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Supportive
Inclusive
Collaborative
Distinctive
Innovative
Relevant
Flexible and accessible
Sustainable

Strategic Plan
2008 | 2011

UHI Millennium Institute

Executive Office
Ness Walk
Inverness
IV3 5SQ

Tel: 01463 279000

>[
Fax: 01463 279001
Email: info@uhi.ac.uk

www.uhi.ac.uk Supportive
Inclusive
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Flexible and accessible
UHI Millennium Institute (UHI) is a limited company registered in Scotland No. 148203. Scottish Charity No. SC022228. Registered office: 12B, Ness Walk, Inverness IV3 5SQ.
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Our mission UHI strategic aims - in summary

>
>
> >
Make a transformational
To be a distinctive and contribution to the economic,
innovative regional environmental, social and
university of national cultural development of the
and international region.
significance: a university
Create excellence in learning
with a pivotal role in the
and teaching, and in research.
educational, economic,
social, cultural
Be a leading provider of
and environmental lifelong learning within
infrastructure of Scotland and beyond.
its region and which
reaches out to the Widen access to learning
people of the Highlands within the region.
and Islands and the
rest of the world Maintain good governance,
through its research leadership and management
and teaching. and ensure financial
sustainability.
Contents

Introduction from the principal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 3

The strategic environment: external analysis

Our region . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The political environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7, 9
The higher education environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9, 11

The strategic environment: internal analysis

Taught degree awarding powers and university title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Business transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Aims and strategic objectives 2008-2011 . . . . . . 15, 17, 19 - 21

Balanced scorecard of targets 2008-2011 . . . . . . . . . 22 - 23

UHI campus locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Case studies
Supportive > Karen Paterson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Inclusive > Paul Morgan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Collaborative > HI Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Distinctive > Gaelic medium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Innovative > video conferencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Relevant > courses for health professionals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Flexible and accessible > learning centres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Sustainable > courses and research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Introduction from the principal
UHI principal, Robert Cormack, celebrates our taught
degree awarding powers – a major step in establishing the
University of the Highlands and Islands.
2
UHI is a unique higher education institution.
It is a partnership of thirteen Scottish
colleges and research institutes, and
one associated institution, across the
Highlands and Islands. This means we
are able to deliver to our students all the
benefits of a tertiary institution, and it
provides Scotland with an example of how
institutional partnerships can work as one
system. We provide educational pathways
and lifelong learning opportunities to every
student. These range from well-qualified
school-leavers to students who were
once excluded from higher education by
geography and social circumstances. We
are developing research and knowledge
transfer in every partner. This is helping to
provide a ‘knowledge economy’, not just for
the Inverness area but also for fragile island
communities and other sparsely-populated
communities across the region.
From August 2008 we have had the power
to award our own degrees to the students
we teach. Taught degree awarding powers
is a major step in establishing the University
of the Highlands and Islands. We have
achieved this through our commitment
to academic quality and our record of
producing around 1500 degree graduates
by way of the Open University validation
service.
UHI is transforming the economic, social
and cultural life of the Highlands and Islands
by creating a university for the region with
national and international ambitions. UHI will
continue to develop general programmes
for providing skills, training and education
to the people of the Highlands and Islands.
We will also develop a range of degrees which strategic delivery body (SDB) for the new round
reflect the distinctive environment, history, of European funding. This will allow for the
linguistic identity and culture of the area. The possibility of up to £50m to be used over seven
knowledge economy needs a university that is years. This is welcome, but we still need to
active in carrying out research, and that has a build up more recurrent income for our future
programme for bringing intellectual products sustainability and strength.
to the marketplace and for knowledge transfer.
UHI welcomes the Scottish Government’s
We will carry out an increasing amount of
economic and skill strategies. The nature of the
research and work with other institutions −
UHI partnership, the wide area we cover, our
especially with the universities of Aberdeen,
research ambitions and our blended-learning
Edinburgh and Strathclyde. We have signed
delivery system mean we are at the very
an agreement with these universities through
heart of the strategy for a Scotland which is
which they mentor UHI to research strength
“wealthier and fairer, smarter, healthier, safer
as a precondition of university title.
and stronger and greener”. UHI is already
We have achieved significant increases in making a major contribution to this future for
student numbers over the past five years the Highlands and Islands and for Scotland as
without a corresponding increase in funding. a whole. We will continue to press for UHI to
We have set ambitious growth targets both become a university as a matter of urgency
for the lifetime of this plan and looking ahead and this will add to our ability to deliver these
to 2015. We must continue to attract more objectives.
degree students so that we can continue to
This strategic plan, approved by the UHI board
offer the breadth and volume of subjects and
of governors in September 2008, sets out our
degree programmes appropriate for a regional
aims and the critical success factors which
university with national and international
will ensure their delivery. We will measure our
ambitions. We need an increase in the Scottish
success and report annually to our board over
funding council funded student numbers
the life of the plan.
allocated to UHI in order to maintain the
number of higher national students and to
increase the number of degree students. This
will assist us in achieving financial sustainability.

