Senior Lay Member of Court's introduction

The landscape in which the University operates is constantly evolving. The changes we’ve seen over the past year have been particularly pronounced, both at a domestic and international level.

We have seen a new government arrive in Westminster, ushered in with a significant majority in the House of Commons. We have felt financial challenges grip the whole higher education sector in the UK and we have witnessed the distressing scenes from the renewed conflict in Israel and Palestine.

The University Court, the governing body for the institution, is tasked with giving the University the strategic guidance to chart its way through these shifting sands. We take our responsibility seriously to ensure the University not only remains sustainable amidst these changes, but to also use its immense influence to leave a positive legacy in the lives of those we work with. 

This means making difficult decisions, something from which we do not shirk.Our immediate and ongoing priority is to ensure the long-term financial stability of the University. To address a shortfall in our projected tuition fee income and increased National Insurance costs for employers, a number of actions are being taken forward, including an ongoing programme of modernisation, making more efficient use of our estate and managing staffing costs. By taking such  robust responses to the challenges we face, we will ensure that we maintain and develop the University’s world-leading research and teaching.

The past year points to many examples of when the University has acted with integrity, delivering impressive outcomes for our community, the city and our partners.

For example, our Data-Driven Innovation (DDI) programme, a major aspect of the Edinburgh and South-East Scotland City Region Deal and delivered in partnership with Heriot-Watt University, continues to deliver on its ambition of turning the city and surrounding area into the data capital of Europe.

DDI’s Data Education in Schools initiative won the Education Initiative of the Year title at the British Data Awards for boosting data literacy skills, vital for the economy of the future, for 40,000 participants within 850 schools.

All six of the DDI hubs are now open, including in June 2024, the Edinburgh Futures Institute.

I have loved seeing the old Royal Infirmary, an iconic building that served the city for decades, be restored to life with its transformation into the Edinburgh Futures Institute. In August 2024 it proved to be the perfect new home for the Edinburgh International Book Festival, with the old wards filled with discussion, debate and a celebration of ideas.

We have proved to be surefooted and nimble in the face of the rapid acceleration of capabilities in AI. The launch of the Generative AI Laboratory (GAIL) brings together our already world-class expertise in this area, supercharging it and readying Edinburgh and our partners for shaping what comes next.

We have responded to global challenges in keeping with our values of being a welcoming, inclusive place and our commitment as a university of sanctuary. Our Education Beyond Borders programme provides funding, support, and community-led initiatives to ensure continued access to education for scholars displaced by conflict around the world.

We continue to be bold, ambitious, diverse and accessible to all.

For students closer to Edinburgh, we continue to demonstrate our commitment to widening participation, once again meeting the Commission for Widening Access target of 10 per cent of our intake coming from the 20 per cent most deprived areas in Scotland.

The launch of our Widening Participation Strategy 2030 this year reinforces our belief that university can be a place of transformation and self-improvement, as demonstrated by the inspiring profile of Biomedical Sciences student Alessandra Giovannelli in our Operational Review on page 23.

Protecting the environment is important to us, too. There is no future for the University if we do not secure our planet's future.

We are supporting the transition to a fossil-free world, uniting with 60 other higher education bodies and trusts to issue a request to financial institutions to invest in products with no ties to fossil fuel expansion. In the past year, we also took major strides in planting an estimated 2 million trees and restoring at least 855 hectares of peatlands in Scotland, regenerating sites and offsetting carbon emissions.

This work, and more, contributed to the University being recognised as one of the world’s top universities by The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings for delivering on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

The ground on which we work and innovate will continue to change in the next 12 months. We will engage constructively, creatively and enthusiastically with the new UK Government on projects that will deliver economic growth and societal benefit.

Through our support and research we will offer refuge and hope for those affected by events worldwide. And we ourselves will adapt and change to address the financial challenges we face, to ensure the University remains a sustainable, positive force for good in the world.