Update on our student recruitment drive
I’m pleased to report that our UK undergraduate recruitment round is broadly on track, with
applications received by the UCAS Equal Consideration Deadline on 31 January similar in number to 2023, and year-on-year better than both the UCAS national average and that of our identified competitor set.
Our Applicant Days are also progressing well, with attendance expected to be up 5 – 10% on last year, with two remaining days in May. Feedback from visitors has been positive, especially around our supportive, friendly staff and informative
subject talks.
I know very well that these improvements are the result of hard work and smart thinking, and I thank everyone involved for your great work.
We welcomed over 260 new postgraduate taught students in January and February 2024, with around 100 joining new winter intake programmes in the Faculty of Social Sciences and the remainder joining programmes in the Faculty of Medicine and
Health Sciences.
Conversations are ongoing about how to ensure good join-up between postgraduate taught and
research provision to help ensure a clear pipeline through to PhD and professional doctorate programmes at UEA.
International applications to UK universities continue to be significantly down due to changes or potential changes in
Government immigration policy.
To help address this, we have focused on mechanisms to improve conversion, including a clear strategic focus on fast turnaround times (currently 48-hours for most applications), agent quality, and discouraging fraudulent applications so that we place more
effort on better prospective applicants. We also continue to develop new transnational education partnerships and course provision in areas of market demand and strategic benefit.
Clearly, student recruitment plays a fundamental role in our future financial sustainability and we are all co-dependent upon it. We continue to plan for high activity in 2024 Clearing, and the web improvement project is on track to deliver
new content and visual identity ahead of this, along with further improvements in speed of pages loading and rankings in search engines.
A big thank you to everyone across our community for coming together to support this important drive.
Recognising our excellent learning and teaching
With over 17 categories celebrating the excellent teaching and education provision provided by both Faculty and Professional Services colleagues, the
Transforming
Education Awards (TEAs),
organised by UEASU is an important date for UEA’s calendar.
Taking place on Thursday 9 May, the nominations are now closed and being reviewed, and the results will be announced on the evening.
I have enjoyed reading through the brilliant nominations for the ‘‘Vice-Chancellor's Award’, a category recognising colleagues who have gone above and beyond
in supporting learning at UEA, and I look forward to updating you on this year’s winners soon.
Appointment of new Chief Operating Officer
I am delighted to announce, following an extensive recruitment process, the University has
appointed Anne Poulson as its new Chief Operating Officer. Anne will join us next month and brings with her a wealth of experience, having held similar positions at the University of Greenwich and the University of Surrey, and more recently
a number of
strategic change roles across the Higher Education sector.
University services and the Big Spring Switch Off
A quick reminder that some facilities and services at UEA will have reduced opening hours
and partial closures over the spring break – you can find out the
full
details on My.UEA.
Please also have a read of easy-to-follow
steps to help reduce the University’s energy consumption over the break – last year we saved over £35,000 and with your help it would be great to do even better this year.
Once again, a sincere thank you to the many colleagues who continue to keep campus running smoothly during our quieter periods – it really is appreciated.
Professor David Maguire
Vice-Chancellor and President
|