Overview

Message from the President

2024 promises to be an exciting year in UCD’s development, as we embark on the process of developing the strategy that will guide us over the next five years. In doing this, we will map out the distinguishing features of a UCD education and of our student experience, ensuring that we support our students to thrive through disruptive times. We will plan how to take advantage of the breadth and depth of our research and our capacity to work across disciplines to advance understanding and deliver solutions. We will consider how we respond to major challenges and changes, how we advance our global presence and how we put in place the enabling elements to deliver on our ambitions.

I want UCD to be a university of influence, impact and excitement, that makes a clear, positive difference to the lives of our students, to Ireland and to the wider world. I look forward to the many conversations we will have about how to achieve this. It is very important to me that the development of the strategy be a collaborative process, drawing on the great ideas in every part of our community.

Triona McCormack, our new Vice-President for Strategy and External Engagement will lead the development process and we expect our new strategic plan to be published October/November of this year. 

Orla

Planning process 2024/25

As this process to develop our new strategy progresses, we must continue to plan within our colleges, schools, and units, developing integrated strategic, financial and enrolment plans. As has been the case to date, these plans will focus in detail on the coming year but will also set a five-year view for planning. Plans should continue to be set against our four current strategic objectives:

• Increase the quality, quantity and impact of our research, scholarship and innovation.
• Provide an inclusive educational experience that defines international best practice and prepares our graduates to thrive in present and future societies.
• Continue to build our engagement locally, nationally and internationally.
• Attract, retain, and develop an excellent and diverse cohort of students, faculty and staff.

The conversations and discussions on opportunities and future directions in the schools, colleges and units that happen in the context of the annual planning process will produce valuable inputs for the development of the next strategy, so we have added a section to the planning template that captures these. In addition, we are asking schools and colleges to add any significant IT or service requirements to their plans. We will use this capture to link these requirements with the overall work programmes in IT and in service transformation.

Summary of key dates, activities and supports

A table summarising the requirements for each stage of the process, the timeline for provision of information to support the process and the deadline for submission of each aspect of the plan is set out below. The table also provides a link to the supporting templates for that activity and details any support resources available to help you complete the plan.

The Table below sets out some further details on each of the key tasks and milestones identified above.