Achieving this growth requires significant

pump-priming funding in line with other
Scottish universities. We need facilities and
estates fit for the flexible styles of learning and
Professor Robert J Cormack FRSA, FRSE
teaching of a modern university and we face
the additional challenges of delivering these Principal
facilities across a vast geographic region.
UHI Millennium Institute
We are proud to have achieved the status of

3
Supportive UHI

Karen Paterson, 22
BSc (Hons) sustainable rural development
Lews Castle College UHI

When she left school Karen chose to study close to home and achieved a first-class honours degree with UHI. Now she is
reinvesting her skills and knowledge locally to help the communities she grew up with become greener.

Karen is a first-class honours graduate who studied
for her degree through Lews Castle College UHI
She lives in Oban and works as the education officer
for ALIenergy, the Argyll, Lomond and the Islands
Energy Agency, a charitable organisation helping
local communities benefit from energy efficiency and
renewable energy schemes She grew up in Argyll
and Bute and accessed her degree course remotely
through Dunstaffnage learning centre
“I did the rural development course entirely online with
some video conferencing and audio classes, although
the tutors were always on hand to help me This study
method enabled me to be independent and I got myself
a part-time job - so I was learning and earning at the
same time
“Now I’m in a great job that I really enjoy All my family
and friends are in Argyll and Bute – I’ve lived here all my
life and didn’t really want to leave If it wasn’t for UHI, I
may have had no choice ”

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The strategic environment: external analysis
Our region
We aspire to be an agent of further transformational
change for our region. The Highlands and Islands
of Scotland have already been transformed from a
region of low economic activity, high unemployment and
population decline. Now it is a region which enjoys an
all-time high rate of employment, where the population
has grown and which is enjoying a cultural and linguistic
renaissance. The region is increasingly seen as an
attractive place in which to live and work, and a place
where improved transport and information technology
provide opportunities for people to make lifestyle choices
not available to previous generations.
Even so our region still faces significant challenges. The
population is not growing at the same rate across the
whole region. People are still leaving some rural and
island communities for the towns within the region, due
to lack of employment and access to services in those
areas. Wage levels are below the Scottish average and
employment is too dependent on the public sector and
on primary and seasonal industries. There are too few
young people, both in terms of actual numbers and in
relation to Scotland as a whole. They leave to further
their education or career and there are currently too
few opportunities to tempt them back.
5
Highlands and Islands enterprise and other stakeholders
see UHI as a major contributor to dealing with these
challenges, namely:
• increasing the population of the Highlands and
Islands
• creating a knowledge economy and high-value jobs
• assisting the creation of new and more ambitious
businesses.
Becoming a university will greatly improve our
contribution to the region’s development:
• it will act as a ‘hallmark’ proving the quality of our
research and will help us to compete for research
funding
• it will strengthen our academic ‘brand’, attracting
local and national school leavers
• it will allow us to attract more high-quality academic
staff
• it will make us more recognisable and so help attract
other sources of income.
Inclusive UHI

Paul Morgan, 52
BSc (Hons) environment & heritage studies
Moray College UHI

Paul proves it’s never too late to learn. He returned as a mature student to do an undergraduate degree and is now working for
his masters. Studying with UHI has enabled him to change direction and develop a new career.

Paul, a former hotelier, studied at Lochaber College
UHI in Fort William for our undergraduate environment
and heritage degree through Moray College UHI He is
now manager of the National Trust for Scotland visitor
centre in Glencoe and is working towards his masters
degree in managing sustainable mountain development,
also with UHI
“I was looking for a new challenge when I sold the
hotel and studying with UHI at Lochaber was the ideal
opportunity UHI offered me a mix of good modules
and wonderful facilities, and I was able to access it all
without having to leave home – even though I felt I was
still at university
“The flexible methods of learning are particularly
suitable for people like me with family and jobs and
unable to go to a traditional university Without UHI I
would not have been able to seek pastures new ”

