Staff Briefings By Vice-Chancellor
23 November 2011
Vice-Chancellor Professor John Coyne.
In uncertain times for UK higher education (HE) the University of Derby has put itself in good shape, according to Vice-Chancellor Professor John Coyne.
During his latest series of open staff briefings at the Derby and Buxton Campuses this month (November), Professor Coyne gave a frank update on University performance including to student recruitment, finance, academic developments and other issues.
Derby, like other universities, is keen to see what September 2012 will bring; when it will accept the first students under the new fees regime.
The Government's decision to lift the 'cap' on fees, from £3,290 annually to £6,000 to £9,000 a year, comes into effect in September. Derby is offering a sliding scale of course prices, with 80% of them set to cost less than £7,500 a year.
The University needed to set and achieve its own targets and focus upon its own performance, said Professor Coyne. The University should focus upon those matters under its control, not external factors over which it had no influence.
Professor Coyne compared Derby's current performance against its own in previous years.
On that basis, this academic year's (2011/12) full time and part time undergraduate enrolment had been the University's best so far. New enrolments were slightly above target and the Student Number Control, and combined with improved progression total enrolments were more than 500 students higher than the year before (2010/11).
The highlights of the 2011/12 student recruitment included:
- Recruitment targets achieved overall with also a close alignment of targets at departmental level
- Derby's best ever qualified intake of students ever, with each student having a higher average number of UCAS points than ever before
- A modest increase in international students recruitment, even though it was still less than target.
The University's current students are performing better than ever, with Derby seeing strong levels of progression from one year to the next and massively improved completion across its programmes.
The University had also delivered a record year financially. With the twin pillars of sound finance, and improving quality and popularity, the focus was now upon delivering the exciting new proposition to students: 'An education that focuses on you and your individual needs'.
The Vice-Chancellor said that the University remained in a strong position in uncertain times.
