Just over two weeks ago we launched our global conversation to shape our strategy for 2025 and beyond. I’ve been delighted by the way in which colleagues from all five of our campuses have engaged and shared their ideas. Within the first week we received over 100 votes and the strategy 2025 site has been visited 1,783 times. We’ve also had inputs from colleagues, students and alumni and I’m keen for that trend to continue as we move forward.
Our first question was about our ambitions for the future and we shared six ideas that had emerged from other workshops and conversations. The results to date show that the wellbeing agenda and work-based learning have gained the most traction. We’ll look to reflect this feedback as we develop the strategy. We also asked for other ideas and this threw up some provocative suggestions that ranged from establishing a medical school to focusing on the Swiss real estate market. There were however, some recurring themes. Work-based learning and Wellbeing also scored highly here but three other ideas came up again and again. First, as a multi-campus university we should look to capitalise on the Go Global experience for staff and students. Second, that we should look to enhance our online activities. Third, that we should focus clearly on the values that make Heriot-Watt great and that bind us together to create as one response said “a real sense of community”.
New Advisory Group
We’ve now established an Advisory Group to help draw in views from every part of the University. You’ll find the membership of the Advisory Group here. Whilst we’d be delighted to hear more of your views on our ambitions, we’re now turning our attention to the University’s distinctive heritage, values and attributes.
Thanks for getting us off to a great start. Please continue to participate in our global conversation and encourage others to do so too.
Our Heritage
In developing our new strategy, we want to engage as many people as possible in helping shape the future of Heriot-Watt University. Looking back to our origins in 1821, it is clear that we are educational pioneers. As we approach the 200th anniversary of our foundation, we want to look confidently toward the future. Our pioneering foundations connect directly to our aim of becoming a truly global, truly integrated, multi-campus university.
As the world’s first Mechanics Institute we established a new type of education targeted to meet the needs of local employers and simultaneously to offer individuals the chance to acquire skills that would make a difference to their careers. As pioneers we introduced the world’s first online MBA and we now offer students the chance to internationalise their education through our Go Global programme.
As we work on Strategy 2025 we’re keen to hear from you about those aspects of our heritage that we need to retain and enhance. Equally, it is timely to consider those parts of our heritage that we might need to adjust to better reflect changes in the world of education and research. As we look ahead to the next 200 years of the Heriot-Watt story, please help us curate our heritage.
Professor Richard A. Williams
Principal and Vice-Chancellor
Submit your ideas in the poll displayed to the right on a desktop or below on a mobile device.
I attended the Orkney Campus workshop when a large number of points were made and it was, I think, a very worthwhile afternoon. I want to add emphasis to a practical point about our challenge in research (p12 of the Workshop Briefing). Under ‘Our Challenge’ the point is made that “Funding has moved away from investigator led grants…..” continuing on about the strength of competition, expertise, ‘grand challenges’ and partnerships. This is a hugely welcome but belated realization which our many grant competitors/partners have acted upon many moons ago. Like everything else in the strategy the proof of the pudding will be in the associated KPIs of the implementation plan. Our present research KPIs are the very antithesis of this realization and incentivize the investigator led grants of the old market. Updated KPIs are an urgent priority to incentivize participation in the large partnership and consortium research projects of today. The extended commitment of the staff at all levels must be recognized (not just the PIs) as must the low success rate which is compensated by the huge rewards of those that do succeed. I look forward to them.
An interesting approach to retooling – ‘Rebuilding Wharton’s Undergraduate Curriculum – Developing a new program with a focus on leadership was a labor of love for faculty, staff, and students.’ http://whartonmagazine.com/issues/spring-2018/rebuilding-whartons-undergraduate-curriculum/#sthash.X2RHEQnZ.4GEQdkrK.dpbs
Heriot-Watt University is one of UK’s most international Universities with more that 60% of its students studying outside the UK and a third of those studying inside the UK come from abroad. With two fully fledged international campuses, the numerous partnerships that we have across the world and the recently awarded recognition of the “International University of the year” what else there is to aspire to for our international outlook and strategies?!
None of the above however is or can remain to be unique to Heriot-Watt. The number of Universities with established international campuses continues to increase and so is their percentage of income from transnational and international students. What’s unique about Heriot-Watt University is the global mindset that we have recently started to develop across the institution and in our various locations. It is about building one integrated University globally.
One of the fruits of this is the launch of the Go-Global initiative which has seen a year on year increase in the students moving between the campuses. This is giving Heriot-Watt students a unique opportunity to experience different cultures and environments and to develop the global skills necessary for todays and future challenges. A significant opportunity still exist in staffing mobility and even more so in accessing and nurturing the wider talent. For Heriot-Watt to step up its impact on societies, it needs to access the best and most committed minds. Our global footprint remain untapped and unrealized from that perspective.
All of the above does not come without the associated challenges. A decade ago, before the financial crisis, globalization was seen as the panacea for all the ills of the world economy. The financial crisis ended the love affair and today we have Brexit, wall building and perhaps even trade wars. These challenges will not be unique to Heriot-Watt but the scale of our future ambition will shape our resilience and determination.
I invite colleagues to share their thoughts about what should our future international aspirations be.
Research-led producing real-world solutions for real problems?
