Foreword
Publishing a ten-year strategy in a time of global and sector-wide uncertainty may seem like a hostage to fortune. Yet the University of Glasgow has evolved and thrived over almost six centuries through periods of profound change, and will continue to do so as we move towards our seventh century. This strategy represents a small part of our history, but it affirms who we are and how we seek to evolve; a place of transformation, deeply rooted in our city and a university for the world.
At its heart, the University of Glasgow is research intensive. Research is our anchor – the uncovering of that “pearl of knowledge” promised in our 1451 foundational document. It pushes forward the frontiers of knowledge, applies it in new and innovative ways and does so to change people, society and the world for the better. From research flows learning, as we teach our students in an environment shaped by critical inquiry and led by acknowledged experts, preparing them for life in a changing world.
Our students are therefore central to this strategy. We seek to empower them to adapt, thrive and grow, equipped with skills for life and confident in representing this University in all they do. Their success is our success, and our environment must be inclusive, challenging and nurturing in equal measure, bringing out the best in each individual for the common good. The University needs to be one which everyone can be proud of.
Our iconic tower should stand not just as a landmark, but as a symbol of relevance, ambition and benefit to the people of Glasgow and beyond. This means strengthening the impact of our research on economic growth, health and wellbeing, fostering an entrepreneurial spirit and demonstrating clearly that this University benefits all.
We will be increasingly diverse and global, a university for the world, shaped unmistakably by the great city of Glasgow. From Dumfries to Singapore, we will extend our global footprint through new global centres of research, teaching and innovation that reflect the quality and impact for which we are known, while remaining an attractive destination for global talent.
To achieve this, we must recognise that our colleagues are our greatest asset. We must ensure they are motivated, recognised and rewarded. We will cherish our historic, cultural and physical assets, embrace sustainability, strengthen our financial and environmental resilience, improve efficiency and make intelligent use of technology so that colleagues can take pride in being part of the University of Glasgow team.
Above all, this strategy depends on partnership. Working with others, locally, nationally and globally will be essential, most notably with the city of Glasgow itself. Established in 1451 for the “advantage of the city … for Scotland and the regions beyond,” our successes are intertwined. Strengthening that bond – through research, education and economic contribution – will ensure both the city and its University flourish.
Our goal is clear; to be a University ranked among the very best, to transform lives through ideas and action, and to make a positive impact in and for the world around us.
Professor Andy Schofield
Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of Glasgow
Our values sit at the heart of everything we do. They provide a fixed point that will guide us through a shifting landscape, helping us to make the right choices over the next decade. Living and upholding these values will ensure that we remain true to our community and ourselves.
- Ambition and excellence
- Curiosity and discovery
- Integrity and truth
- An inclusive community
Our world-changing research, teaching and innovation have been, and will continue to be, at the forefront of life-enhancing technological and social change.
We are World-Changing Glasgow.
We transform lives through ideas and action.
We are, and intend to remain, one of the world’s great broad-based, research-intensive universities, and we can go further. Over the next ten years we will:
- Progressively strengthen the quality and impact of our research and innovation activity relative to our peers by advancing knowledge and addressing current and future societal challenges.
- Provide a sector-leading educational and student experience that inspires our students to thrive in their studies and beyond, shaping them into history makers who will change the world for the better.
- Embed a values-based culture, characterised by a shared expectation of the highest levels of individual performance and supported by the best possible environment for our people to flourish.
- Work in partnership with our local, national and global communities to maximise the beneficial impact of our research and education on society, extending our reach and building our reputation as the World-Changing University.
We do not just want to be one of the best universities in the world, we are striving to be the best university for the world.
Where our strategy will take us
By 2036 we will have enhanced our position as one of the world’s great broad-based, research-intensive universities and much will have changed.
- Our research will continue to be founded on curiosity and inquiry but will be much more concentrated, with a higher proportion of large-scale, challenge-led projects aligned to our distinctive strengths and supported by stronger engagement with business, industry and other sectors.
