Educational character
Educational character
• We are a leading modern university, driving professional and creative excellence characterised by a commitment to delivering an outstanding student experience.
• Bucks’s priorities are driven by the learning experience of the participants on our activities. We are outward-facing with a credible and vibrant portfolio which is underpinned by scholarship and applied research, and a contemporary professional and practice-based focus.
• The courses we offer are intended to prepare our graduates for employment, as well as enhancing professional competence and career opportunities for those already in employment, recognising that the pattern of employment is no longer a ‘job for life’.
• This means that we provide courses that are designed to meet the changing needs of employers as well as the changing nature of related employment markets.
• Our aim is to select as participants those who will benefit the most from working with us. These will include those from under-represented groups, those looking for second opportunities, those already in work, and those looking to develop themselves later in life. We also open up new work based sectors to provide those in them with the opportunity for higher skills development that a university such as ours can offer.
• We award a progressive range of diplomas, foundation degrees, undergraduate degrees and postgraduate taught and research degrees. Our short courses and bespoke courses also play a prominent role in our portfolio providing a wide and diverse range of potential participants and giving employers choice and flexibility.
• Given the employment focus of our courses, our programmes are developed with direct engagement with employers and accredited bodies. Our foundation degrees are developed in conjunction with the relevant Sector Skills Councils; they are strongly work based and directed towards those already in employment and wishing to develop their professional skills.
• We continue to retain elements of further education where it is directly supportive of our strategy, for example, courses such as foundation art designed to prepare students for entering the higher education sector.
• We continue to build upon a solid base of successful and long-lasting subject areas. However, using this as a foundation, we develop provision in innovative and niche areas of strength, working across traditional subject boundaries to develop inter-disciplinary provision, for example, exploiting synergies between creative and technological expertise and, where possible, also incorporating a perspective on management, leadership and entrepreneurship.
• It is the innovative and creative mix across our spectrum of expertise to create unique provision, which is our hallmark.
• Our ability to sustain this position depends on our contribution to the development of our areas of expertise through scholarship and research. Our research is in focused areas of strength, and will be applied. In the majority of cases it is about knowledge exchange and the development of evidence based professional practice or through the creation of entrepreneurship in the business sector. Our applied research and knowledge transfer activities will inform our curriculum, enable notable outputs and develop the opportunity for employer engagement. Our research degree programmes are expanding, often in partnership with employers and with other research institutions.
• Our organisational structure mirrors the external markets which we face and facilitates opportunities to work across internal organisational boundaries. We are developing an institutional culture that enables these boundaries to be treated as permeable for the purposes of course development, knowledge transfer, practice development, and curriculum enhancement.
• Externally, partnerships with employers, public sector commissioners and other educational providers, notably our strategic partner further education colleges, are fundamental to the delivery of our strategy.
• Our developing international ambitions as a new university will provide international students with focused professional and creative higher education as well as broadening the horizons of our UK students.
• The heart of the educational character of the University is our close working with industry, public services and recognised accredited bodies to give students actual working experience linked to academic study. This partnership approach keeps us relevant and up to date and ensures our students are prepared for the real life challenges of the 21st century workplace.
