Abertay Strategy 2025-30

Welcome from Liz Bacon, our Principal

I am pleased to introduce our Strategy 2025-30. Building on over 30 years of success as a University, our refreshed strategy reflects our core purpose to offer transformational opportunities and to foster an academic and professional community where everyone is supported to succeed.

Guided by our core values - being inclusive, caring, innovative, and collaborative - we aim to expand our global presence, strengthen international and local partnerships, and enhance our societal impact. We will continue to focus on equipping our students with the skills needed for a rapidly changing world and pursuing research that delivers tangible, real-world solutions.

Our emphasis on digital learning, international collaboration, and community engagement will support our growth, and we will continue to focus on creating transformational opportunities for our students and making a positive difference locally, nationally, and globally.

Our purpose and values will guide us as we navigate the challenges of the world in which we operate, and build on our reputation for being flexible, adaptable, and resilient. I look forward to working with our staff, students, partners, and communities as we work towards achieving our shared goals for the future and ensuring that Abertay continues to thrive in 2030 and beyond.

Strategy 2025-30 - Video

Principal and Vice-Chancellor Liz Bacon, Vice-Principal and University Secretary Caroline Summers, and Student President (2024-25) Dounia Allaiouti give an overview of our Strategy 2025-30.

Our Purpose

Our purpose is:

To offer transformational opportunities to everyone who has the potential to benefit from Abertay’s approach to university education. 
To inspire and empower our students, staff, and graduates to achieve their full potential, thrive in a digital world, and make a positive difference to the world around them.
To innovate in all aspects of our work, fostering a culture of creativity, and engaging in research and knowledge exchange which has real impact. 
To work with our partners to prepare students for the world of work and a lifelong journey of learning and growth, with a strong emphasis on sustainability and global engagement.

Our Values

We aim to be:

Inclusive - equality of opportunity and inclusion are embedded in our ethos. We welcome staff and students from diverse communities and aim to put people at the heart of all we do.  
Caring - we believe in treating all people, animals, and our planet, with kindness and respect.
Innovative - we strive for excellence in all we do, aiming to provide a high-quality environment for our staff and students to flourish, where innovation is encouraged, and progress is realised. 
Collaborative - we collaborate with others, both internally across our teams and externally with partners to support our ambitions, ensure professional excellence and customer service, and enable our community to thrive.

Our values will guide us in all that we do and will place these values at the centre of the implementation of our strategy.

Our Context

Abertay has thrived as a university for over thirty years, and flourished before that as an educational institution delivering training and opportunities to the people of Dundee and beyond for over a hundred years. The opportunities which Abertay offers to students continue to transform lives and ensure our graduates are prepared for a successful career in the world of work.

Known for our innovation in the delivery of computer games education, we continue to expand our horizons, notably though our leadership and research in the development of creative technologies to promote growth and innovation in the video games, animation, film and TV industries. Beyond this, we continue to build and strengthen our portfolio supported by our research and knowledge exchange activities across all areas of the University, achieving considerable success and international reputation in cybersecurity, engineering, food and psychology. Our reputation in business, through our Dundee Business School, has enabled the growth in international partnerships and online delivery that we have seen over the last five years.

Abertay has strength in depth across its portfolio, and we recognise the importance of maintaining a broad professionally-focused portfolio of subject disciplines to ensure the routes to higher education and beyond remain relevant and accessible to all. We are proud of consistently high rates of student satisfaction across all of our subject areas.

Our previous 2020-25 strategic plan recognised the pace of change, the importance of being adaptable and flexible, and the need to use our resources for maximum impact to ensure a sustainable future for Abertay. This approach helped us navigate the changing circumstances we faced in recent years and will continue to act as our guide over the next five years.

The external environment for all universities continues to be challenging. We cannot depend on public funding to sustain our activities, and therefore we will continue our successful strategy of developing new income streams, primarily through the delivery of Abertay degrees internationally with our trusted partners. We remain committed to ensuring maximum value in the way we use our funding, while also ensuring a rewarding and satisfying experience for our staff and students.

Our Strategy to 2030 provides a high-level guide to our direction of travel and priorities for the next five years, and will be underpinned by the detailed sub-strategies which will guide our delivery.

Student Experience and Successful Outcomes

We will create an environment that fosters student success through:

Delivering excellence in learning, teaching and the student experience so we enable each student to be successful.

Working closely with our partners in education and industry to enhance the progression of students into, through and out of Abertay.