- We will have established an impressive track-record of success relative to our peers in innovation, turning our ideas into real-world solutions that benefit society, creating new businesses, supporting industry growth and addressing major societal challenges.
- Our education portfolio will be simpler in structure and content, more effectively supporting our students to thrive during and after their studies, and better aligned to both their needs and the needs of society.
- The student experience at Glasgow will have improved to be among the best in both the UK and in the world, and will be recognised for continuous improvement and alignment with student needs.
- Our global presence will have expanded through impactful partnerships in research, education and innovation, strengthening our global reach and societal impact.
- Our supporting services and processes will be leaner and more efficient, leveraging the opportunities of digital and technology, to more effectively support our academic mission.
This will all be enabled by embedding our values more deeply within a supportive, high-performance culture, creating the right environment for our people to thrive and reach their full potential.
Our current context
We are an historic institution that has evolved over time to become a leading international university. Renowned for our creativity, research strength and pursuit of excellence, we are perceived by our community as being innovative, accessible, welcoming and dynamic. Our evolution has been, and will continue to be, shaped by purposeful choices aligned to our strategic intent.
In the late 2000s we were a predominantly undergraduate university but chose to achieve better balance by growing our postgraduate student population. We have focused on research quality, improving relative to our peers as evidenced by significant enhancement of our position across successive UK REF exercises, and we have strengthened the translation of that research into societal impact. We have purposefully diversified and grown our international colleague and student populations and, in so doing, have enriched the developmental experience of our students from Scotland and the rest of the UK, better preparing them to be effective contributors in global society. We have expanded our global presence to include teaching-focused partnerships in Singapore and China and research partnerships across the globe, to the extent that we are now recognised as one of the world’s most international universities. While the character of the great city of Glasgow continues to be reflected in who we are, we also draw strength from our commitment to all the local communities in which we are located, not only in Glasgow and Dumfries but across the world.
We begin the next stage of our journey from a position of relative strength but our current context is clouded by considerable financial pressures on universities and society more generally, increasing scepticism of the value of higher education, progressive erosion of key international student markets, the opportunities and threats posed by artificial intelligence (AI) and significant demographic changes both nationally and in key international recruitment markets.
Despite this, we are optimistic about our future and prepared to make the choices that will allow us to build on our achievements, demonstrate our value to society, address our weaknesses and strengthen our position as one of the great, broad-based, research-intensive universities of the world.
Key features of our strategy
Our strategy is founded on our values of:
These values will continue to frame the principles and ethics we apply to decision making in the years ahead and shape the behaviours and actions that define our culture.
Education and research lie at the core of our purpose, as they have done since we were founded in 1451. In setting out our strategic intent we place particular focus on these two areas through our embedded Learning & Teaching and Research Strategies, recognising that these two elements are fundamental to everything we do.
There is a strong interdependency between learning and teaching and the broader student experience of university life, and our commitment to our students goes beyond the classroom. We see significant potential to enrich the student experience in the years ahead, and this will be a central priority in the early stages of this strategic cycle.
Similarly, our research enables economic growth through our mutually reinforcing partnerships with business, industry and other sectors, and through innovation that leads to new ventures. Research and innovation are, therefore, a critical part of our wider societal impact and have been areas of growth for us in recent years and will be a priority in the years ahead.
We know that we cannot achieve our purpose and ambition in isolation. We recognise and are grateful for the support that we receive from our valued stakeholders, including the city of Glasgow that gave us our name, our peer universities, business and industry, government, alumni, donors and partners, and all those who enable our success in so many diverse and impactful ways. We will continue to develop, strengthen and deepen these relationships locally, nationally and internationally as we strive to be the best University for the world.
