Broadcast: News items

Today the Vice Chancellor, Adam Tickell, wrote to all staff. You can read the email in full below:

Dear colleague,

On Monday it will be exactly 60 years since the first cohort of 52 students arrived onto our newly-built campus in the heart of the South Downs.

I don’t think that it is hyperbolic to say education was changed forever. Our founders’ vision was that neither the Oxbridge, nor the Red Brick, university model was right for the era – that a properly universal education should offer radical concepts such as interdisciplinary learning, a global outlook and education with a social mission. The fact that, now, such ideas are considered mainstream should not be lamented but celebrated. Sussex set out to change things, and it did.

The challenge for our University now is been to redefine what it means to be truly innovative in the 21st century. There have been mixed successes over the years but we tried to capture the true spirit of the University in our Sussex 2025 strategy. This important document reimagined our original pioneering spirit for modern times and reconnected us to our core values and purpose.

We have big ambitions. To be a university that excels in all it does, puts students first, excels at research, questions convention, takes on the big challenges, welcomes all, provides sanctuary and strives to make things better.

It is fitting, then, that our 60th year coincides with the start of one of the most ambitious sustainability strategies in the sector. As we deliver against this strategy, we will be one of the greenest universities in the world. As part of this, I joined a group of cyclists on Monday morning on the first cycle train to Falmer in what turned out to be the wettest and windiest conditions for months – but even the most inexperienced (and possibly reluctant) cyclists enjoyed the experience. These will be continuing throughout the year – do join from either Brighton or Lewes and you won’t need to worry about petrol shortages.

To mark our birthday, we will be planting 60 trees on campus (one for each year), starting on Monday, with a whitebeam outside Falmer House. As well as adding to the natural beauty of our campus, the trees will symbolise the links between our disruptive origins and pioneering future. Over the course of the year, there will be many events to celebrate our past and our future I hope that every member of staff will get participate in some way in this important anniversary.

The big moments in our University’s history have been powered by our people and we have another opportunity now to come together as one as we emerge from the worst of the pandemic. On that note, it is my pleasure to report the results of our vaccination survey of students. Of the approximately 11,000 students who took part, 87 per cent said that they are fully vaccinated. Just one per cent said they had no intention of being vaccinated. This is really fantastic news, first because so many students have had their vaccines but also that they took the time to let us know. It really does help us to plan and move forward into the year with confidence. Numbers of staff reporting they are fully vaccinated are now just shy of 1,300.
 
In the same spirit, we are relaunching the community pledge that hundreds of staff and students signed last year. This enables us all to show our commitment to the Sussex values of kindness, integrity, inclusion, collaboration and courage whilst we still live in a world where Covid is a consideration. Sussex staff care so much about each other and the wider community, and so I hope that as many of you as possible will again sign up to the pledge.

I won’t pretend that Rag’n’Bone Man is my usual music taste, but I’ve enjoyed his latest video – not least because the familiar backdrop of the Meeting House is a starring feature. If you haven’t been inside this amazing building, take some time to do so – every pain of glass is unique and the colours on a sunny day bring tranquillity and peace. I’m sure Sir Basil Spence, who designed the Meeting House and the rest of the original campus, would have been pleased to know it is still drawing attention nearly 60 years on.

With best wishes,

Adam