Developing student skills through a purposefully designed curriculum and campus infrastructure that prepares students for the world of work.

Working in partnership with our diverse student body to shape and continually improve the quality of our degrees through shared reflection.

Enhancing the learning community, by co-creating with our students and staff, wellbeing and welfare approaches that enable success.

Making use of technology to personalise learning and better support each student’s unique needs, goals, and learning journey.

A Sustainable Future for Abertay

Our priority is to ensure that Abertay continues to thrive in 2030 and beyond, while protecting the core activities and Abertay ethos which have been at the heart of our success as a university for the last 30 years.

We will focus our attention and resources on securing growth and improve the way we do things, with a strong commitment to ensuring long-term financial sustainability.
We will be adaptable and flexible to respond to changes in the world around us, equipping our staff and students to make effective use of emerging technology, and to work with partners to find solutions to real-world problems.
We will ensure that our portfolio provides routes for all students, regardless of background, to access an Abertay degree and to gain skills and knowledge to prepare them for the future world of work. We will continue to work closely with colleges to ensure students are supported in choosing the path that best suits them.
We are proud of the role that we play in the City of Dundee and are committed to working with our partners towards creating a strong, sustainable and inclusive future for everyone who lives here.
At the same time, we will seek to expand the reach of Abertay and to enhance our national and global brand. We will expand the online delivery of Abertay degrees, and, through the development and maintenance of strong partnerships, we will continue to expand the delivery of Abertay degrees beyond our Dundee campus.
We will develop our operating model and infrastructure to support the delivery of Abertay degrees in different ways and multiple locations. This will reflect the fact that international activities, online activities, partner activities, and on‐campus activities are equally important to the future of the University.

Research with Impact

We are committed to producing quality research and knowledge exchange that is aligned with international, national and local priorities and delivers real impact for society.

We will invest in research and knowledge exchange to strengthen our reputation in areas which enhance our academic programmes, thereby ensuring a sustainable, vibrant and collaborative researcher community.

We will support staff to deliver high quality research output, knowledge exchange and impact, by harnessing cutting-edge technologies where appropriate that support researchers and drive innovation.

Our Organisation

We will invest appropriately to ensure that our digital and physical infrastructure supports delivery of our priorities and promotes access, collaboration, and efficiency, including automation where possible. We will seek to promote digital inclusion for our students.

We will responsibly embrace and ethically apply artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies, using the opportunities offered to enhance the way we teach, undertake research, and improve the efficiency of our operations to enhance the staff and student experience.

We will progress our Estates Masterplan, developing the campus to provide a contemporary, innovative, and attractive environment which is fit for the future and will contribute to our sustainable development goals.

Our People

We know that our people are the heart of the University and that Abertay’s success depends on the commitment and passion of our staff, working together towards a common purpose. We are committed to being an excellent employer, and to supporting staff development, engagement and empowerment to enable our people to thrive.
We will deliver the priorities set out in the People Strategy, most importantly creating a culture which promotes and supports physical and mental wellbeing.
We will continue to welcome and support staff from a wide range of backgrounds and personal characteristics in sustaining a fair and inclusive working environment.
We are committed to the University having a positive impact on the communities we are part of. We will continue to enable and support our staff and students to interact with our communities through a range of academic and other activities and will embed community engagement activities across the range of our work.

Our Outcomes

By 2030, Abertay will:

Continue to offer a broad portfolio, achieving an international reputation in a wider range of subjects.
Have significantly increased the size of our student population, principally through growth in international partnerships and online students.
Continue to deliver on our commitment to offer access to transformational opportunities with a stable core of on-campus home students.
Work in partnership with our students to ensure high levels of student satisfaction and an increase in the proportion of students completing their degrees.
Have transformed our business operations through the use of technology and, where appropriate, AI.
Have made substantial progress towards net-zero, through the delivery of our estates ambitions.
Continue to be recognised as an excellent employer, attracting and retaining the best staff, with a culture that promotes wellbeing and inclusivity, supports staff development and enables staff to thrive and contribute fully to the University community.
Be financially stable with significant growth in income streams that are not from the Scottish Funding Council or Scottish Government. 
Have strengthened our reputation and recognition internationally.
Continue to make a positive contribution to the communities around us.

Implementation

We will ensure all supporting strategies and activities are aligned with this strategy and its values.

Through operational planning we will ensure that we are joined up and clear about what we need to achieve, and the resources required to do so are in place. 