In shaping our future, we recognise the profound threats facing our planet and society. Environmental, social and economic sustainability pervades our strategy, reflecting our commitment to improving the lives of our community, of the wider world and for generations to come. Central to our approach will be embedding sustainability into everyday decision making and long-term planning across the University. We will help advance the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through our research and the world-changing impact of our alumni, but also through the choices we make, the way we operate and the partnerships we build locally and globally.
Our ambitions will only be achieved if we create the right conditions for our people – our greatest asset – to perform at the highest level. We are committed to supporting their development and success within our values-led, high-performance culture and to fostering a healthy work-life balance for all. To enable this and our other core priorities, we will make responsible use of technology and data, optimise the design of our professional services and run our physical estate effectively and sustainably.
Underpinning our priorities are two core commitments. We are committed to achieving and maintaining the financial sustainability of the University within the bounds of our financial framework, developing new income streams and creating headroom to invest in our future. We are also committed to legal and regulatory compliance in all that we do to ensure the University continues to be a trusted anchor and partner for all of our community and stakeholders.
Much can change over a ten-year strategic period and to succeed we must act strategically in the face of current and future threats and opportunities. To do this successfully, we rely on our resilience, agility and our willingness to make intentional choices about what we do and what we stop doing. These choices are already being made, and we have set in train three core initiatives to simplify our overly complex academic regulatory framework and taught portfolio, improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our professional services, and align our academic career development and performance with our ambition. Collectively, they will create a stronger and more agile foundation on which to take our strategy forward.
The scale of change linked to these initiatives – and those that will follow – will be significant. To succeed, we must plan and resource them well, recognising the competing demands they will place on our people and systems. Our strategic priorities must also be delivered at a pace and scale that are sustainable within our available resources. This requires strong governance, clear prioritisation and thoughtful phasing.
To support this, we have developed strategic implementation plans and an accompanying implementation and monitoring framework. Together, these will ensure effective delivery of the strategy and provide the governance needed to guide our decisions and track progress.
Research & innovation
We will pursue big and bold ideas, excelling across all our research endeavours by balancing disciplinary depth with interdisciplinary collaboration, fundamental discovery with real-world application, and curiosity-driven inquiry with mission-driven impact. In doing so, we will enhance the quality and impact of our research relative to our peers.
We will strengthen our collaboration with partners across business, industry, public services, culture and communities, supporting a vibrant environment for innovation and enterprise. In this way, we will bring together our research, innovation and civic missions, reinforcing the University’s role as an engine of economic growth and social progress.
Our sources of income will diversify as we push the boundaries of discovery, and strengthen our capability to secure large funding grants and respond to the needs of our local and national economy. We will increase our focus on impact and innovation, supporting our colleagues to translate and commercialise their research through knowledge exchange, policy influence, consultancy, industry partnerships, licenses and spinouts that can grow and generate employment.
By 2036, our research and innovation landscape will be a model for higher education institutions worldwide.
Key features of our Research Strategy
As a beacon of inquiry, we will place fundamental research and disciplinary strength at the heart of our broader research and innovation ambitions. From this foundation, we will bring together expertise and resources to tackle bigger challenges and expand the reach and pace of our impact within and beyond academia, recognising that our research ultimately serves society.
We will explore the interfaces between disciplines, embedding interdisciplinarity across the University and creating opportunities for perspectives and breakthroughs that no single field can achieve alone. We will develop new ways of working with cross-sector partners, embedding co-production so that research is shaped from the outset by those who will put it into practice, including through deeper and more strategic engagement with industry.
Translation will also be a defining strength of our research. We will build the skills, infrastructure and support needed toturn ideas into innovations, technologies, policies and cultural contributions that deliver tangible benefit for society, the economy and the environment.
We will underpin these ambitions with the highest standards of good research practice, ensuring rigour, reproducibility, compliance and trust. Guiding our recruitment, promotion and appraisal processes is an unwavering commitment to research excellence, where quality is valued over quantity.
