About
University for Social Impact Strategy
Our strategy will meet future challenges by guiding the innovation and energy of our University community.
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Our vision
Through our excellent education and research, we will be a catalyst for change that creates a fair future.
Our values
At York St John we strive for what we believe in. Our strong values remain unchanged and underpin everything we do. We are:
- Intellectually open, rigorous and curious
- Dedicated to promoting fairness and challenging prejudice
- Always inspiring and supporting each other to succeed
Our strategic aims
York St John will:
- Celebrate our locations in York and London whilst being global in outlook
- Enrich our research and the experience of students, staff and communities through transformational partnerships
- Be a truly inclusive and equitable organisation
- Collaborate with confident, authentic, resilient, enterprising and professional students and staff
- Offer a future-focused, high-quality academic portfolio with distinctive learning and teaching
- Provide all students with a personalised learning journey underpinned with technology
- Produce conscientious graduates who fulfil future skills requirements both domestically and internationally
- Be a sector leader in environmental sustainability with a whole-university approach
- Innovate through impactful research and knowledge exchange
- Demonstrate local, national and international social impact
Indicators of success
- Score consistently in the top quartile of student satisfaction measures.
- Double the scale of our research and innovation.
- Demonstrate students and staff from all cultures and backgrounds feel valued within the YSJ community.
- Evidence increased societal and economic impact.
- Demonstrate an increase in educational equality and opportunities.
- Score consistently above national benchmarks for quality.
- Maintain a resilient financial position.
- Reduce our environmental footprint.
- Empower more students to secure meaningful employment or progress onto further study.
- Maintain successful partnerships domestically and internationally
Who we are
York St John University has been passionately promoting education for social and civic benefit for almost two hundred years. We are proud of our heritage, our church foundation, and our pioneering education of women. We celebrate our growing and diverse community of all faiths and none. As a mid-sized university with a main campus and sports park in York, and a London campus near Canary Wharf, our estate now provides a welcoming, safe, inclusive, and inspirational learning and teaching environment to over 12,000 students.
Driven by social justice
Our historic commitment to social justice underpins all our actions and decision-making. We take an active stand against climate change, prejudice, and all forms of inequality. As a civic university, we play a vital role in the economic and social prosperity of the regions we serve. We are proactive in local, national and international contexts, and make an important social impact through our research, partnerships and development of professionals for the future. Our strategy will meet future challenges by guiding the innovation and energy of our university community.
What we are proud of
We are exceptionally proud to be TEF Gold for student experience, and Silver overall. Our focus on excellence has supported our upward trajectory on key quality parameters, including entry standards, continuation, outcomes, and progression. Applications to study at York St John from undergraduate and international students have grown year-on-year. We are building our research capacity after our best-ever REF outcome in 2022. Our carbon reduction and biodiversity achievements are sector-leading.