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The strategic environment: external analysis
The political environment
The Scottish Government has set out its overall
objectives in Principles and Priorities: The
Government’s Programme for Scotland and its skills
strategy in Skills for Scotland: A Lifelong Learning
Strategy.
According to the first document sustainable economic
growth is the main purpose of government and public
services, and it lists five strategic objectives:
Wealthier and fairer
Our research activities and the education and training
we provide are designed to create a wealthier region
by providing a more skilled workforce and developing
the knowledge economy across our region. They will
also lead to a fairer distribution of the wealth created.
Smarter
We are leaders in delivering lifelong learning. By
bringing educational opportunities to people who
had been excluded by social class and geography,
we will help ensure higher and more widely shared
achievements. Over sixty percent of our students
are mature and a similar proportion is part time. Our
delivery of lifelong learning means we can deal with the
changes in the population of the region and beyond.
We are also able to build upon our experience of
working with employers to retrain the workforce and
develop its skills to meet changing demands.
7
Healthier
We are developing significant strength in diabetes
research and in health delivery for remote and
rural practices. We are providing educational and
professional development opportunities for health
practitioners throughout Scotland using our e-learning
enabled blended learning model, for example our MSc
infection control.
Safer and stronger
We are making a significant contribution to sustaining
fragile communities and allowing them to flourish.
We are doing this by providing close-to-home access
to higher education and by leading the Highlands and
Islands learning centre strategy group. The group is
a partnership between UHI, Highlands and Islands
enterprise, LearnDirect Scotland and the local
councils, and is developing a multi-agency approach
to providing public services to rural and island
communities.
Greener
We are committed to helping develop a sustainable
Scotland through our research, commercialisation
and educational activities in environmental science,
climate change, renewable energy and sustainable
construction. We will also aim to develop our buildings
and carry out our work in an environmentally
sustainable manner.
Collaborative UHI
Professor Ian Megson at UHI’s department of diabetes welcomes the opportunity to work with local drugs development company
GlycoMar. The company was introduced to Professor Megson’s research group by UHI’s award-winning project, HI Links.
We’re helping businesses and communities in the
Highlands and Islands to develop and prosper by
increasing access to high-level academic research,
knowledge and expertise
HI Links
HI Links is a UHI SEEKIT project enabling businesses
to tap into academia to help develop new products
and processes through consultancy, contract and
collaborative research, and joint ventures Working with
more than 500 small businesses across the region -
resulting in 58 new products, 20 new processes, two
licensing deals, two spin-out companies and ten follow-
on research and development projects - it has helped
to create an estimated £20 million worth of potential
new sales
HI Links has outperformed around 20 of the country’s
top university business engagement teams and been
wealthier and fairer smarter
✔ ✔
rated by the Scottish Government as the expertise,
knowledge and innovation transfer project of the year
HI Links introduced Oban-based drug development
company GlycoMar to researchers at UHI’s
department of diabetes in Inverness This symbiotic
partnership is now evaluating the potential of new
drugs from marine organisms that could alleviate the
inflammatory aspects of diabetes, bringing benefit
to more than 200,000 diabetes sufferers across
Scotland
Dr Charles Bavington, managing director of GlycoMar,
says “GlycoMar is very happy to receive support
from HI Links which has enabled us to establish this
collaboration with Professor Megson’s group at UHI
This project provides an important opportunity for us
to test the value of our products in a new disease area,
which we hope will lead to a long term development
programme “
healthier safer and stronger greener
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The strategic environment: external analysis
Our continuing professional development (CPD) manager Euan Black engages with employers to provide relevant and flexible
training for businesses in the Highlands and Islands.
The political environment
The Scottish Government’s skills strategy looks ahead
to a Scotland where “learning and training providers
work as one system and, thanks to wider use of
technology and e-learning, barriers of geography and
rurality have been reduced.”
We are uniquely placed to help bring this about.
Through our tertiary partnership of colleges and
research institutions, we create skills training
packages from the lowest to the highest levels and
provide pathways for people to progress through
these levels. The achievement of taught degree
awarding powers is allowing us to make our provision
more flexible, which will maximise the delivery of lifelong
learning. Our use of information technology is already
delivering educational opportunities to rural and island
communities in the Highlands and Islands and beyond.
There are opportunities to develop the UHI model
further to overcome geographic challenges elsewhere.
The higher education environment
The future direction of higher education in Scotland
will be greatly influenced by the outcome of the joint
future thinking taskforce on universities, set up by the
Scottish Government and Universities Scotland.
9
We welcome the taskforce’s interim report New
Horizons: responding to the challenges of the 21st
century. There is a lot in the report with which we can
identify, including:
• confirmation that teaching and research are both
central and indispensable functions of universities
in Scotland
• recognition of the value of diversity of mission and
scale amongst universities
• recognition of the distinctive role of tertiary
partnerships
• the importance of flexibility and accessibility in
providing for the changing needs of students
throughout their working lives
• the need to engage with employers, especially in
the micro, small and medium-sized businesses
which are characteristic of the Highlands and
Islands
• the focus on skills utilisation and the employability of
graduates.
We aspire to be a university of equal choice for
students in the Highlands and Islands, and for students
everywhere wishing to study our specialist courses
based on academic and regional strengths.
Distinctive UHI

Students at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI and other campuses across the Highlands and Islands are carrying Gaelic language and
culture into the 21st century.