Great research flourishes in a supportive, inclusive and collegial environment, one where a positive research culture enhances quality, attracts and retains diverse talent, and strengthens our reputation. That culture draws strength from valuing the differences in people, perspectives and contributions and recognising all this as an asset that enables us to succeed together.
For ideas and knowledge to flourish, we will nurture an environment that safeguards academic freedom, protects the essential right to conduct research and express ideas, and encourages open dialogue. We will support emerging ideas and invest in areas with the potential to become distinctive strengths of the future. Our commitment to open research, engagement and public participation will ensure our ideas are widely shared, tested and strengthened, accelerating our ability to advance knowledge and create impact.
Strategic priorities in research
Collaboration, creativity and careers lie at the heart of our research strategy. These enduring priorities reflect our belief in their power to drive meaningful progress. Yet this is not simply more of the same – we are sharpening our focus and adapting how we work to stay ahead in a changing and uncertain world.
These priorities are supported by our guiding principles for research:
- We value the quality of our research over its quantity.
- How we do our research matters.
- We succeed through the success and resolve of our people and teams.
Collaboration – working together to tackle bigger challenges
Collaboration expands our horizons, accelerates discovery and fuels innovation. We are forging stronger connections within and beyond our university, bringing people together in dynamic teams and building strategic consortia that connect people, expertise, ideas and resources. We will build purposeful collaborations across disciplines, sectors, institutions and borders that bring fresh perspectives, enabling us to tackle bigger challenges and address more complex research questions, opening new routes to impact and enabling us to shape and respond to new opportunities. Our collaborative strength will create the conditions for innovation and enterprise, enabling us to translate research into practical solutions that shape policy, enrich culture, strengthen the economy and improve lives.
Creativity – unlocking great ideas
Creativity is at the heart of great research, unlocking new ideas and driving innovation. It fuels our solutions and breakthroughs that respond to today’s questions and challenges, but also uncovers new problems and reveals uncharted territories to explore. Exploring bold ideas carries uncertainty and not every path leads where expected. We will create the conditions for ideas to emerge, be shared, tested and refined, increasing their potential to be adopted widely and deliver lasting benefit in an environment where researchers feel confident to take intellectual risks, knowing that outcomes, even when unexpected, can yield lessons that spark future breakthroughs. We will foster the entrepreneurial mindset and creative process that help turn ideas into research-led innovation and within this creative environment we will value the many ways our research turns insight into impact.
Careers – helping each other to succeed
Our people, from our newest research students to our established world-leading professors, are our knowledge creators and greatest asset, and for them our goal is clear – to make Glasgow the best place to build and sustain a successful research-related career. That success will be evidenced in winning resource, creating impactful and widely acclaimed outputs, and growing esteem. We will build on an already strong and inclusive environment that inspires ambition, encourages bold ideas and supports collaboration. This will help our community navigate a research landscape shaped by global challenges, rapid technological change, a drive for sustainability and the increasing importance of innovation, translation and collaboration. We will strengthen the skills and confidence needed to succeed in collaborative and interdisciplinary settings, while deepening expertise in turning ideas into impact – shaping policy, influencing culture, creating solutions and driving innovation through enterprise, knowledge exchange and co-production.
Unlocking the innovation opportunity
We are progressing a bold and ambitious plan to unlock creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation, at the end of which we will be globally recognised both for the quality of our ideas and for our ability to turn them into real-world solutions that benefit society through business creation, industry growth and addressing major societal challenges.
We will support our growing innovation ecosystem through:
- Adapting our policies and procedures around licensing, spinouts and consultancy to create the right incentives for colleagues and students to engage in innovation activity, helping us to retain and attract talent and to ensure that benefits flow to innovators.
- Scaling up our support for spinouts, consultancy and industry partnerships. We will invest in dedicated programmes, proof-of-concept and de-risking funding and venture building to help ideas grow and succeed.
- Creating the physical and digital environments needed to support innovation. This includes maker spaces, incubators and collaborative hubs that bring together researchers, students, industry and investors.
