Join us.
While the world constantly changes, We are ready. Excited by the future, We tackle tomorrow’s challenges head on. Pursuing new thinking, Forging new partnerships, Creating and exchanging new knowledge, We lead the way forward. Empowering innovators, visionaries and change makers, To transform lives and Make a remarkable impact on the world. We celebrate the exceptional, Question the ordinary and make bold choices. Engaging all, We continuously reinvent and reshape To make the impossible, possible.
Together we can Take on tomorrow. 3
Northumbria University’s Vision for 2025 is to be a research-rich, business-focused, professional university with a global reputation for academic excellence. We are a challenger institution, transforming to take on tomorrow. The University Strategy 2018–2023 is the next step on this journey to shape Northumbria’s future in a time of increasing competition and globalisation.
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“Academic excellence is the core of our Vision. High-quality research creates new knowledge; research-rich education transforms the lives of our students. Achieving strength in education and research, and making the connection between them, gives Northumbria a transformational role; for place, society, culture and the economy, in the UK and globally.”
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Professor Andrew Wathey CBE Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, Northumbria University, Newcastle.
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*1 The Times Good University Guide 2019 Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2019
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E XPLORING CLIMATE CHANGE Northumbria researchers are analysing the historical behaviour of the Thwaites Glacier to understand why this region of the Antarctic ice sheet is melting at an accelerating rate. The collapse of the glacier – which is almost the size of Great Britain – would raise global sea levels by three to five metres. This would fundamentally change the world’s geography, submerging coastal regions, islands and cities with rivers, displacing millions of people. In a major US-UK jointly funded project, researchers from Northumbria, alongside academics from the University of California, Irvine; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the University of Edinburgh and Columbia University, will analyse a combination of historical satellite data and new information currently being collected to predict the glacier’s future movements. This will enable governments around the world to plan major infrastructure projects such as flood defences.
“Northumbria University’s reputation for world-leading research enticed me and other colleagues to join the University from the British Antarctic Survey based in Cambridge. It is an ambitious and supportive environment where our research group can flourish and help to transform our understanding of the world we live in.” Professor Hilmar Gudmundsson, Professor of Glaciology, Northumbria University, Newcastle.
Research at Northumbria University explores the world’s most urgent and complex challenges, transforming societies and economies, and supporting partners and stakeholders to achieve their ambitions. World-class research underpins multidisciplinary collaboration and impact across research themes including: cold and palaeo environments; space; human digital design; global justice; humanities; smart materials, surfaces and systems; and health and disease prevention. By 2023, Northumbria University will be in the UK’s top quartile for research.
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*1 Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2019 *2 Research Excellence Framework 2014
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MAKING REAL IMPACT
E-COMMERCE INNOVATORS
At Northumbria’s Student Law Office and Business Clinic, students gain hands-on experience of working on live legal cases and business issues, applying theory to practice. These opportunities significantly enhance their employability, making Northumbria graduates highly soughtafter. The Student Law Office, which won the Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2014, offers free legal services to the public. Final-year law students have managed over 7,000 enquiries and represented more than 3,000 clients since 2005. Since its launch in 2013, the Business Clinic has brought students together with more than 220 businesses. Students have provided genuine solutions to issues that these businesses face, with an estimated value exceeding £1.2 million.
Entrepreneurial computing graduates, Jamie Holdroyd and Adam Sturrock, recognised a gap in the market for application programming interfaces that enable retailers to connect online purchasing and delivery systems more effectively. Their tools help companies to streamline online shopping experiences in an affordable way. Joint winners of Northumbria’s Business Plan competition in 2014, their company, Moltin, has since attracted support from venture capitalists and start-up accelerators. They have now opened an office in Boston, Massachusetts, while maintaining their base in Newcastle, and this year have seen $10 million invested into their company.
“Moltin brings the promise of the microservices revolution to e-commerce in a powerful and compelling way. As more and more of the retail economy moves online, retailers are going to seek ways to differentiate their online experiences. The kind of flexible architecture that Moltin is built on enables retailers to focus on the customer experience, not the infrastructure – and that’s a powerful offering for leading retailers.” Gil Dibner, Investor.
Northumbria’s graduates are critical, challenging thinkers who go on to transform lives across the world. Research underpins teaching; exceptional students from all backgrounds learn from internationally-recognised academics. Working with clients, businesses and other partners on live projects is also a key feature of the student experience at Northumbria. All students have the opportunity to engage in experiential learning through clinics, placements, study abroad and student-led research.
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OUT OF THIS WORLD Third-year student, Callum Blades, succeeded against applicants from 22 European countries to win a prestigious internship at the European Space Agency’s Astronaut Centre in Cologne. Here he worked on the rehabilitation of astronauts after long periods of time in anti-gravity environments, which can lead to musculoskeletal issues.
“Winning an internship with the European Astronaut Centre was a brilliant opportunity to translate what I have learned in my degree into a different setting. I was working at the heart of the European human spaceflight operation alongside flight surgeons, astronaut trainers, exercise specialists and international space station controllers.” Callum Blades, third-year student.
