Thursday, June 18, 2009

Kingston University


Kingston University is a corporate body created by statute1 (PDF). The Chancellor2, Sir Peter Hall, is the ceremonial head of the University. This is an honorary post with no executive or strategic duties. The Board of Governors3 decides how the University is run. The Vice-Chancellor4, Sir Peter Scott5, implement's the Board's decisions on a day-to-day basis. The Deputy Vice Chancellor, Professor Mary Stuart6, and a number of Pro-Vice Chancellors help Sir Peter Scott5. The Executive Board7 advises the Vice Chancellor on key issues. The seven faculties8 of academic staff are divided into schools. The central and support departments9 help staff and students. The academic year10 is divided into three terms. Download the University's organisational chart11 (PDF) for more information. The University's missionOur mission and vision12 is to promote participation in Higher Education. The University's Strategic Plan13 assesses our progress and looks to the future. The Campus Development Plan14 is a multi-million pound investment in our estate to benefit students, staff and the local community. The University policies and regulations15 ensure we maintain high standards. Other bodies the University works withOur partner institutions16 include further education colleges. Our partnerships with LifeLong Learning Networks17 offer new progression routes for vocational learners. Our business and industry links18 provide a bridge between education and commerce. Local community19 involvement ranges from cultural events to sporting facilities. Through these networks, we aim to widen access to education and collaborate with key stakeholders.

Our missionThe mission of Kingston University is to:
promote participation in Higher Education, which it regards as a democratic entitlement strive for excellence in learning, teaching and research realise the creative potential and fire the imagination of all its members equip its students to make effective contributions to society and the economy Our visionThe University of the new millennium will occupy a key role in the production of wealth of all kinds – social, cultural and economic. It will be the pivotal institution in both the learning society and the knowledge economy.
The University faces new challenges – from rival knowledge institutions that do not subscribe to its liberal traditions and its commitment to critical learning, and from those who resist too close an engagement with society and the economy.
It also has new opportunities:
to develop the radical ideas and expert knowledge on which future society will depend while continuing to celebrate a liberal academic culture to establish a democratic entitlement to lifelong participation in higher education while safeguarding high standards in teaching and research The University is both the promoter of innovation and the protector of tradition. In an increasingly uncertain and volatile world it is both:
a dynamic change-agent creating new knowledge, moulding new skills and shaping new social identities an institution of stability, consolidation and discrimination The University, as a public institution, is confronted by new accounts of the public good and, as an autonomous institution, must engage in exciting new markets for higher education. It is against this background that Kingston University has developed its vision for the twenty-first century:
Kingston University is a comprehensive university – in its range of teaching and research programmes, in the diversity of its student population and in the variety of its engagements with society, culture and the economy. Kingston University is a university that defines its mission in terms of future possibilities rather than past roles, and transcends the historical hierarchies and demarcations of British higher education. Kingston University is a "knowledge" institution and a learning organisation. It recognises the key role knowledge will play in social and economic development in the new millennium while celebrating its traditional, and enduring, role in creating and sustaining human culture. A learning cultureKingston University seeks to establish a learning culture in which teaching and research of the highest quality are able to flourish equally. It aims to combine respect for traditional academic values with enthusiasm for novelty and innovation in higher education.
It remains committed to offering a comprehensive range of teaching and research programmes, to reflect the universality of knowledge and the vital connections between academic disciplines. But it is also committed to:
coherence, in its commitment to developing fundamental intellectual skills in all its students maintaining the highest possible academic standards offering all students a consistent and a rewarding, experience It recognises no contradiction between the need for critical learning and the demands of professional formation. It is as committed to providing its students with competences for employability as to developing the intellectual, expressive and social skills required to take full advantage of all their future life-chances.
Students firstKingston University puts students at the heart of its enterprise. It is committed to offering them the maximum degree of choice of academic programmes consistent with the need to maintain a rigorous and disciplined approach to higher education, partly through the development of a flexible but coherent modular system.
It is also determined to provide students with a satisfying experience outside the classroom by providing a comprehensive range of other services and support and by encouraging the development of a strong students' union.
An open universityKingston University seeks to be an open university. It is determined to encourage the widest possible participation, especially from individuals and groups hitherto excluded from the benefits of higher education.
It is committed to making the best possible use of new learning technologies, but also integrating these technologies with more traditional teaching methods in order to make its academic programmes more accessible to a wider range of students.
It welcomes the opportunity to put the knowledge it generates through research and teaching to work, in order to secure social improvement and to promote economic growth. It recognises its obligation to play a leading role in promoting intellectual and artistic culture in the local community and region, through public lectures, exhibitions, concerts and other means.
Working in partnershipKingston University seeks to work in partnership. It recognises that learning is a joint enterprise in which teachers and students (especially mature or postgraduate students) share experiences and perspectives.
It is committed to working with its partner Colleges not only to widen access and promote progression but also to provide a co-ordinated range of educational services and, in particular, to stimulate lifelong learning.
It rejects wasteful and selfish competition within higher education and instead aims to collaborate with other universities and colleges in south west London and Surrey. It welcomes the opportunity to build wider "coalitions of learning" with further education colleges, other higher education institutions, business and community organisations.
The University communityKingston University is its people. Their success is its success. It is committed to being a community in which the views of all its members – whether academic or non-academic staff, teachers or students, senior staff or junior – are treated with respect.
It accepts its responsibility to promote happiness and harmony in the work-place and to recognise the career, and other, aspirations of all its members. It believes that the liberal, critical and democratic values, which it celebrates and seeks to inculcate in its students, must also be reflected in its culture as an institution.
It recognises no contradiction between collegiality and leadership, effective management and democratic participation.
The University as an organisationKingston University seeks to operate in as business-like and cost-effective manner as possible. It recognises its responsibility to:
make the best use of scarce public resources, for which there are many other worthy claimants (not least in other parts of education) establish clear strategic priorities develop the most efficient academic and business processes to implement and evaluate these strategies secure the best (academic) value for money As a public institution it is committed to advancing the public good as well as the individual interests of students and other stake-holders.
But it recognises the diversity of markets for higher education, and embraces entrepreneurial opportunities. It seeks to be a flexible and adaptable organisation that does not allow present structures to inhibit its capacity to meet future needs.
The University in the worldKingston University celebrates the universality of knowledge, and of the human condition, through its teaching and research. It promotes understanding among nations by welcoming international students and by aspiring to offer all its students a more international curriculum.
It recognises its responsibility to prepare its students for global careers in the twenty-first century. It is committed to strengthening, and extending, its existing collaborative links with higher education institutions and other organisations outside the United Kingdom, especially in Europe and in the developing world.

1 comment:

  1. You brought my memories sharing Kingston University! i was a student and enjoyed every bit of my education and the experience you get in this Kingston University is lovely!


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