- Strengthening our role in the Glasgow Riverside Innovation District (GRID) and aligning our innovation activity with local and national priorities to deliver inclusive growth and contribute to the development of a vibrant regional economy.
- Embedding innovation within the student experience, with enterprise and entrepreneurship integrated into learning and skills development.
- Evolving our internal investment vehicles to more readily meet the expectations of external investors and provide a route for alumni to provide financial and mentoring support to our commercial opportunities.
Our approach to innovation will be collaborative, inclusive and impact driven. We will build on the progress made through recent initiatives and continue to invest in the people, systems and spaces that enable innovation to thrive.
Learning and teaching and the student experience
Our vision is for all our students to have a high-quality, research-grounded, educational experience that is futures focused, experiential and globally oriented, encouraging their curiosity and enabling them to flourish educationally and to fulfil their potential to contribute meaningfully to culture, society and the economy, locally and globally.
Central to our approach will be a focus on improving the quality and consistency of the student experience. This will be a collective responsibility characterised by operational excellence, enabled by career development support for colleagues and responsive to, and shaped by, the student voice. We aspire to be recognised by our stakeholders nationally and globally, for the quality of our education and for the positive, life-changing impact of studying at the University of Glasgow.
Key features of our Learning & Teaching Strategy
We want our students to thrive during and after their studies and to develop the life skills and intellectual capabilities that enable them to be both history makers and amongst the best alumni for the world. As such, our programmes will ensure a solutions-oriented focus designed for sustained societal impact. Work-related elements will be built into all programmes; and global challenges, perspectives, opportunities and voices will be intentionally foregrounded in every programme.
Strategic priorities for learning and teaching
Students and colleagues will partner to deliver three integrated and interdependent initiatives that will be co-created and evaluated with students, and with their needs and aspirations as key determinants of our choices and approach.
- Curriculum for life – a futures-oriented suite of courses embedded into each of our degree programmes, in which students will engage in solutions-focused education that tackles global challenges in an uncertain world. As in all our teaching, we will bring our research expertise of continually pushing boundaries and addressing uncertainty into the classroom through, for example, interdisciplinary research projects to prepare them for the new world they will face.
- Student skills and futures – will enable students to develop, surface and articulate their skills and evidence their ability to reflect on their personal and academic development. Founded on an employability commitment of “Every Student. Every Year. Every Degree.” we will support students with life design skills, confidence and resilience and opportunities for experiential learning.
- Learning through assessment (LTA) – is a framework that enables students to demonstrate their learning in a range of ways during their studies. We will embed the framework across all our courses and programmes. The LTA is an important framework for adapting assessment in ways that reflect evidence of good practice in assessment. It equips us to respond to requirements that arise from advances in technology, such as AI. It is also responsive to changes in professional body requirements and crucially, it enables adoption of inclusive assessment designs that meet our statutory duties in relation to students with disabilities.
These three priority initiatives work in harmony, aligning both with our educational vision and our ambitions to improve the wider student experience. Each initiative is designed to develop a strong sense of inclusion and belonging, to expand our range of opportunities, and to enhance student wellbeing.
Our educational offering will be experienced by students through our growing adoption of appropriate pedagogical designs such as student-centred active learning and the incorporation of blended and online courses within on-campus programmes. We will reshape our portfolio of short online courses to ensure our credit bearing and continuing professional development opportunities are more focused and impactful in supporting life-long learning and career progression and change. Our online programme portfolio will be targeted in areas of clear demand and strong strategic alignment. Expansion of pathways into the University and through our transnational education (TNE) partnerships will also serve as a crucial consideration in the shaping of our response to external forces, market developments and future student decision making. With our civic and global partners, we will work to be recognised for our quality, impact and values-led approach, building on existing activities and creating new pathways and centres.
