Working at Keele general-leadership-brochure | Page 6

6 | WORKING AT KEELE
BACKGROUND | 7
Background
Keele University is a world class campus-based
University committed to providing the highest
quality learning and living environment in
which our students and researchers can flourish.
The University makes a unique contribution to
higher education in its continued commitment to
encouraging interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary
education and research.
Keele offers distinctive educational programmes
and a learning environment that enables our students
to make the most of their time at university. As a result,
Keele students are among the most satisfied in the
country. Keele has been consistently ranked highly for
student satisfaction in the National Student Survey. Keele
graduates are highly prized for their flexibility of thought
and the maturity of their social skills.
The University has one of the best graduate employment
rates in the UK, clearly evidencing that our students
achieve their potential. Our students are highly
employable, with 97.5% of Keele students who graduated
in 2016 finding full-time employment or further study
within six months.
Keele also has high quality teaching; recently assessed
as ‘Gold’ in the Teaching Excellence Framework. Keele
was the first new post-war UK university of the 20th
Century and exemplified the innovation and idealism
of the post-war generations, offering bold alternative
visions for Higher Education. Keele has connections across the globe. There are
over 100,000 Keele alumni in 162 countries. This global
network includes senior diplomats and politicians, leading
business people and officials in international NGOs, such
as the UN. Our research is also increasingly international
in its partnerships, with strong links in every continent.
The University College of North Staffordshire was
founded in 1949 and received its Royal Charter as the
University of Keele in 1962. There was a deliberate
aim to break away from the pattern of the specialised
honours degree, avoiding as far as possible the divisions
between different branches of study. Whilst there have
been changes, the coherence of Keele’s academic
vision remains, with continued emphasis on academic
breadth through a wide range of elective modules and
interdisciplinary degrees, as well as continuing to offer
many integrated and combined degree programmes. The University is committed to honouring its heritage
of “a University within North Staffordshire for the
advancement of Knowledge, the diffusion and extension
of Arts, Sciences and Learning, the provision of Liberal,
Professional and Technological Education”. Our links
with the region have seen significant growth in recent
years, developing the New Keele Deal, unlocking £70m
of investment into exploiting the potential of our extensive
world-leading research and facilities. With our integrated
Science and Innovation Park, we are committed to
helping to tackle low productivity and grow a positive
culture of innovation and research within our region.
The most recent REF classified 97% of the University’s
research as world-leading or of international importance.
The innovations and discoveries of Keele academics
are key contributors to wider social and global issues,
and it is important to Keele that our educational delivery
is research-led.
Find out more at keele.ac.uk/discover