Our special ability to blend further and higher education
is helping us break down the traditional barriers
between learning and training in a truly distinctive
way We work collaboratively and flexibly to provide
the locally-based training our students and employers
require When our courses reflect the needs of our
communities, everyone wins
UHI students at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI and Lews
Castle College UHI are learning the Gaelic language and
studying a range of Gaelic-medium degrees in regions
where Gaelic is part of the indigenous culture At UHI
our students are engaging with a living, developing
modern language which is contributing to wider
Scottish culture through TV, radio, music and sport
In turn they are carrying the language into the 21st
century by applying their skills in the media and in the
classroom
PGDE primary teaching with
Gaelic or English
UHI reacted to the skills shortage in Gaelic-medium
primary teachers by collaborating with the University
of Strathclyde to create this unique 36-week taught
course The course is available through learning
centres, Argyll College UHI, Inverness College UHI, Lews
Castle College UHI and (for English-medium students)
through Moray College UHI
MA Gaelic with education
From September 2008 a new wave of Gaelic secondary
teachers are being trained in a pioneering project
between the University of Aberdeen and UHI Students
will be able to study the new joint honours degree in
Gaelic with education – the first of its kind in Scotland
– at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI or at Lews Castle College
UHI, with the education component delivered online by
the school of education, University of Aberdeen

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The strategic environment: external analysis

The Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) UHI undertakes world-class research at its base in Dunstaffnage.

The higher education environment

We are determined to build on our existing research
success. This includes looking for collaborative
research projects and developing a closer relationship
with the university title sponsor universities of
Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Strathclyde.
We have been successful in attracting funding to
develop our research capacity from the Scottish
funding council, Highlands and Islands enterprise,
European structural funds and from private
benefactors. Our submission to the 2007 research
assessment exercise (RAE) achieved an increase of
400% in the number of academic staff compared with
the 2001 submission.
The number of students for which we are funded
is capped and this means our potential for funding
growth is limited. This is a particular challenge for
a relatively new and developing institution such as
UHI. We must be allowed to increase our funded
student numbers so that we can meet the demand
from employers and students for local access to
higher education, and to increase the number of
young people in the region. We will also argue for
‘remoteness funding’ to apply to higher education, as
well as further education. This will help us to meet the
high cost of delivering programmes to rural and island
communities.

We will continue to press for funding to enable us to We must also continue to invest in our estates,
further develop our research and commercialisation teaching and learning infrastructure and staff to make
activities, so that we can deliver the knowledge sure that we meet the needs of students in the region
economy that the Highlands and Islands needs if it is to and attract more students from outside.
be successful.
Through our partner colleges based in the diverse
and dispersed communities of the region, we work
closely with employers in those communities. The UHI
partnership is working with businesses to develop
accessible and flexible advanced provision and to
provide them with access to the higher education
knowledge base.

11
Innovative UHI

Fiona Hyslop, cabinet secretary for education and lifelong learning, speaks to UHI staff at a recent conference. Our staff and
students are very comfortable with the latest technology and use it efficiently and effectively – with no travelling required!

Since 1997 UHI has been pioneering the use of video
conferencing in our teaching and everyday business
Now our students and staff spend less time travelling
and more time doing what matters
In the academic year 2007-2008, from our video
conferencing hub in Shetland, we managed 5,400
multi-point (three sites or more) video conferences
across the Highlands and Islands, many of them also
linking into centres outside our catchment area
About 65% of these were for teaching, some involving
students in up to 15 different sites communicating
through one medium The other 35% were part of
the day-to-day routine managing of an institution that
serves a region of over half a million people, dispersed
over more than half of Scotland
Gemma Bateman, 23
BSc (Hons) environment and heritage
studies - North Highland College UHI
Gemma Bateman from Shinness in Sutherland was
able to access her science degree through the
Dornoch campus of North Highland College UHI She
engaged with fellow students face to face through the
campus’s high-quality video conferencing facilities
“I wanted a degree so I could have a career within the
environmental sector, but I wasn’t in a position to move
away The Dornoch campus is near my home and I liked
the fact that it is small and very friendly
“My lectures were through video conferencing which
is very different to the norm This enabled a diverse
range of modules to be run and meant that students
from across the region could take part I think it is a
really good way for people who live in rural areas to
study and meet others It helps people to connect ”