The student experience
We welcome students from all parts of the world alongside students who live within walking distance of our campuses. Their level of experience of higher education ranges from first year undergraduate level to final year doctoral students. No matter what their background or level of experience is, factors such as social inclusion, time poverty, finance, work commitments, proximity to campus and wellbeing all impact access, participation, performance and engagement, and can have a significant bearing on success beyond university. As a consequence, the responsibility for the student experience is shared across our entire community and we are committed to improving it through a coordinated, inclusive and forward-looking approach that enhances student wellbeing and academic success for all.
This commitment is central to our strategy and will be delivered through a focus on three core themes:
- Opportunity
- Wellbeing
- Inclusion & belonging.
Underpinning this will be a transformation of our student facing services, improved digital support and enhanced estate provision in support of student life, and a longer-term commitment to ongoing continuous improvement in these domains.
As we enter this strategic period, we will continue to cement improvements in areas such as careers and employability, induction and transition, community and inclusion, and residence life into business-as-usual operations and, in the medium and longer term, we will work with our students to shape future developments that meet their needs and establish the student experience at Glasgow among the best in the world.
Our engagement with society
As a global university with deep civic roots, we will maximise the impact of our research and education on society. Aligned to our institutional priorities and reflecting the needs and aspirations of our communities, we will seek to engage meaningfully and with integrity across all parts of society enabling our impact on the world to be channelled through strong local, national and international connections, and through the lens of addressing the grand challenges of our time.
Our foundation as a university is entwined with the history of the city of Glasgow and the debt we owe the city and the wider city region, and we honour that through a long-standing commitment to civic and regional engagement. As an anchor institution, we recognise that our success helps create a successful city and nation. It strengthens Glasgow’s economic, social and cultural landscape, just as the strength of our city and of Scotland supports us to excel globally. This mutually reinforcing relationship nourishes our commitment to contribute purposefully to local and national prosperity and, as our physical presence has expanded to other locations around the world, we mirror that commitment there.
We partner with schools and colleges, raising aspiration and educational attainment, and supporting skills development. Alongside this, we work closely with other universities to share expertise, co-create opportunities and deploy our research expertise in support of economic growth and sustainable social development, strengthening the collective impact of the higher education sector. We work closely with local government, industry, public services and communities to develop solutions that make our city healthy, prosperous, connected and resilient. Initiatives such as GRID along with our wider collaboration with Glasgow City Region demonstrate how our civic responsibility is woven into our core mission and in the way we deliver public good through our people, partnerships and place.
Going forward, we will take a more intentional and coordinated approach to civic engagement, listening more closely to our partners and working more collaboratively. Our activities will be aligned with our institutional mission and strategic goals, and focused on areas where we can make the greatest contribution, including education, access, research, innovation and culture. We will advance economic, social and environmental sustainability through strong, collaborative and mutually beneficial relationships with communities, public bodies and civic organisations, underpinned by investment, shared resources, community skills initiatives and long-term commitment. This will be guided by a civic charter that sets out our commitments and principles and will be underpinned by a clear framework for evaluation and impact, ensuring that our civic activities are relevant, responsible, continuously improving and a source of aspiration for our civic community.
Our engagement at national level, both in Scotland and in the UK, will mirror and build on our civic approach, extending our commitment to positive economic and societal impact aligned to national priorities. Our University community will contribute directly to policy that helps shape future society and our impact will be heightened through collaboration with our peer universities and governmental bodies.
Our international outlook is a defining feature of the University of Glasgow. We are recognised as a globally significant institution, reflected in our position in university rankings, through the diversity of our student, colleague and alumni communities, and the global reach of our research and education. Our international connectivity enhances learning and teaching, strengthens research capability and amplifies our societal impact. It creates an environment where students, colleagues and communities can thrive through shared knowledge, cultural exchange and collaborative innovation.
We engage with global university networks such as Universitas21, the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities, and CIVIS – the European University Civic Alliance. These relationships are vital to our continued influence and impact across borders, and strengthen our contribution to society, reinforcing our identity as World-Changing Glasgow.
