Our strategy

Our vision is to be an outstanding and inclusive University community, characterised by excellence in education, research, and innovation, working in partnership with others for the advancement of knowledge, in support of the global common good.

We will achieve this by:

1. Driving excellence in education
2. Delivering high-impact research
3. Fostering an outstanding and inclusive community
4. Enhancing strategic partnerships

To ensure that we are progressing towards the strategic goals, we monitor twelve strategic Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) outlined in the table.

Note: Two KPIs (NSS – Teaching on my course and NSS – Assessment and feedback) have been updated in 2023, in line with the National Student Survey changes.

Driving excellence in education

NSS – teaching on my course

To ensure the quality of our teaching, we monitor the proportion of students that positively respond to questions within the teaching on my course section of the National Student Survey (NSS). We aim to exceed our benchmark score (a weighted sector average) by at least 2.5 percentage points. We continue to exceed this target with the score of 88.4% compared to the 85.2% for its benchmarks.

NSS – Assessment & feedback

As the only NSS section where Bath is not ahead of its benchmark group, Assessment and feedback has been prioritised for improvement. However, the impact from some of these actions may not be visible for several years. Although Bath’s score declined slightly since last year, we are putting considerable effort into addressing this and will continue to do so, with targeted interventions in those departments that continue to struggle.

Graduate outcomes – progression to graduate-level employment or further study

We continue to deliver strong student outcomes and this remains a key focus area for us. According to the Graduate Outcomes Survey, each of the last four graduating cohorts of first-degree students has exceeded the target to outperform its benchmark by at least 2.5 percentage points. Bath’s progression rate continues to be amongst the very best in the sector.

Driving high-impact research

Income from research grants and contracts

Growing the income from research grants and contracts – as a measure of the relevance, sustainability and peer recognition of our research – is one of our key strategic goals. The steady increase over the last five years is suggesting that our action plan is yielding results. Rising to £50.6m in 2023-24, 12.7% above last year, our research income is now nearly 40% higher than in 2019-20, when the growth strategy was initially devised.

Percentage of papers that are highly-cited

By measuring the percentage of research papers that are highly cited, we monitor the vibrancy and quality of our research. The whole UK HE sector has seen a downward trend in recent years and our decline is in line with comparator institutions. The decrease seems to be slowing down, however, suggesting that our interventions are beginning to deliver benefits. We will continue to implement the current improvement action plan.

Research partnerships

The Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) measures research partnership levels as a combination of the cash contribution to collaborative research and co-authorship with non-academic partners. We remained in the top 40% of the sector (55th out of 139) in KEF 4, published in September 2024. We are currently working on developing a plan that moves us to the top 20% of the sector by 2025-26.

Fostering an outstanding and inclusive community

Continuation rate

First degree continuation rate is monitored as a measure of how supportive our learning environment is. Exceeding our target of 95% or 2.5 percentage points above the benchmark, our continuation rate remains amongst the very best in the sector.

Percentage of female professors

Increasing the proportion of female professors is a measure of the effectiveness of our efforts to address the gender gap at senior levels. The numbers have been slowly increasing and we will persist in our efforts to ensure that the momentum continues.

Staff engagement index

This indicator is based on a set of questions from an internal work and well-being survey. The questions relate to staffs’ pride in working for Bath, support provided by their manager, feeling part of a community, and satisfaction with work-life balance. At 7.0, we are currently at our three-year high and have plans in place to continue on this upward trajectory.

Enhancing strategic partnerships

Income from consultancy and contract research

Income from consultancy and contract research grew by 15% to £5.8m in 2022-23, driven by contract research increases (up 18% to £4.4m). This is an important indicator of the strength of our strategic partnerships with business and industry. With a 10% growth and the strong performance over the last couple of years, we are on track to achieve our strategic target of £6.3m by 2025-26.

QS World University Rankings

Our overall position in the QS World University Rankings is an indication of international peer recognition, based on a number of factors including reputation amongst academics and employers, research outputs, global engagement and sustainability. We have retained our position in the top 10% of universities globally, despite a two place drop this year. We broke into the top 150 in the 2024 rankings, reaching 148th place, its highest-ever ranking. A working group continues to oversee our efforts to improve our rankings further.

Attendees at public events

The number of attendees at our public events is an indicator of social, community and cultural engagement. Following the pandemic, the number of attendees has been declining, reflecting changes in how people access content. We are diversifying our engagement, including through producing podcasts, videos and other media, ensuring strong contribution to the economic, social, environmental and cultural life of our city, region and nation.