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The strategic environment: internal analysis
Taught degree awarding powers and
university title
From 1 August 2008 we have had the power to award
degrees to our students. Taught degree awarding
powers (tDAP) are an important milestone and an
essential step on the road to being a university.
A great deal of work has been put into preparing for
tDAP. We are committed to using our new powers
cautiously and responsibly, and to maintaining the high
standards of academic quality we have demonstrated so
far. One of the benefits of tDAP will be to allow us more
flexibility in structuring our programmes and designing
our awards. We will use this flexibility to give employers
and students educational opportunities which more
closely meet their needs.
The achievement of university title will be a further major
milestone in our development. It is important in that it
will allow us to take full advantage of the opportunities
we have and help us deliver our economic, social and
cultural mission to the region. We aim to provide a
university experience for our students, which reflects
our mission and to develop further a community of
self-reflective practitioners moulded by scholarship
and research activities. By involving the universities of
Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Strathclyde in our affairs we
hope to achieve our university status more quickly.
13
Business transformation
Our mission means that we are an organisation which
has to reach out to relatively small numbers of students
distributed across a wide geographic area. This poses
significant challenges, because the system normally
funds institutions which are able to attract larger
numbers of students in any given class and which can
exploit the resulting economics of scale.
We have started a major business transformation
programme to make our delivery model more efficient.
We will do this by eliminating duplicate provision,
networking the development and delivery of modules,
and creating the largest number of possible degree
opportunities from the smallest number of modules.
This is a major programme. It is vital if we are to offer
an appropriately wide amount of choice across UHI
and release staff from teaching to develop research,
scholarship, and new and refreshed academic products.
UHI is a complex partnership comprising a range of
diverse institutions delivering to local and national
needs. Its governance, management and administrative
structures reflect its complexity and require continued
strengthening and improvement.
Relevant UHI

Mother of two Rachel Tearse was working as a locum nurse in Back, Isle of Lewis, when she signed up to do a PhD with Lews
Castle College UHI. She went on to join the college’s staff. She believes the MA and its stand-alone CPD modules will benefit many
people in the health and social care sectors: “Ultimately, it will help them to give the best possible service to the people they are
caring for.”

Two new UHI courses are addressing some of the
real practical health needs across modern rural
Scotland and beyond One could help ease the shortage
of dental care in rural areas, the other will enable
health professionals to update and expand their skills
wherever they are
BSc oral health science
Developed in collaboration with NHS Education for
Scotland, NHS Highland and NHS Dumfries and
Galloway, this new degree will enable graduates to
carry out routine dental work under the prescription of
a dentist They will be able to register jointly as dental
therapists and dental hygienists and, by easing the
burden on dentists, could help improve access to dental
care for people in rural areas of Scotland The course
is offered by the UHI school of oral health science at
new custom-built dental training units in the centre for
health science at Raigmore Hospital, Inverness and
also at the Dumfries dental centre at Dumfries and
Galloway Royal Infirmary
MA health and wellbeing
Healthcare professionals and the social care workforce
in rural areas often find it difficult and expensive to
conduct their studies away from home Now this new
postgraduate degree gives them access to high-
quality professional development without leaving their
computer screens UHI has considerable success at
delivering online courses such as MSc infection control
and MSc medical device decontamination but this is
the first online course of its kind in Scotland which
has relevance to health and wellbeing for all care
professionals in all rural areas It was developed on the
Isle of Lewis by Dr Rachel Tearse and her team