In our last strategic plan we stated that our Vision was to be world leading, within all its specialist areas of science, engineering, technology and business; that our Mission was to create and exchange knowledge for the benefit of society and that we would strengthen research intensity in fields of economic and societal benefit. These statements are completely in line with our heritage as the first Mechanics Institute in the world founded in 1821 to provide technical education for the working classes. Heriot-Watt is a University where our research impacts directly on many aspects of society. However it is instructive for us to reflect on what ‘real world solutions for real problems’ means for the University in the modern age, with campuses in 5 locations around the globe. This debate is not a new one in academia as recent posts to The Conversation reflect on issues what impact is in an increasingly inter-dsicplinary world (see https://theconversation.com/research-does-solve-real-world-problems-experts-must-work-together-to-make-it-happen-42824); or on how fundamental research is relevant and necessary for real world solutions (see https://theconversation.com/tracing-the-links-between-basic-research-and-real-world-applications-82198); or even if we are solving the right problem (see https://hbr.org/2012/09/are-you-solving-the-right-problem). Increasingly we are asked to demonstrate the impact of our research, where impact is defined by the research councils as “The demonstrable contribution that research makes to academic advances, across and within disciplines, including significant advances in understanding, methods, theory and application”.
So what does this active debate in academia and society mean for Heriot-Watt and our future strategy?
Well to misquote Albert Einstein “If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it”, I would like you to consider the question posed in the title and consider and reflect what it means for our and your future strategy.
From its very start, the institution that would become HW university had a focus on diversity and making education accessible to all: to mature students engaged in full time work, or lacking previous education, to the underprivileged and to the underrepresented. As the first institute of Mechanics in the world, HW was a pioneer in accessible technical and scientific education, for the benefit of society as a whole, and at the forefront of promoting diversity: the Watt Institute (as it was called), responding to the advocacy of Mary Burton, opened its doors to women in 1869, 23 years before Scottish universities.
We must honour and continue this heritage. Opening our doors to diversity and making quality education accessible in our multi-campus institution of today is a challenge in the same spirit. In reaching out to multi-cultural communities in different parts of the world, we can exploit our experience but also the potential of our multiply-connected institution, always awake somewhere, used to remote as well as local interaction. We can truly aspire to support and empower through education a vast, global, diverse student community. What should we do to rise to this challenge?
The world around us is changing, urbanisation, age demographics, the internet of things and the geopolitical landscape will all impact on how, where and what we do. To be resilient, our work practices have to change too – the skill set we need will expand to enable collaborative working around the world. We have a strong history at HWU of our graduates being very successful in their chosen careers and we want this to continue.
Amal, graduated from HWU in 2025 and describes a typical day – I get woken up by Alexa (or equivalent) who tells me that the outside temp is 24 degrees, my driverless electric car is ready and the air con is set for 18 degrees inside temp. The route to work has been changed as there is a traffic incident, the detour will mean I arrive 15 mins late for my first meeting – it has been moved to 9.30, those attending have already been notified.
Frederick in Europe, Mohammed in Saudi, Sammy in Australia and Lucy in Montreal are all dialing in. Lucy’s updated document has been shared on the cloud, Mohamed has already recorded some feedback which Fredrick has agreed to action. All of this is available for me to access on my touch screen. I have a look, add a couple of comments for Sammy to pick up, and decide its time for breakfast.
Sounds crazy? Well this is not far away, we need to prepare our graduates for this future work environment – the Fourth Industrial Revolution (https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond/) is here and our working day will look very different.
That means our focus will be on solving complex problems in multidisciplinary teams located around the world. A four generational work force (http://www.greatplacetowork.co.uk/storage/documents/Multigenerational_Workforce_Report_081116.pdf) will build on the strengths each brings to the table, a large talent pool working together.
Disrupters will challenge how, where and when we work (https://ww2.rics.org/uk/wbef/). At HWU we can provide our graduates with the experience of working globally in multidisciplinary teams, using technology to enhance knowledge and develop critical thinking to solve complex problems at a local and global scale.
The future is exciting and our 2025 Strategy must ensure the future for all HWU graduates has no boundaries. What do you think are we up for the challenge?
‘The Second Wave of MOOC Hype is Here, and it’s Online Degrees’ – https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-05-21-the-second-wave-of-mooc-hype-is-here-and-it-s-online-degrees
– How will the Heriot Watt strategy respond to this trend?
What is the likely impact of the Internet of Things on the HWU strategy?
There are at least 5 main areas where the IoT might create new opportunities:
1 New business models
2 Real time information on mission critical systems
3 Diversification of revenue streams
4 Global visibility
5 Efficient, intelligent operations
It will be important to think about the implications of this trend – https://amp.fastcompany.com/40565547/why-some-companies-are-dropping-degree-requirements-in-hiring
Indeed Graham … and the Graduate Apprentice model that is being rolled out by Skills Development Scotland also reflects a changing landscape with greater choice of how and where to study but less thought about whether to study. Heriot-Watt has been an early mover in Graduate Apprenticeships which both fits with our heritage and has gained recognition from Skills Development Scotland for being in the vanguard of a new way of working with industry. Thanks for the pointer.
There’s much for Heriot-Watt to be proud of and it is clear that our university is changing. One of the heritage issues that changes as a consequence of being multi Campus now is our views on timings. Everything from meeting times that cover time zones whilst trying to respect core working hours in each location through to whether we still need lectures to start at quarter past the hour in Edinburgh.
So many of our plans are about changing, modernising, joining ourselves up and using technology to deliver our learning, research and services, central to achieving that is listening, Heriot Watt should become best in the world at being “the listening university” listening to our students and their needs, to our business and industry partners and most importantly to each other to truly capture our heritage which started with a conversation and two leaders (Horner and Bryson) listening to each other and their respective needs.