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*1 Higher Education Business and Community Interaction Statistics 2016/17 *2 Destination of Leavers from Higher Education 2016/17
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DESIGNING THE FUTURE Northumbria’s 10-year partnership with Unilever centres on developing future packaging applications and materials with embedded sensors and information technologies for the consumer market. The University’s integrated design and human-centred approach to research and innovation brings together engineering, future technology, social sciences, psychology and the creative design disciplines. This approach explores how people live and creates multidisciplinary solutions to meet their needs now and in the future. Delivering 26 discrete projects for Unilever on sustainability and consumption, the University is now recognised as the partner of choice in design-driven innovation.
“Northumbria really is unique and the partnership we have with the University brings many benefits to us as a business. Being able to tap into so many creative minds is very beneficial, but there is also the right mix of theory and practicality. Many of the projects we have worked on with Northumbria are real-world challenges and the ideas produced have been applied to our business, resulting in changes to the way we work.” Paul Polman, Unilever CEO.
Over the next five years, our transformation will be driven by strategic partnerships across the full range of our activities which will grow our outlook, stature and global impact. Partnership working is a stylistic trait at Northumbria in the UK and overseas.
WINNE R MOST INNOVATIVE CONTRIBUTION TO BUSINESS-UNIVERSITY COLLABORATION* Northumbria’s BIM Academy partnership with Ryder Architecture
LEADING A DIGITAL RENAISSANCE Working in partnership with Newcastle City Council, the Newcastle Business Leaders Group and other industry partners, Northumbria is taking a lead role in developing the local response to the UK’s Industrial Strategy in the specific areas of ‘Design and Digital Technology’ and ‘Creative, Culture and Tourism’. The University is well-placed to contribute to the debate through its own areas of strength in Integrated Digital Construction and Building Information Modelling, Design-led Innovation, Human Computer Interaction, the Humanities, Life Sciences, future digital services, and the creative and cultural industries.
CULTUR AL AMBITIONS Northumbria’s partnership with BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art – the UK’s largest international centre for contemporary art – drives a shared vision to support creative talent development, placemaking, public engagement and artistic excellence. In 2012, the two institutions established the BxNU Institute of Contemporary Art, a base for worldclass teaching and mentorship in contemporary art practice and research, located in the heart of Newcastle. This publicly accessible hub is a unique collaborative venture that also involves Newcastle City Council and Arts Council England. The University’s cultural partnerships also include Centre for Life, New Writing North (involving Channel 4), Live Theatre, Tyneside Cinema and Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums.
“The collaboration between BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and Northumbria University represents a critical opportunity for us to reframe the ways in which higher education institutions, arts centres and their overlapping constituencies can work together.” Professor Andrea Phillips, BALTIC Professor and Director of the BxNU Institute.
*Times Higher Education Awards 2017
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A GROWING INTERNATIONAL FOOTPRINT
CAMPUSES IN TWO GLOBAL CITIES
With a thriving community of on-campus international students, Northumbria also has an extensive network of international academic partnerships. Building on successful relationships in Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, the University is working with an exciting group of new, high-quality strategic partners. This includes Northwestern Polytechnical University, recognised in the top 10% of Chinese universities, Palacký University, currently positioned second in the Czech Republic, and Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, which features in the top 200 of the World University Rankings. These international partnerships will extend Northumbria’s global footprint and strengthen the University’s position on the world stage, offering new opportunities for research collaborations and high-quality joint degree programmes.
Between 2014 and 2018, more than 2,000 UK and international students studied for a Northumbria University degree at its campus in the heart of London’s financial district. Northumbria’s partnership with Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS) now also establishes a strong campus presence in mainland Europe. This enhances Northumbria’s offer to international and UK students and develops new opportunities for research collaborations.
“AUAS’ focus is Creating Tomorrow, which matches perfectly with the values of Northumbria. At a time of increasing internationalisation and rapid societal and technological change, both universities agree that collaboration across national boundaries is benefitting to both students and staff, offering better access to knowledge and understanding in order to meet future challenges.” Professor Huib de Jong, Executive Board Chairman, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.
With campuses in two global cities and students, staff and partners from around the world, Northumbria is a truly global university. The University will grow its international reach through creating more partnerships with institutions that mirror Northumbria’s own rise, attracting more international students, and expanding Northumbria’s campuses in London and Amsterdam. Northumbria University’s global impact, created through world-class teaching and research, will support its role as an anchor institution in the North East of England.
AN ANCHOR INSTITUTION Northumbria is a prominent and active partner in the North East. The University shapes the economic landscape, providing the highest number of graduates into the local job market, employing nearly 3,000 staff and attracting 24,000 students to live and study in the city. It reshapes places; the building of new accommodation for 1,000 Northumbria students supported the regeneration of Gateshead town centre in partnership with Tesco and the local authority. And it inspires future generations to engage with Higher Education through outreach programmes involving nearly 20,000 children from 140 schools per year. The NUSTEM project, aimed at encouraging under-represented groups to study STEM subjects at university, reached 80,000 children, parents and teachers.
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Northumbria is a university that challenges the status quo. It is the natural choice for outstanding students, staff and partners. Northumbria is a university for a changing world, transforming to take on tomorrow.
“The world around us is changing at an exhilarating pace, and Northumbria tackles tomorrow’s challenges head on. The University is creating leaders fit for the 21st century with the vision, ambition and skills to change the world. It is finding answers to big challenges that society faces. Through its commitment to partnerships, it is strengthening both its global presence and its contribution to local and national communities. Northumbria is an ambitious university, ready to take on tomorrow.� Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson DBE DL Chancellor of Northumbria University, Newcastle.