Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Convocation Saturday 15 June 2013

1. Faculty of Humanities and Social SciencesConvocationSaturday 15 June 2013 Professor Eric Cross Dean of Cultural Affairs

2. Strategic Challenges for 2012/13 and Beyond During 2012/13 HaSS focused on critical tasks required to: • Achieve & sustain research excellence • Improve our international reputation with investment in new academic, including professorial, appointments • Deliver a high quality student experience across our undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes • Develop the relationship with Durham, embedding the Social Sciences Doctoral Training Centre within faculty structures and bidding for a new DTC in arts and humanities (c. £15m) with Durham and Queen’s University, Belfast

3. Cont’d • Deliver high quality improvements to the estate, including Armstrong, Fine Art and Building Science buildings • Launch the Newcastle Institute for Social Renewal and Newcastle Institute for Creative Arts Practice • Develop international strategic partnerships • Maintain a strong financial performance During 2013/14 we will, inter alia, continue to deliver on these tasks

4. Challenges in Research • Ensuring uniformly high level of performance across the Faculty in terms of quality of publications and REF submissions • Developing ambition and capability for responding to research funding agencies’ increasing focus on large- scale, inter-disciplinary collaborative projects • Developing a strategic approach to the rapid and continuing development of the “impact agenda” • Creating clusters of international excellence which build reputation and enable us to attract the best people through targeted recruitment strategies

5. Challenges in Learning & Teaching • Meeting rising student expectations with the £9k fees • Ensuring that students are at the heart of what we do • Variable performance in national student surveys (Media and Cultural Studies top of Guardian 2014 table) • Contact regimes and consistent delivery of our “offer” – Faculty framework for contact hours; more small group teaching; research-led teaching a strength • Volatile undergraduate recruitment: managing variability across subjects (Law, Geography and Fine Art up locally; Modern Languages, Archaeology and Music down nationally)

6. Current Undergraduate Recruitment Position Data up to 30 April 2013 compared with same point in 2012 • Applications + 1,528 (14.2%) • Offers + 1,978 (23.0%) of which: • Firm accepts + 181 (9.4%) • Insurance accepts + 271 (26.2%) • Declines + 724 (21.2%) • International applications + 455 (24.3%) • Offers + 426 (38.2%); firm accepts + 101 (63.5%) • Increased focus on visit days, post application open days and conversion activities across all schools • New programmes: English Literature & Creative Writing; undergraduate Translating and Interpreting; e-learning provision in Heritage Management and Tourism

7. Specific Faculty Objectives • Lead the University in developing Social Renewal as a societal challenge theme • Develop an internationally recognised Business School (EQUIS re-accreditation achieved for a further three years; entering into final stage of AACSB accreditation) • Deliver a high profile and internationally recognised Doctoral Training Centre • Establish the Newcastle Institute for Creative Arts Practice (NICAP) and realise the full potential of capabilities in distinctive areas of creative practice • Strategically strengthen and deepen international activities, projects and reputation

8. High Profile Appointments: Business School Professor John Wilson Director Strategy, Organisations and Society Research Group Andrea Whittle Professor of Management and Organisation Studies John Sillince Professor of Strategy Frank Mueller Professor of Strategy & International Business

9. High Profile Appointments: Business School Professor Kathryn Haynes Northern Society Chair in Accounting Alan McKinlay Professor of Human Resource Management Steve Vincent Professor of Human Resource Management Markus Blut Professor of Marketing

10. High Profile Appointments: Other Schools John Bowers Professor of Creative Digital Practice Qian Jun Director of the Confucius Institute and Professor of Chinese Studies Mark Tewdwr-Jones Professor of Planning Danny MacKinnon Professor of Urban and Regional Development and Economic Geography T.T. Arvind Professor of Law

11. Newcastle Institute for Social Renewal (NISR) How can individuals, communities and societies thrive when faced with rapid, transformational change? Professor Mark Shucksmith started as Director in April 2012. Progress during NISR’s first year: • Launch Year events included Great North Build, public lectures, debates, exhibitions, internal events and presentations, and honorary degrees • Extensive engagement across the University to explain NISR and to identify expertise, enthusiasm and potential. Selection of ten initial priority themes and the appointment of theme champions • External engagement, nationally and locally (eg councils, LEP, community & voluntary organisations) and profiling, including strong media coverage • Some initial impacts: Street Law; Rural Economies; Community Champions Awards; and Self-Organised Learning Environments (TED prize)

12. Launch Year

13. Launch Year

14. Confucius Institute at Newcastle University • Launch the Confucius Institute last month with events in city and appointment of Director/Professor of Chinese Studies and Co-Director • Promotion of teaching of Chinese language and culture • Development of major strategic partnership with Xiamen University involving many project strands • International profile being developed with Xiamen Strategic Relationship and Confucius Institute around cultural exchanges

15. Confucius Institute at Newcastle University

16. Newcastle Institute for Creative Arts Practice (NICAP) • To support transdisciplinary teaching (including new MA in Creative Arts Practice), research and research projects (eg Ageing Creatively) • Establish a more coherent approach to external partnerships • Strengthen PGR training for creative practice • Launch on 5 June 2013 to link into Festival of North East • Programme of events and cultural exchanges with Confucius Institute

17. Hatton Gallery Major Development Plans