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14
Aims and strategic objectives 2008-2011
Our overarching ambition is to achieve university title. To assist the delivery of this we have identified a number of aims,
objectives and corresponding critical success factors for the next three years. We also include a balanced scorecard of
targets showing how we intend to measure our performance against those objectives.
Aim 1: Make a transformational contribution to the economic, environmental,
social and cultural development of the region.
Strategic objectives:
1 Increase our student population from both within and
outside the region
2 Increase our research, knowledge exchange and
commercialisation activity
3 Enhance the employability of our graduates
15
Critical success factors:
• Utilise UHI’s unique tertiary education partnership
to maximise articulation and progression from all
Scottish credit and qualifications framework (SCQF)
levels.
• Improve recruitment through market-led development
and promotion of current core programmes.
• Ensure our portfolio enables progress to degree level,
whatever the starting point.
• National and international recruitment to specialist
curricular areas with a distinctive UHI study
experience.
• Ensure a structured and uniform approach to student
induction, assessment and support to best sustain
continued learning.
• Increase taught postgraduate students to courses
which reflect our regional strengths.
• Develop and sustain centres of research excellence
in environmental sciences, sustainable development,
business, energy, health, social policy, culture and
heritage.
• Increase our research capacity and reputation
through national and international collaborations.
• Help businesses in the Highlands and Islands to
develop and prosper through greater access to
the knowledge, expertise and technology available
in Scotland’s universities, colleges and research
institutes.
• Develop in our learners: independence of thought,
self-confidence and leadership capability, the
ability to tackle and solve problems, a creative and
entrepreneurial approach to the challenges of life,
and the capacity for critical analysis.
Flexible and accessible UHI
Learning centres enable access to learning at all levels for local students, in flexible, inclusive and innovative ways.
UHI is a key player in the Highlands and Islands learning
centres strategy group and an enthusiastic supporter
of the ways in which learning centres are strengthening
and sustaining our small rural communities There are
113 learning centres across the Highlands and Islands,
each with its own special understanding of the people
it serves
Jane Henderson, manager of Mallaig learning centre,
is a former UHI student She describes herself as “a
traditional Mallaig girl I left school, married young, had
my children young, my husband was a fisherman and I
was the school cleaner ”
She did a UHI cultural studies degree through the
learning centre when it opened six years ago and has
never looked back “The learning centre is part of
the community, we know the protocols and respect
everyone’s point of view People come to us because
we’re not intimidating They do a computer course, then
an access to UHI studies and the next thing you know
wealthier and fairer smarter
✔ ✔
their confidence is increasing and it’s a degree course
Now the kids are coming in as well – we’ve got four
youngsters starting degrees with us this year ”
Fiona Hyslop, cabinet secretary for education and
lifelong learning says “Learning centres have an
important role to play - by providing access to learning
and training they are helping individuals to realise their
potential and contributing to a stronger economy
“The learning centre strategy group is an excellent
example of learning centres and partner agencies
working together and playing a key role in widening
access to training, learning, guidance and employability-
related activities ”
healthier safer and stronger greener
✔
16
Aims and strategic objectives 2008-2011
Aim 1 (continued): Make a transformational contribution to the economic,
environmental, social and cultural development of the region.
Strategic objectives:
4 Be a centre of excellence for the development and
enhancement of the Gaelic language, culture and
heritage
5 Enhance the impact of our cultural engagement
activity
6 Contribute to the sustainability of our environment
and to sustainable development at a national and
international level through our teaching and research
7 Contribute to the sustainability of fragile communities
within our region, ensuring growth is shared
17
Critical success factors:
• Provide quality educational, training and research
opportunities through the medium of Scottish Gaelic.
• Disseminate an understanding of the Gaelic language
and culture through our research and teaching, and
the wider student experience.
• Increase learning opportunities linked to the
distinctive cultures and social identities of our region.
• Widen the range and increase the frequency of our
cultural engagement activities across the region and
more widely.
• Develop and encourage social responsibility by
embedding education about sustainable development
into our courses and the wider student experience.
• Show leadership on environmental issues by
improving our own environmental and sustainability
performance: cutting energy and water use, reducing
travel emissions and supporting biodiversity.
• Create and strengthen highly skilled jobs across our
region through our federal and collegiate model.
• Increase the capacity of individuals to enter and stay
in the regional labour market by enabling lifelong
learning and wider access.
Sustainable UHI

UHI is working towards a greener Scotland through

many of the courses we offer and the innovative ways in
which we deliver them, particularly using technologies
such as video conferencing Sustainability is important
to us, and our staff and students are continually
developing courses and research areas which will
contribute towards a low carbon Scotland

Commercialisation
Greenspace Research Ltd, based at Lews Castle College
UHI, is a research development and commercialisation
project to reduce carbon emissions in the building
industry The spin-off company develops software tools
to analyse proposed new buildings and certify their
‘green’ credentials The Greenspace researchers and
engineers successfully demonstrated their liveEnergy
analysis tool and live EPC system - which produces
Energy Performance Certificates - at the Grand Designs
Live 2008 exhibition in London

Teaching
The first sustainable construction degree in the
UK is being offered by UHI and is expected to draw
industry professionals from across the UK Designed in
consultation with an industry working group, the course
will cover new legislation, renewable energy production,
equipment and systems, as well as waste management
and other sustainable challenges for new builds and
conversions UHI’s MSc managing sustainable mountain
development is attracting international students to
Research the region.

