Transcript for the video embedded on the University of Leeds Strategy 2020-2030 page.
[Music playing.]
[Views of the University of Leeds Parkinson Tower. A student walks through the Students' Union.]
[Professor Jeff Grabill sits down in front of a bright glass wall and smiles into camera. A caption says: Professor Jeff Grabill. Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Leeds.]
Jeff says: Leeds is distinctive with regard to student education. Our education strategy is student focused. It's grounded in active learning. It's digital, and innovative, and it's shaped by students and staff to ensure a student experience that will prepare our graduates to make an impact in an increasingly complex world.
[Simone Buitendijk walks across campus and faces the camera.]
[Caption says: Simone Buitendijk, Vice-Chancellor, University of Leeds.]
Simone says: Students will be partners in the new education strategy. They'll be much more actively engaged with the material.
[Paul Taylor walks across campus and faces the camera.]
[Caption says: Professor Paul Taylor, Professor of Chemical Education, University of Leeds.]
Paul says: It's not just about me standing at the front of a big class and talking at students; it's about working in partnership in the classroom, all of us thinking, and learning, debating, exploring new knowledge together.
[Students work at computers and exchange conversation in seminars.]
Simone says: It's very important to be creative, to think about problem solving from different angles. Students can bring their different ways of thinking, their different cultural backgrounds, into these group sessions. So there's much more of a sense of togetherness, of solving issues together.
[Students working in a theatre space, a gallery, meeting in a café and sitting outside in the sunshine.]
Simone says: You can also see how that mimics the real workplace. It's about working as a team.
[Paul Taylor walks across campus and faces the camera.]
[Caption says: Professor James Pickering, Professor of Anatomical Education, University of Leeds.]
James says: We're very much focused around having an evidence-informed approach. So the literature, that instructs and guides us on what is best practise, but also what do our students want? It's not just one way, it's working together in partnership to find what is the best way to support our students to acquire those skills that will really enable them to make a difference.
[Overhead view of the University of Leeds signage on the Ziff Building. Overhead views of the city centre of Leeds. Students photograph a model in a studio, rewiring a wall of electronic equipment and using a mixing desk.]
Paul says: Digital technology can really help active learning. It creates new ways to present the knowledge students' needs. So we don't rely so much on simple transmission of knowledge.
[Meg faces the camera in front of a bright glass wall. A caption says: Meg Hodgkinson, Education officer, Leeds University Union.]
Meg says: Active learning is all about becoming more engaged with your work, less passive. And it's really rewarding students both before and after they graduate.
Paul says: The great example of active learning is the Degree Show that's put on by the School of Design. This year, the School were faced with the challenge of having to do that digitally.
[A laptop screen displays graphics and videos from the Degree Show, with people having online conversations through headset microphones and keyboard typing.]
Paul says: People could join the show from all around the world. Designers, who were able to join and give students feedback on their creative work.
[A user wears a virtual reality headset and moves around a virtual street.]
James says: With the emergence of immersive technology, so augmented reality, virtual reality, we're able to provide students with an opportunity to engage in content that they otherwise wouldn't be able to.
[Students chat in the Students’ Union.]
Megs says: In an effort to make the University more inclusive, it's really important for students and the University to work together. So for example, work around inclusive assessment, when that's improved then assessment improves for everyone.
[Matt Dollery sits on a desk in a large open teaching space. A caption says: Matt Dollery, Educational Engagement Manager.]
Matt says: Students are valued, their view is valued, they have the opportunity to thrive to fulfil their potential. And they have the opportunity to do this irrespective of their background.
[Meegan Worcester sits on a desk in a large open teaching space. A caption says: Meegan Worcester, Undergraduate Student.]
Meegan says: They're very focused on helping students apply for internships and placements.
Matt says: Strengthening their sense of belonging at Leeds.
Meegan says: Just having a really well-rounded academic and social programme has really benefited me. I really do believe that Leeds is trying to engage students more in the right way.
[An inside view of the large atrium of the Edward Boyle Library. Several students sat at a desk talking in a group study space.]
Jeff says: What we need to do on campus is blend the theoretical and the conceptual with the practical and the active, so that they're ready when they leave us to make an impact on the world.
[Jack Nove sits down in front of a bright glass wall and smiles into camera. A caption says: Jack Nove, Postgraduate Student.]
Jack says: The huge range of opportunities that the University offers is fantastic. They had about 140 or 150 placement opportunities. One of the ones that stood out to me was with NHS Digital, who provide all the IT infrastructure for NHS England. And the placement is looking at how they can encourage staff engagement with sustainability. We started off saying what they needed, but we really kind of worked and distilled that down to what the core requirements would be over the first two or three weeks. I think it's obviously fantastic; I've got hands-on experience doing direct sustainability work. What I've really found with this is that the work that I'm doing is there and I know that it's going to have an impact.
[A bird’s eye view of the University of Leeds campus, surrounded with green spaces with the City of Leeds visible on the horizon. Gates of the Clothworkers’ Court opening.]
[Professor Peter Jimack walks across campus and faces the camera. Caption says: Professor Peter Jimack, Professor of Scientific Computing.]
Peter says: We have an imaginative strategy that puts our students right at the heart, but also allows us to develop new approaches to student education. Our aspiration is to ensure that every student is able to reach their full potential. They're equipped to make an impact on society as global citizens with an international outlook.
Simone says: The next 10 years we'll be spending, on average, 10 million a year on student education. That's a huge amount of money, but our students are totally worth it.
Jeff says: What everyone will see at the University of Leeds are more partnerships with regard to online education. And here in Leeds, in West Yorkshire, more engagement with the community with regard to the learning opportunities that we provide.
Simone says: We'll be working really closely with our students, with our teachers, on changing our education into something even more exciting.
Jeff says: People should see from Leeds, new courses of study and new programmes that are more responsive to what the world needs from the University of Leeds. Our approach to teaching and learning is distinctive, is industry leading, and people come to Leeds to learn with us and to learn from us.
[Caption says: Universal values, global change. 2020 to 2030.]