BU reports on excellent progress

27 April 2009

Attendees hear excellent results at BU's Annual Review event.

BU Board Chairman Mr Alan Frost and Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Curran have reported on BU's excellent progress at its Annual Review meeting on Friday 24 April.

They also announced the appointment of Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers as BU's next Chancellor.

The University’s achievements are featured in an innovative new online Annual Review brochure, featuring vodcasts by members of BU’s executive team, academics and external partners.

During the event, Professor Curran and his colleagues underlined the University’s success with an emphasis on its landmark performances which show that BU has:

Increased its ranking in all four major UK league tables, secured a top half position in ‘The Times Good University Guide’and was ranked the UK’s number one new University in ‘The Guardian University Guide’
Been assessed in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) as the fourth most improved UK university in research quality (of the ten areas assessed, eight featured research that was rated as being of world leading quality in terms of its originality, significance and rigour)
Increased its discretionary research funding three-fold to £2.2m
Been awarded the highest category of confidence in the maintenance of its academic standards and the enhancement of its quality by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA)
Appointed approximately 150 academics over the last three years to foster the development of an academically led culture
Doubled its Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) funding to circa £800,000 per year (in 2008/09)
Improved the success rate of its Research Council funding bids to 31% (greater than the national average of 28%)
Consolidated its corporate image through new campus signage, bus livery and its continually improving website
Increased attendance at its undergraduate Open Days from 2,500 to over 6,000 in three years
Invested £1.5m in Information & Communications Technology (ICT) to develop several major student-facing systems, including online enrolments and payments.

Professor Curran commented: “In recent years, BU has grown in confidence as an innovative, international institution offering high-quality academic courses geared to the professions.

“To thrive in this very competitive world, we have restated our commitment to academic excellence in an academically rich environment. I am delighted to say that these plans are coming to fruition.”

He continued: “In a very short time, we have become a University that is proud of its strengths in research, enterprise and professional practice, with centres of academic excellence that are recognised around the world.”