UHI’s Environmental Research Institute (ERI) and

project partner Heriot-Watt University have been
awarded £1 million to create a marine renewable
energy research centre of excellence The funding will
create four new research appointments, two at ERI
and two at Heriot-Watt’s Orkney campus in Stromness
It is expected that improved knowledge, research
capacity and capabilities for understanding wave and
tidal devices in the Pentland Firth will enable marine
energy to develop significantly in Scotland, contributing
towards the Scottish Government’s renewable energy
targets

wealthier and fairer smarter healthier safer and stronger greener

✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
18
Aims and strategic objectives 2008-2011
Aim 2: Create excellence in learning and teaching, and in research.
Strategic objectives:
8 Enhance the student learning experience, including
the social dimension of learning
9 Optimise the links between research and teaching
10 Increase staff capacity to deliver degree and
post-degree qualifications
11 Achieve optimal outcomes in all areas of external
quality assurance
19
Critical success factors:
• Build on our culture and practice of student-led
enhancement to learning.
• Promote and support the development of active,
responsive, reflective, confident and rigorous learners.
• Develop national and international participation in
areas of expertise and practitioner networks.
• Develop the richness of the social dimension to
learning through UHI’s physical and technical
structure and through its learning methodologies.
• Support and develop among all teaching staff a
culture of being self-reflective, intellectually curious
academic practitioners.
• Develop a curriculum at honours and postgraduate
level where there is demonstrable strength of staff
engagement with research and scholarship.
• Encourage research-active staff to contribute to our
curriculum delivery.
• Build on our staff capacity to teach in new curricular
areas and at higher curricular levels
• Build among all teaching staff knowledge and
understanding of the components of blended learning
and the skills in using them to enhance students’
learning experience.
• Improve the framework for the management of
quality assurance and enhancement.
• Ensure that developing requirements of key bodies
(Scottish funding council (SFC), quality assurance
agency (QAA), Scottish qualifications agency (SQA),
HM inspectorate of education (HMIe)) are reflected
within UHI quality management systems.
• Ensure increased student engagement in quality
processes.
• Ensure that internal quality processes both promote
and evidence enhancement of the student learning
experience.
Aims and strategic objectives 2008-2011
Aim 3: Be a leading provider of lifelong learning within Scotland and beyond.
Strategic objective:
12 Deliver learning that is relevant, flexible and
adaptable to the needs of employers and individuals.
Aim 4: Widen access to learning within the region.
Strategic objectives:
13 Optimise opportunities for local access to higher
education for students who are not geographically
mobile.
14 Identify and target under-represented groups in
higher education, within the region.
20
Critical success factors:
• Increase our engagement with employers, skills
councils, trade unions and others in the development
of the curriculum, allowing them to influence its
content and participate in its delivery.
• Extend the use of learning in the workplace through
work-based learning opportunities and placements.
• Enhance opportunities for recognition of prior
learning, credit transfer and accreditation of
professional awards.
• Renew our curriculum design to optimise flexibility
and the ability to combine learning opportunities in
order to create personalised programmes of study
leading to customised awards.
• Continue to develop flexible opportunities for those
already working to enhance their skills, and maintain
the relevance of existing skills.
• Continue to provide exit qualifications at Scottish
credit and qualifications framework (SCQF) levels 7 &
8 as recognition of successful study.
Critical success factors:
• Continue to develop our blended learning teaching
practices.
• Continue to develop a mix of supporting technologies
to optimise access to the core undergraduate
courses (including HNC/D) as widely as possible
across the region.
• Undertake developments and activities responsive to
the needs of under-represented groups.
 Aim 5: Maintain good governance, leadership and management and ensure
financial sustainability.

Strategic objectives: Critical success factors:

15 Ensure that our income flows support the delivery of
our mission.
• Ensure that our funding streams reflect the
uniqueness of our mission and our status as a
developing university.
• Generate operating surpluses for ongoing strategic
investment.
• Allocate finances to encourage activities which help
meet our strategic objectives.

16 Diversify our income to strengthen our financial
sustainability.
• Increase recruitment among international students
and other full-fee students.
• Increase research income from our growing
research base.
• Increase commercial and fundraising income.
• Develop and increase income from the work of the
development trust.

17 Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the use • Increase the use of a networked modular system for
of resources. more effective delivery across the curriculum.
• Improve the effectiveness of services through sharing
common support services.

18 Effective and efficient governance. • Ensure a robust planning and risk management
process to strengthen decision-making.
• Ensure continuous improvement of the governing
process through critical self-evaluation.

21
Balanced scorecard of targets 2008-2011

ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PERSPECTIVE

Building our institutional profile

Grow our student full time equivalents (FTEs) by 21%.

Increase the number of active researchers in the research assessment exercise (RAE) by 33%.

Increase the number of researchers involved in knowledge transfer by 25%.

Increase the number of students studying Gaelic language, or through the medium of Gaelic, by 25%.