As we move forward, we will continue to invest in existing partnerships while cultivating new opportunities aligned with global priorities, including the United Nations’ SDGs. Building on the strength of our established TNE centres, we will develop new ones with carefully selected strategic partners, creating a global network that not only showcases the very best of Glasgow on an international stage but also brings Glasgow to the world, sharing our research, innovation and deep connections with the city’s industries, business and trade.
In this way, we will enhance our international presence, influence and reputation enabling us to deliver even greater benefit for the communities we serve – locally, nationally and internationally – while increasing the reach and impact of our world‑changing work.
Our international engagement will be focused around four themes:
- Global relationships: strengthening and expanding partnerships that support research, education and societal impact with stakeholders, including higher education institutions, government, industry and our donor and alumni community.
- Global research: through our Research Strategy, enhancing the scale and impact of international research through challenge-led collaboration, broader access to funding and stronger support for researchers, positioning Glasgow as a trusted and valued partner in global networks.
- Global recruitment: supporting the attraction and development of global talent within our student and colleague communities, developing new student pathways and expanding our transnational activities.
- Global reputation: promoting Glasgow’s excellence and distinctiveness to international audiences, investing in storytelling, values-based advocacy and strategic communications to enhance our visibility and influence in key markets.
Key to our success will be embedding societal engagement as a core part of our identity and practice through empowering our community of colleagues and students, and supporting them with clear guidance, training and recognition. We will also engage our wider community, including our alumni, recognising that an important part of our reputation stems from their achievements, careers and broader societal contributions. We are proud of what they continue to achieve and are grateful for their support. As we move into this new strategic phase, we reaffirm our commitment to support and engage with our alumni base, listening to their needs and developing new ways to work together towards shared future successes.
How our strategy will be enabled
Our people are the beating heart of our university and of our strategy. We will only achieve our ambitions if our people are supported and incentivised to perform to their full potential in line with our strategic intent. With this in mind, we will functionally align services and deliver efficient and effective processes, while maximising career opportunities for our professional services colleagues. We will harness the power of digital and technology more effectively to support every aspect of university life. We will make better use of our data, a key strategic asset, to support and improve our operations and inform our decision making. Finally, as a multi-campus, research-intensive University, we will develop our physical estate as a sustainable asset and a key enabler of our ambition.
We have considered what we must do in each of these areas to ensure our future success and have identified the priority actions and the ways of working that we will form part of our strategic approach.
Attracting and retaining world-leading talent and the continuing pursuit of our values-led, high-performance culture remain central to the University’s success.
Over the next decade we will place increased emphasis on talent, succession and workforce planning to enable us to achieve our goals. To achieve this, we will:
- Define and embed an exceptional Glasgow colleague experience (employee value proposition) that articulates what makes a career at the University of Glasgow distinctive and meaningful, and supports the attraction and retention of world-leading talent in a competitive landscape.
- Consistently apply and embed our anchoring values across the University community, by strengthening understanding, visibility and alignment with expected behaviours, enhancing leadership practice and realising our longer-term aspirations.
- Strengthen our approach to talent management, succession planning, workforce planning, organisational change and performance management.
- Invest in the development of our leadership and management population to effectively support, develop and lead their teams in alignment with our values, and strengthen a culture of accountability, performance and continuous improvement.
- Align academic career development and support with our strategic purpose and intent.
- Support and develop a professoriate which models a high-performance culture fully embracing and modelling authentic leadership within the University and beyond.
- Expand career pathways for professional services colleagues to support meaningful career progression and maximise learning and development opportunities.
- Address employment precarity where possible, reinforcing our role as a responsible and compassionate employer.
- Evolve our reward and recognition approach, guided by total reward principles, to create a motivating and engaging experience for colleagues.
