Chair of the Board of Directors The Venerable Peter J Ballard


The last twelve months have been a challenging time for the University.


The University has faced significant financial challenges and the financial performance for the year was unsatisfactory.


The University and the Board of Directors are taking urgent action in order to reverse this performance and turn the University around through a carefully managed programme of work to ensure the organisation is sustainable, as well as safeguarding the ongoing quality of our academic programmes and student experience.


Notwithstanding these challenges, a great deal has been achieved towards providing a university which is able to rise to the challenges of today and at the same time be flexible to meet the constant changes in local and national policy.


The University’s development is a long–term project and we remain committed to our original vision and aspirations.


The official opening of our Learning Gateway (West) signalled the start of an exciting new educational era in West Cumbria, part of the visionary Energy Coast project which embraces the twin ambitions of nuclear power and renewables.


Our students remain the focus of everything that we do.


At our Lancaster and Carlisle campuses ‘health’ undergraduates now enjoy access to the best X-ray equipment in the UK courtesy of a partnership programme with the NHS.


Horticulture students enjoyed high-profile success at the prestigious Chelsea Flower Show, winning a silver medal for their “Pottering in North Cumbria” garden.


One former University of Cumbria multimedia student used YouTube to launch a series of online cartoon videos to promote higher education opportunities in the county.


Research, the intellectual lifeblood of any university, was evident in several fields with contributions to European projects tackling child obesity, Khmer Rouge war crime investigations and climate change threats to the survival of several species of British birds.


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Through a variety of business support schemes the University has helped create hundreds of jobs and generate millions of pounds of income for small and medium business enterprises across the county.


We continue to work with our partners on the development of courses, programmes and facilities which will serve the region, and beyond, into the future.


The development of a business plan recognising the changed economic climate in which we now live, will provide a firm basis to build a platform for future success and sustainability.


We remain confident about the future. All organisations and businesses have been forced to adapt to the financial downturn and the University of Cumbria is no different.


Whilst we continue to aspire to have high ambitions for our staff, students and the local communities we serve, the University will provide opportunities for all who wish to achieve their own goals and chase their dreams, now and for generations to come.


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