We are facing an age of unprecedented opportunity and challenge. Society is being transformed by digital and communications technology and is itself transforming the very environment which supports all life on earth. From a communications and transport perspective, society is more connected than ever before, but requires new ways of working together and resolving differences.
Building on the traditions of the past, we are a university of the future, connected and connecting, engaged and engaging, committed to a sustainable future built on a healthy biosphere.
We will contribute to this sustainable future through our graduates, through our research and through the way we conduct our business. As transactional activities will be increasingly handled electronically, human activity will revolve more and more around creativity, strategic and critical thinking, problem solving and communication.
To respond to these key trends innovatively and proactively, we will adopt four UCD strategic themes which will permeate everything that we do as an institution, guiding the development of our students, our research and our University community.
We will ensure that every member of our community is enabled to achieve their full potential, and we will embrace the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion so that no one is excluded.
Over the last five years UCD has made remarkable progress towards the objectives of the UCD Strategy 2015-2020. We have achieved improvements in student satisfaction; research quality, quantity and impact; student-faculty ratio and gender equality. Notable achievements have been made in the area of engagement, a central theme of that strategy. We have seen extraordinary increases in alumni engagement, industry engagement and global engagement, and a significant increase in philanthropic support. These achievements, made against a backdrop of reduced government funding for Irish universities, were enabled by our building of non-exchequer income.
During the period of the last strategy we moved to a five-year planning horizon, with our projections of student and faculty numbers extended to ten years, informing a strategic campus development plan. We adopted a financial strategy which will see our student-faculty ratio reduced and our infrastructure needs addressed over the period of this strategy. Hence several enablers of this strategy are already well developed. A number of objectives of the last strategy have been substantially achieved, while others, with significant progress already made, remain current and have been retained in this updated strategy.
The progress of UCD over the last five years is a credit to all the members of our University community and to our partners and supporters. We look forward to your continued support of UCD as we embark on this next chapter in the history of a truly extraordinary University.
Our mission is to contribute to the flourishing of Dublin, Ireland, Europe and the world through the excellence and impact of our research and scholarship, the quality of our graduates and our national and global engagement; providing a supportive community in which every member of the University is enabled to achieve their full potential.
Reflecting our pursuit of achievement and success.
Reflecting our commitment to justice and equality.
As Ireland’s Global University, UCD will rise to the global challenges of the future by pursuing four strategic themes: Creating a Sustainable Global Society; Transforming through Digital Technology; Building a Healthy World; and Empowering Humanity. These strategic themes will shape our research, our teaching and learning and the way we behave and function as a community and as an institution.
We will be truly global in our comprehensive range of disciplines, in the reach and impact of our research and innovation, in our holistic educational experience, in the diversity of our University community, and in our engagement with all sectors of society and with all regions of the world. We will be distinctive in our welcoming and inclusive community, our commitment to innovation and justice, and our agility. We will bring the best of the world to Ireland, and the best of Ireland, including its distinct cultures, to the world.
UCD will continue to be an excellent research-intensive university with global standing and impact where a preeminent, diverse and inclusive scholarly community of students, faculty and staff work in partnership to contribute to the development of Ireland and the world.
Our graduates will be imbued with a knowledge of the past, be capable of critically interrogating the present and of imagining and realising the future. Through a holistic student-focused and research-led educational experience which has both breadth and depth, they will be equipped with the knowledge, skills, experience and attitudes they need to flourish in present and future Irish and global societies.
To focus our contribution to global challenges we have identified four strategic themes. These themes will shape our research, our teaching and learning and the way we behave and function as a community and as an institution.
To achieve our vision for 2024 we will pursue four core objectives. Pursuit of these core objectives will be underpinned by six key enablers.