Our ability to deliver world-class research and teaching is underpinned by the quality and effectiveness of our services and processes. Our aim is to create a service culture that is simple, transparent and centred on the needs of students and colleagues. To achieve this, we will:
- Redesign our services and processes to be more user-centric, ensuring that students and colleagues can access the support they need with ease and confidence.
- Adopt operating models that support consistent service standards, reduce duplication and enable better use of resources, which are scalable, adaptable and aligned with institutional goals.
- Invest in the development of our professional services colleagues, recognising the need for new skills and capabilities.
- Embed a culture of continuous improvement, using data and feedback to inform decisions and drive change.
As we navigate the challenge of ensuring both data privacy and easy access to digital resources, we will further integrate physical and digital services through the strategic use of emerging technologies, including AI. This approach will deliver a seamless, digital-first experience for our students and colleagues, while our research will be supported by secure, sustainable and innovative digital infrastructure. To achieve this, we will:
- Deliver a sustainable digital infrastructure that is well-maintained, cost-effective, trusted, low carbon and adaptable.
- Adopt a shared, scalable approach to technology to promote common ways of working aligned to service and process design, enabling greater collaboration and connectivity and supporting wellbeing and work-life balance.
- Evolve the digital and technical support environments in line with our strategic priorities, identifying and addressing gaps in provision and meeting the expectations of students and colleagues.
- Build in standards, compliance and cyber security by design, ensuring data is protected, available and fit-for-purpose.
- Enable the secure, equitable, inclusive and easy adoption of emerging or maturing technologies, including AI while ensuring operational robustness where these are deployed in core processes.
Data is a strategic asset that underpins all that we do. From research and education to operations and planning, our ability to access, understand and use data effectively and with integrity is essential to our ambition. Our aim is to create a data environment that is secure, accessible and trusted, and that enables everyday decision making within a culture where data is used responsibly and confidently. To achieve this, we will:
- Treat data as a core institutional asset, with a focus on improving data quality, increasing access to trusted data and embedding data-informed thinking across the University.
- Strengthen our data foundations by improving governance, security and stewardship.
- Build capability across the University by providing tools, training and support to help colleagues and students use data more effectively.
- Use data to drive insight and innovation by integrating analytics into business processes, supporting evidence-based decision making and enabling new approaches to research, teaching and service delivery
Our estate plays a vital role in enabling our purpose of delivering world-class learning and teaching, research and engagement through the provision of spaces that are adaptable to future needs, support innovation, encourage collaboration and promote wellbeing. Its future development will be sustainable, inclusive and future-focused, reflecting our ambition and responsibilities to the communities in which we reside. To achieve this, we will:
- Support financial and environmental sustainability by improving space utilisation, reducing the scale and cost of the estate and consolidating activity where appropriate.
- Proactively decarbonise through a coordinated programme that addresses the most significant sources of emissions across our estate.
- Improve the performance of our estate by investing in new buildings and by tackling the condition and functionality of existing buildings and spaces.
Our University in 2036
We have set out an ambitious ten‑year strategy reaffirming our identity as a broad‑based, research‑intensive, world‑changing university, grounded in four core values:
- Ambition and excellence
- Curiosity and discovery
- Integrity and truth
- An inclusive community
We recognise that the future landscape is inherently volatile and challenging. We will build agility to enable the University to adapt to changes over the next ten years and beyond, whether these are demographic or political, financial or technological, national or international, sectoral or societal, while still staying true to our overall purpose and strategy.
We will strengthen research quality and impact, and the innovation that flows from it, deliver a sector‑leading educational experience, embed a high‑performance values‑led culture and deepen local and global partnerships.
By 2036, the University will be characterised by more focused, challenge‑led research, a thriving innovation ecosystem, a simplified, impactful education portfolio, a globally recognised student experience, an expanded international presence and streamlined, digitally enabled services.
More fundamentally, we will have enhanced our position as one of the world’s great broad-based, research-intensive universities and strengthened our credentials as a university for the world.