviewed for appropriateness, quality and completeness prior to release. In particular, no sub-optimal data will be provided for use in ‘league table’ compilations.

12. Finance

12.1

Bournemouth University will adopt a rigorous approach to the management of its finances which will be underpinned by two robust financial models. The first is a whole University model for use in the evaluation of institutional options and the second is an internal and transparent resource allocation model (TRAM). Building on an outstanding reputation for accounting control and financial prudence the University will use its finances to support its academic aspirations.

12.2
All developments and initiatives (including both investments and disinvestments) will be reviewed internally on the basis of their alignment with our Strategic Plan and the strength of their business plan.

12.3
We will identify the true costs of activities and aim to recover at least those costs.

12.4
We will further strengthen the University’s management of risk.

12.5
The University will, with external support, expand its Development Office and invest in ongoing ‘friend-raising’ coupled with targeted ‘fundraising’ over the medium to longer term.

12.6
Finally and fundamentally; Bournemouth University will, through increased income from tuition fees, unregulated fees, research and other income, decrease further its reliance on public funds.

On a personal note
This Corporate Plan sets out our ambitions for Bournemouth University. I advance these with confidence. My optimism is only partially based on the University’s many strengths. More fundamentally it is based on the knowledge that colleagues are supportive of and aspire to the vision presented here.

Professor Paul Curran

List of acronyms and abbreviations
BU
Bournemouth University
CPD
Continuing Professional Development
FE
Further Education
HEFCE
Higher Education Funding Council for England
IT
Information Technology
KTP
Knowledge Transfer Programme
NHS
National Health Service
PhD
Doctor of Philosophy
RAE
Research Assessment Exercise
SDF
Strategic Development Fund
TRAM
Transparent Resource Allocation Model
UEG
University Executive Group
Appendix
This paper on the Strategic Planning Timetable went through the Strategic Developments Committee and the Board in October 2005.
THE CORPORATE PLANNING PROCESS
The arrival of a new Vice Chancellor provides a moment in the life of a University when fundamental change is not only possible but anticipated. Coincidentally, my arrival coincided with the need to renew the University’s Strategic Plan in 2006.
The first step in the University’s change processes started in September 2005. The Senior Staff Seminar and various committees and meetings have provided staff with three starting points to the discussion that is now underway.
•
A view of what Bournemouth University could aspire to be.
•
An assessment of the benefits and dis-benefits of a local authority/CNAA legacy.
•
Mechanisms for change.
Much of this discussion, so far, has focussed on
(i)
the difference between an HE College in the 1980s and a contemporary University and how far Bournemouth University has moved from one to the other and
(ii)
the use of academic staff time.
Meetings within and across Schools and Professional Services are starting in October and the Draft Corporate Plan will be produced by early in the New Year. The New Year will also see the inaugural meeting of the Change Management Project Board who will be project-managing the change process.
The timetable for 2006/7 is as follows:
January-March Draft Corporate Plan circulated widely within the University and to key stakeholders.
April-May Finalise Corporate Plan.
Corporate Plan Final Document Page 14 of 14
June-July Restructure Corporate Plan for submission to HEFCE as our interim Strategic Plan (HEFCE are aware of this).
May-October Corporate Plan used by Schools and Professional Services as the context for developing their own strategic plans.
November-March School and Professional Services Strategic Plan interrogated academically and financially and brought together as the Strategic Plan for the University.
April-June Finalise Strategic Plan.
July Strategic Plan submitted to HEFCE.
The Strategic Developments Committee can provide two valuable inputs to this process. The first is visionary (taking the long view, discussing our current position and our future position) and the second is supportive (acting as a sounding board at key steps in the above process).
The first task is the visionary one and I would welcome the Committee’s reflections on some observations I would like to make about the future of Bournemouth University.

Paul Curran
28 September 2005

Read my Editorial for The Fix in Edinburgh
here

The Placement is over now and I had a great time - apart from the back pain of distributing 10,000 magazines around Edinburgh.

I've been offered a job which I'll have to decline because of that bloody degree thing.
Gah and pah.

Here is the final collection of nice/interesting words or phrases found in the dictionary* from this academic year.

- beblubbered adj disfigured by weeping.
- beweltered adj besmeared by weltering in blood.
- clitellum n a saddle-like structure around the anterior part of some annelid worms, having glands which secrete mucus to form a sheath around a copulating pair and a cocoon around the eggs.
- crapulence n sickness caused by excessive drinking.
- cummingtonite n a mineral of the amphibole group, hydrated magnesium iron silicate, occuring in metamorphic rocks. [Cummington, town in the US where it was first found]
- epanadiplosis n a figure by which a sentence begins and ends with the same word, eg 'Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say, rejoice'.
- epeolatry n worship of words.
- ergo bibamus (L) therefore let us drink.
- fizgig n a giddy or flirtatious girl.
- forswunk adj overworked.
- gowpen n the hollow of the two hands held together.
- Gradgrind n a person who regulates all human things by rule and compass and the mechanical application of statistics, allowing nothing for sentiment, emotion and individuality. [From Thomas Gradgrind in Dickens's Hard Times.
- habdabs n pl a state of extreme nervousness. 'screaming habdabs' (inf) a bad case of this involving hysterical crying.
- halcyon adj calm; peaceful; happy and carefree.
- halcyon days n pl a time of peace and happines.
- hamartia n (in a literary work) the flaw or defect in the character of the hero that leads to his downfall.
- hogen-mogen n haughtiness; adj high and mighty.
- katzenjammer n a hangover.
- malapropos adj out of place; unsuitable; inapt, inappropriate. adv inappropriately; untimely. n something untimely or inappropriate.
- mondial adj of the whole world, worldwide.

We also had a section called OBSCENITY SQUARE, where we put newly invented swearwords/phrases. Here they are.

- Trash my bumhole - an invitation to anal sex.
- CUNTINS abbrev. C U Next Tuesday If Not Sooner.
- Thundercunt n a lady well-endowed in the vaginal/labial department.
- Muckspread my birth-canal - an invitation to ejaculation within the vagina.
- Muff-huff n - an exhalation of trapped air from the vagina.

Is it wrong to be terribly proud of Dictionary Corner? I think not.

Any suggestions for additions?

Sophie x
*The Chambers Dictionary. New Ninth Edition. I'm not anal, I haven't included the ISBN.