Keele University
Place
Our Future is clear , that Keele University is much more than our beautiful 600 acre campus . National ‘ lockdown ’ confirmed that Keele University is a powerful organisation which covers many corners of the globe and can ‘ work from home ’ when needed . As we look forward to the post-pandemic recovery , our place , in North Staffordshire , is a key focus for our efforts to help the economy of the region recover , as well as our broader place within society .
Despite the pandemic , on the campus , we were pleased to see a number of projects develop over the course of the year . The building of the new Veterinary Science building , which will house the Harper Adams-Keele University Veterinary School , completion of the hotel development hosted externally by Marriot , which opened at the start of 2021 and also the development of our own renewable energy generation site , which includes both PV Panels and Wind Turbine energy generation .
Academically , we have also relocated our Nursing students onto the main campus , enabling more clinical skills use of the sight at the UHNM Hospital and we intend to launch a new programme in Prosthetics and Orthotics , which has resulted in building works to allow for the teaching and practical aspects of this programme to be co-located .
Partnerships
Our mutual commitment with our partners this year has been vital to the success of the institution . Our partnership with the NHS has been key , as we worked together to provide as much support to them during the most testing of times .
Our partnerships have extended beyond healthcare and moving beyond the pandemic , we recognise that partnerships are critical to almost all that we do . We have , over the last 12 months launched the Keele Deal | Recovery , building on the work already undertaken by the University in fulfilling its civic response to the pandemic ( more details of which are available on our website : https :// www . keele . ac . uk / coronavirus / response /)
We continue to build international partnerships , through a combination of research partners and collaborative educational provision . Our ambitions internationally will feature partnerships at their heart and opportunities continue to develop in countries such as China , Nepal , India and many others .
Performance
Our performance is evident through a broad range of measures ; we continue to recruit good levels of students ; our research impact and performance continues to demonstrate improvement ; our regional and local links and impact are increasingly evident ; and our financial position continues to improve . A key driver for our financial position was the introduction of a three-year Financial Sustainability Plan , comprising of threestages of cost-reduction , efficiency savings and growth . This scheme has generated confirmed savings of £ 7.6m in the two years to 31 July 2020 . Cost reductions were made during the 2018 / 19 and 2019 / 20 financial years through an ambitious voluntary severance scheme , which was carefully managed and planned by a Staffing Review Group , to ensure that the University business could sustainably be delivered , whilst realising significant financial savings . This scheme , in conjunction with the Financial Sustainability Plan , has positioned the University well to respond to the financial challenges faced by the sector as a result of the pandemic .
The full strategic vision and any supporting documents can be found on the University website at keele . ac . uk / discover / strategicplanandmission
Response to Covid-19
Immediately after the Covid-19 pandemic forced the country into lockdown in March 2020 , the University started to consider the financial implications . A range of assumptions and sensitivities were worked through and presented to Senior Council Members in May 2020 , which ranged from break even to loses of £ 27m . An average of £ 11m loss related to Covid-19 was estimated in May 2020 for the outturn for the year ended 31 July 2021 , and so several mitigating policies were put in place to reduce costs and support the liquidity of the University . These measures included reducing capital expenditure , minimising non-pay expenditure , no inflationary pay award and asking colleagues to take additional unpaid annual leave . This enabled the University to significantly reduce cash expenditure .
As we moved into 2020 / 21 , student recruitment also held up for the 2020 / 21 cohort , including most pleasingly also for international student recruitment . Whilst on-campus accommodation was generally curtailed for most of the period from the January 2021 lockdown , students were able to be accommodated for the first term .
The combination of cost reductions compared with budget of £ 4m in staff costs and £ 8m in other operating expenses and income being maintained at budget level allowed the Group to return a surplus before other gains of £ 15.4m but more importantly a net cash inflow from operating activities of £ 14.1m which enabled the University to support its pension obligations , bank loan repayments and some capital project expenditure .
Future Prospects
As we look ahead , the University , intends to continue building upon the successes of the Financial Sustainability Plan , including delivering the significant efficiencies throughout the 2021 / 22 academic year resulting from the OneKeele project and realising the growth in student numbers we expect through our ambitious new portfolio of postgraduate taught programmes , flexible provision such as online and apprenticeship programmes and a repositioning of our Business School portfolio to better appeal to international markets .
We will also see a number of capital projects realised in the next financial year including the completion of the Renewables Project mentioned above and a new Innovation Centre on the campus ( IC7 ) which will be a digital innovation hub allowing academics , researchers and industry to co-locate in a space which facilitates the exchange of ideas in a collaborative interdisciplinary environment .
The pandemic has inevitably had a significant impact on the ‘ normal ’ operations of the university , and we have found that this has presented us with opportunities as well as challenges . As we return to a ‘ new normal ’, our approaches to teaching , research and all University operations have enhanced , facilitating more use of online technologies , agile working methods and flexible modes of operation to further enhance our strategic aims . Although we do not fully expect the impact of the pandemic to be over , 2021-22 offers a prospect of agility and opportunity for Keele .
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