1. Convocation Report by the Vice-Chancellor 15 June 2013 1

2. Context over the past year: New Fee Regime, and Deregulation of Student Numbers Our recruitment effort under heading of Project 2012 First cohort of students under new regime arrived Sept 2012 “Core & Margin” model: strong competition for AAB+ students Outcome: –Slightly increased our AAB+ proportion, to 56.22% –Stable numbers in overall full-time intake –In the sector: Some surprising ups and downs Widening participation outcome: –Overall WP performance very similar to 2011 –Excellent WP profile for students from North East (ahead of benchmarks) International Students outcome: –Undergraduate intake increased by 22.4% 2

3. Learning and Teaching Continued progress in student experience (Project 2012): –10,000+ lectures recorded for re-access by students (“Recap” facility) –One million page-views per week on “Blackboard” electronic facility –Funding from Higher Education Academy for “Parity of Esteem” project 2013 Access Agreement approved by Office of Fair Access Deregulation of numbers at ABB+ for 2013 entry Student experience indicators –National Student Survey overall satisfaction score stable at 89%; ranked 14 th in UK –Ranked 14 th in Times Higher Student Experience Survey: 17 th in Sunday Times University Guide –International Student Barometer: 1 st /15 RG for library, learning technology, careers advice, work experience, eco-friendly attitude, living costs and support overall Employability performance improved –95.2% of 2012 graduates employed –80.4% in graduate level jobs 3

4. Research Research income: a slight decrease, ~2.5%, to ~£86M Research awards: a 5% increase, to ~£97M 7 th out of 101 institutions in UK for number of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships Excellent progress in European awards –Both Framework7 and ERC grants Signal Successes –Neptune National Centre for Offshore and Subsea Engineering, £7m –Drug Trials, with NHS Trust: Ariad & CRUK, £21.9m over 10 years –Prof Sugata Mitra wins TED Wish: $1m for “The School in the Cloud” “REF” preparation main current focus (Submission in November) 4

5. Engagement and Internationalisation 3 Societal Challenge Themes launched and operational –Ageing (Prof Tom Kirkwood) –Sustainability (Prof Phil Taylor) –Social Renewal (Prof Mark Shucksmith) British Science Festival, Newcastle Sept 2013 –40% of programme Newcastle University Science Central ‘open for business’ Working with Newcastle City Council to mitigate culture cuts Regional developments: MoU with Northumberland Council First ever Chinese Graduation ceremony – Shanghai 2 Overseas campuses fully operational –Singapore (Engineering) –Malaysia (Medicine) Launched: Xiamen Univ Partnership and Confucius Institute 5

6. Hitting the Headlines

7. Financial sustainability 2011-12 a difficult year –7% (£8m) reduction in HEFCE grants, cuts in operating costs recovery on research and pressure on our costs reduced surplus by 43% –However work in earlier years enabled us to absorb the bad news 2012-13 is proving rather better –Significant growth in research income (up 12% year to date) –Good result on student recruitment –Better than expected HEFCE funding 2013-14 looks reasonable –Opportunity to invest in academic and IT infrastructure Long term funding concerns –Increasing dependency on achieving student recruitment targets –Further rounds of public expenditure cuts likely in 2015-16 and beyond –Need to convince BIS and Treasury that we deliver value for money –Forthcoming Treasury Spending Review 7

8. Environmental Sustainability People and Planet Green League 2013: First Class Award, 15 th in UK (up from 26 th in 2012), 2 nd in Russell Group Dual accreditation - Platinum EcoCampus and ISO140001 Completion of £4.4m boiler scheme saved 1,500t CO 2 Energy consumption contained despite new buildings Water use reduced by a further 3.9% - 23.9% since 2008/9 Recycling rates ca 93% Proportion of staff travelling to work by car reduced from 40% in 2004 to 20% in 2012 Biodiversity projects, including reduction of pesticide / herbicide use and creation of allotments, woodland corridors and wildlife friendly areas. Launched Green Impact awards

9. Estate New Student Forum, completed July 2012 More students living on campus –INTO Teaching Building and Residences (543 beds), completed Sept 2012 –New build on Park Terrace, and redevelopment of Kensington Terrace (June 2014) –Refurbishment of Grand Hotel (August 2013) Libraries: –24/7 term-time opening in 2012/13 –300 Additional study spaces in Walton and Robinson Libraries Armstrong Building refurbishment, Phase 2 completed June 2013 Fine Art refurbishment – complete Jan 2013 Science Central development: video 9

10. Thank you to all staff, students, alumni, donors and supporters for the successes enjoyed by the University 10

11. Questions to the Vice-Chancellor From Mr Horace Regnart: “What can our immigrant Vice-Chancellor do to restore intellectual sanity and exorcise bigotry in respect of the misclassification of overseas students as immigrants?” 11

13. Armstrong Building Redevelopment Armstrong Building Redevelopment

14. Spence Watson Lecture Theatre Armstrong Building Redevelopment - Phase 1 (2011) Armstrong Building Redevelopment - Phase 1 (2011) New Seminar Room Computer Cluster

15. Armstrong Building Redevelopment - Phase 2 (2013) Armstrong Building Redevelopment - Phase 2 (2013)

16. Entrance to Fine Art