Increase the number of research active staff in Gaelic by 50%.

Increase by 100% the number of staff who complete Gaelic awareness courses.

Increase the number of people attending a UHI cultural engagement event each session by 3%.

Measure and improve the audience rating of the impact of events by 3% year on year.

Increase recruitment to better reflect the population distribution of our region.

Close the gap between the demographic and socio-economic profile of the Highlands and Islands and the UHI
student population profile.

STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVE
Building reputation and respect

Improve the positive destinations rate for UHI leavers obtaining first degrees from full-time courses to the higher
education statistics agency (HESA) benchmark for UHI.
Ensure that personal development planning opportunities are available to all students.

Establish an employability measure for all UHI graduates.

Sustain or increase the number and distribution of UHI-influenced jobs across the whole region.

Increase the number of students who provide feedback by 100%.

Increase the proportion of positive feedback.

Improve continuation rates for UHI full-time first degree entrants to the HESA benchmark for UHI.

Improve the continuation rate of part-time students.

Grow the number of part-time and mature students at least in proportion to total growth.

Increase the number of enrolments in continuing professional development (CPD).

22
FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE
Building sustainability

Maintain or increase the proportion of fully funded student FTEs.

Increase total research funding by 25%, increase total knowledge transfer funding by 25%, increase total private
sector research funding by 10%.
Increase the proportion of non-grant income to the UHI partnership.

Achieve 3% cash releasing efficiency savings on operating costs (against a 20% increase in teaching activity) by
2010/11 to allow us to invest further in our development.
Increase the proportion of students on networked delivery and blended learning courses.

Improve our student staff ratio.

INTERNAL BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE

Building support infrastructure across the partnership

Establish renewable energy as a major theme of research.

Formally adopt the Scottish funding council (SFC) strategy for higher education institutions and apply it.

Increase the proportion of research active staff involved in teaching, and teaching active staff involved in research.

200 academic staff to be trained to deliver blended learning.

Increase the proportion of academic staff qualified to teach at higher levels.

Implement a revised quality framework by end 2008/9.

Measure the impact of completing the student participation in quality Scotland (sparqs) development for UHI by
2010/11.
Measure the impact of the revised quality framework by spring 2011.

Align UHI governance with committee of university chairmen (CUC) benchmarks where appropriate.

Successful delivery of the strategic delivery body (SDB) initiative.

Embed integrated planning and risk management to chartered institute of public finance and accountancy (CIPFA)
‘delivering performance’ benchmark.
Implement self-evaluation of effectiveness of the UHI board of governors.

23
UHI campus locations

UHI campuses
learning centres
24
Our mission UHI strategic aims - in summary

>
>
> >
Make a transformational
To be a distinctive and contribution to the economic,
innovative regional environmental, social and
university of national cultural development of the
and international region.
significance: a university
Create excellence in learning
with a pivotal role in the
and teaching, and in research.
educational, economic,
social, cultural
Be a leading provider of
and environmental lifelong learning within
infrastructure of Scotland and beyond.
its region and which
reaches out to the Widen access to learning
people of the Highlands within the region.
and Islands and the
rest of the world Maintain good governance,
through its research leadership and management
and teaching. and ensure financial
sustainability.
>[
Supportive
Inclusive
Collaborative
Distinctive
Innovative
Relevant
Flexible and accessible
Sustainable

Strategic Plan
2008 | 2011

UHI Millennium Institute

Executive Office
Ness Walk
Inverness
IV3 5SQ

Tel: 01463 279000

>[
Fax: 01463 279001
Email: info@uhi.ac.uk

www.uhi.ac.uk Supportive
Inclusive
Please ask if you, or someone you know, would like this document in a different format. Collaborative
Distinctive
We have made every effort to ensure that the information in this document is accurate at the time of going to press. Inevitably changes occur from time to time and we cannot be held responsible for any
alteration in the future. Innovative
This document has been printed in 100% FSC recycled labelled paper (100% post consumer waste. Pulp bleached using a Totally Chlorine Free (TCF) process.), produced at a mill certified with ISO14001 Relevant
Environmental Management Standard.
Flexible and accessible
UHI Millennium Institute (UHI) is a limited company registered in Scotland No. 148203. Scottish Charity No. SC022228. Registered office: 12B, Ness Walk, Inverness IV3 5SQ.
‘UHI Millennium Institute’, ‘University of the Highlands and Islands’, ‘UHI’, ‘Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands’ and ‘University-level study in the Highlands and Islands’, their Gaelic equivalents and the UHI graphical map device Sustainable
are all trade marks of UHI Millennium Institute.

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