Education Strategy: three areas of focus, and what these mean for you

The University Education Strategy, which we launched this week, defines our strategic priorities for education, our areas of focus and high‐level actions that are designed to contribute to achieving our institutional Mission, Vision and Ambitions as presented in the University Strategy 2025. 

It's important to read the Education Strategy alongside the University’s Research and Innovation, Global and People Strategies, as these reinforce each other and jointly set out our plans to achieve our overall institutional objectives. As an organisation, we'll use these strategies to ensure we focus time, energy and resources on our key priorities, and to inform decisions about what we may stop doing in the future.

It relates directly to two key ambitions in our University Strategy 2025: Engage every student in a life-changing experience and Meet changing demand and widen participation; and in support of our People Strategy: Inspire our staff community to be creative and bold.

1. Engage every student in a life-changing experience

We aim to be recognised nationally and internationally for our success in offering world-class education to people with the potential and motivation to succeed. Having embedded the Hallmarks of a Portsmouth Graduate in our curricula and extra-curricular offer, our objective is to develop knowledgeable, independent graduates with a global outlook, who are set for success in their future careers and make a positive contribution to society and the economy. 

2. Meeting changing demand and widen participation 

We'll rationalise and diversify our portfolio, offering courses that are flexible in their delivery and attractive to both 18-year-olds and mature students from both the home and global markets. We recognise the growing demand for vocational qualifications at a variety of levels, from level 4 to 8, and the need for CPD and part-time provision to support upskilling within the workforce, so we'll respond to these opportunities.

3. Inspire our staff to be creative and bold 

We want to empower our staff. Through evidence-based innovative practice, our students will be immersed and connected within co-created learning environments that provide an excellent student experience and support the acquisition of the Hallmarks of the Portsmouth Graduate. We'll provide the professional recognition, development opportunities and resources needed by staff to evolve and enhance their practice, promoting effectiveness and efficiency, and disseminate it globally through pedagogic research and other scholarly outputs.

In summary, we're building on what we started in the last Education Strategy. We've brought this up-to-date and focused on key priorities. We're also responding to sector issues and challenges – academic integrity, awarding gap, student engagement, and student outcomes – in the ‘Portsmouth way’. By that, we mean through collaboration and co-creation with our students.

We want all our students to have a life-changing experience that equips them with the knowledge and skills to meet changing demands and excel as they enter the world of work. You, our colleagues, are central to making this happen. Through a range of development and professional recognition opportunities, the Education Strategy ensures that you are supported to be creative and bold.

Authors: Professor Paul Hayes is Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Dr Harriet Dunbar-Morris is Dean of Learning and Teaching, and Professor Ale Armellini is Dean of Digital and Distributed Learning at the University of Portsmouth.