Annual Review

Our rapid and sustained success has helped position Lancaster as one of the UK’s best universities and during 2017 we have extended our reach and influence through exceptional performance.

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Vice Chancellor's Review

It is a privilege to be the Vice-Chancellor of a university that is so solidly rooted in academic and collegiate values.

Our strengths in research and teaching combine with our vibrant, diverse community, international partner campuses and research collaborations to position Lancaster as a truly distinctive university.

Our strategy is to become truly globally significant – a leader in higher education and a university which engages locally and internationally to add to knowledge and address the issues that concern us as a society. Over the past 12 months we have extended our reach and influence through exceptional work.

We were delighted to learn that Lancaster was selected as the Times and Sunday Times University of the year 2018. It has also taken the top spot for Best Campus University and continues to be rated the Best University in the North West.

Lancaster has been the top university in the North West of England for over a decade and this year rose three places to finish sixth place in the Times and Sunday Times league table, securing it a top 10 ranking for the second consecutive year and its highest ever ranking.

Earlier this year the University was also awarded Gold in the Teaching Excellence Framework – the new government-led teaching ratings published in June. This is for delivering an outstanding learning environment and excellent employment outcomes for its students. This result puts Lancaster in a small group of newly emerging universities who can claim to be genuinely elite – ranked highly for both research and for excellent teaching.

Our international profile advanced this year through the second intake into Lancaster University College with Beijing Jiaotong University (BJTU) China based in Weihai, Shandong Province. This year almost 90 students from Lancaster University Ghana have graduated in the inaugural degree ceremony at the West African campus. Lancaster is the first UK university to have established its own campus in sub-Saharan Africa in a partnership with Transnational Education. The new campus aims to produce graduates who have the skills and knowledge to meet the needs of Ghanaian society and the wider African economy. Plans are underway for a new campus to accommodate predicted growth in student numbers. We continue to explore new opportunities to extend our teaching and research links around the world and were pleased with the GCRF-funded RECIRCULATE project looking for safe sustainable water solutions in Africa was funded this year.

Lancaster University’s role as an economic anchor and driver of innovation has been recognised nationally and we have helped thousands of businesses grow, especially in the North of England.

This year we announced a major investment that will help improve advances in health care and significantly contribute to the regional economy. The Health Innovation Campus (HIC), funded by the University and through the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership's Growth Deal Fund and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), will be focused on tackling the biggest challenge in healthcare today - helping people to live as long and as healthily as possible. The construction of the £41 million first phase of the building, adjacent to the University's campus, has now fully started on site, with completion in 2019.

Our students continue to be at the heart of everything we do. Some of our greatest strengths include overall student satisfaction and employability. Following the vote to leave the EU, I have assured all our current and future students and our staff – whatever their background – that Lancaster is a welcoming community that includes people from 142 countries, and this will not change.

Professor Mark E. Smith

Vice-Chancellor

Portrait of Professor Mark E. Smith the Vice-Chancellor of Lancaster University

University of the Year

Lancaster University has been named University of the Year by The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018.

It has also taken the top spot for Best Campus University, and maintains its long-held position as Best University in the North West.

Commenting on the decision to make Lancaster The Times and The Sunday Times University of the Year and Campus University of the Year, Alastair McCall, editor of The Sunday Times Good University Guide, said: "Rising to its highest ever ranking in our league table this year, Lancaster is at the top of its game. It knows the university it wants to be and as a result makes a distinctive offer to students.

"The modern interpretation of a collegiate structure, coupled with flexible degree programmes and academics committed to teaching as well as research has been recognised in consistently good outcomes in the annual National Student Survey. Students love Lancaster.

"Dynamic course content and structure, plus the opportunities many students get to work abroad, is reflected in outstanding graduate prospects once they leave. In the 19 years of our University of the Year awards, there has rarely been a more clear-cut winner."

Lancaster University Vice-Chancellor Professor Mark E. Smith said: “Staff and students at Lancaster have always known there is something very special about this university and I am so proud of all our achievements. Our track record of success proves excellence in teaching and research can go hand in hand, one need not detract from the other, in fact, quite the reverse.

“Anyone visiting Lancaster University would be struck by the beautiful space surrounding our campus and the friendliness of our diverse colleges, but that this is also a university with a proud international outlook, offering our students the skills and opportunities they need to flourish anywhere in the world, with a commitment to social inclusion. I’d like to thank the staff, students and the City of Lancaster for being such an important part of our success story.”

12 Months of Outstanding Achievements

Lancaster's success is due to its strategy of continuous improvement. We foster a culture of prioritising the student experience and stimulating teaching with world class research. We strive to maintain our strong record with significant investment into staff, facilities and our vibrant campus

World Class Research

The 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) confirmed Lancaster as a world-leading research university and the only one of the eight most research intensive universities in the North of England to have had funding increased because of the quality and volume of its research. Lancaster is ranked 20th overall for impact, meaning research which has particular reach and significance.

Research With Impact

Driven by research and learning, our university brings together experts from different backgrounds to tackle global problems that impact lives.

Highlights of the Year

We are a source of new thinking and practice that improves communities, lives and the economy - an international university that seeks to maximise our local and regional societal and economic impact. We also are well positioned to meet the UK productivity challenge.

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