All

[Seasons Greetings and Happy Christmas!]

I’m hoping this is my last update for this (calendar) year! The one thing that I could have shared would have been around the Principles for the Academic Workload Management Framework but I thought you might prefer to leave that till the new year, so that’s what I’m doing! (If anyone is desperately keen to look at it – it hasn’t changed much since you saw it last – but let me know and I’ll send it through).

So, the real purpose of this update is to say a big thanks to you all for all your hard work over the past year and for your commitment to your colleagues and your students. I know we have “sort-of” moved on from Covid, but its still around and even though things are returning to “normal”, I think it has still been an incredibly hard year. I know we ask a lot of you and sometimes we ask too much and too often. And sometimes the things that we need to change take longer to change than we might have hoped or wished. But the University continues to be successful; we have a fantastic educational offer for our students; we do some amazing and transformational research and we have lots to be proud of – regionally, nationally and internationally.

That we continue to be so successful is down to our people – across the organisation and at all levels. Academic Departments play such an important role in the delivery of our core purpose and the leadership of those departments deserves huge credit for their successes. So thank you again for all that you’ve done; it’s a difficult job, difficult circumstances and you’ve done fantastic work.

For all who are celebrating – have a wonderful Christmas. I’m not sure whether or not we’ll get a white one but we’ve certainly had a cold build up to it! And for everyone, please have a wonderful and restful break - you really have earned it. And here’s to a great year in 2023!

Happy Christmas

Cheers

Chris

 

Professor Christine Ennew OBE