Achieving Excellence

Excellence indicates the very highest quality, significantly exceeding the norm, as reflected by the 'Made in Sheffield' stamp. It reflects a refusal to accept the ordinary. We aim to create an environment that supports and promotes success, encouraging staff and students to achieve and excel.

What are our goals?		Our priorities up to 2015	We will do this by...	Key measures of our success that we can benchmark our performance against (KPI number)
1	To be recognised worldwide for excellence in research-led learning and teaching and for research and innovation of the highest international quality.	We need to: • Demonstrate the distinctiveness of our course and research portfolio. • Enhance our position in external assessments and peer review of academic performance for both research and learning and teaching activities. • Increase our market share of external income.	• Placing equal value on learning and teaching and research and innovation in our academic strategies, policies and organisational practices. • Identifying what makes our portfolio and our graduates distinctive, and communicating that distinctiveness to prospective students and sponsors. • Increasing our profile and promoting the Sheffield Academic amongst global peers and prospective partners. • Placing the Sheffield Academic concept at the heart of how we recruit, support and develop high quality academic staff. • Recruiting and retaining academic staff of the highest quality. • Giving those staff the facilities and support they need to stay at the forefront of their disciplines, and encouraging them to collaborate with partners of internationally leading status. • Preparing for a REF 2014 performance that exceeds the RAE 2008 outcomes.	• Average tariff score on entry (KPI 8). • Student satisfaction (overall satisfaction from NSS) (KPI 11). • Percentage of First and 2:1 degrees awarded (KPI 12). • Research income per academic FTE (£s) (KPI 16). • Research Excellence Framework (REF) performance – methodology to be confirmed (KPI 18).
2	To be recognised worldwide for an outstanding and distinctive student experience which produces graduates who are in demand.	We need to: • Ensure the highest quality of learning and teaching is delivered throughout the University. • Achieve greater national and international recognition of the strength and value of our approach to research-led teaching. • Promote the attributes of the Sheffield Graduate worldwide. • Prepare our students for the international labour market. • Achieve greater recognition, amongst employers worldwide, of the quality of our graduates.	• Enhancing the welcome and induction for all students. • Ensuring all students are taught by inspirational researchers. • Investing in research facilities to ensure that we teach in a research-rich, well resourced and inspirational setting. • Preparing course and portfolio information that demonstrates our claims of distinctiveness and excellence. • Communicating the attributes of the Sheffield Graduate and the distinctiveness of the Sheffield learning experience. • Encouraging students to take advantage of social and cultural opportunities outside their studies. • Providing learning experiences that equip students for work. • Evaluating and promoting our success in fulfilling the knowledge and skills requirements of national and international employers.	• Number of UG students per academic FTE (KPI 5). • Student satisfaction (KPI 11). • Percentage of graduates in further study or employment (KPI 14).
3	Attract and retain the best students, staff and partners.	We need to: • Raise our profile as a high quality university amongst prospective students, staff and partners. • Attract international researchers and people holding personal fellowships. • Deliver a PhD experience that is recognised internationally for its quality and distinctiveness. • Provide opportunities for academic staff to achieve the attributes of the Sheffield Academic.	• Effective communication and relationship building, promoting our successes amongst national and international opinion formers and key peer groups. • Establishing a national and international reputation as a university where academic ambition is nurtured. • Creating high-quality strategic partnerships for learning and teaching and for research and innovation. • Reviewing and defining our access commitment to make sure we attract students of the highest academic ability from under-represented groups. • Placing market research portfolio replenishment and recruitment of the best students at the centre of our development activities. • Meeting the career development needs of academic staff in the context of the Sheffield Academic concept.	• Percentage of staff who are proud of working for the University (KPI 25). • Percentage of first degree entrants from low participation neighbourhoods (KPI 10).