Academic structure

The new faculties will have greater strategic and financial autonomy, and will support empowered academic departments. They retain all the subjects and programmes contained in previous departmental structures, but in some cases reconfigured in new ways. Each faculty hosts at least one of our University Research Institutes although Research Institutes retain their unique cross-faculty interdisciplinarity. All faculties are represented in Cornwall.

Faculties:

• Bring related departments, accredited University Schools and Institutes together to create a more coherent vision and higher impact for University activity across our key strategic areas.
• Develop their own strategic and intellectual plans within a framework set by the University.
• Set faculty priorities for the core academic portfolios of research, education, and global.
• Drive policy for staff recruitment and student number planning and delivery.
• Invest strategically in areas of opportunity, while being more resilient to financial challenges.
• Enable the development of ambitious initiatives at scale.
• Encourage more interdisciplinary research across faculties supported by University research institutes and networks.
• Make it easier to create new interdisciplinary education programmes across disciplines.
• Use their powerful position in the University to inform and help shape institution-level strategy and policy and to pursue the ambitions of colleagues and students.
• Reduce the complexity and cost of governance for academic units.
• Align professional services’ skills and expertise to the delivery of academic strategies.

Faculty Leadership Structure

Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

Exeter’s Humanities ranks in the world top 100 and our Social Sciences ranks 125th. Bringing together such highly ranked Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences into a connected, open and resilient faculty will inspire students and colleagues to think creatively and critically. In a time of volatility, complexity and uncertainty, research and education across the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences are critical to unlocking human creativity, to engaging in a human-centred way with the world around us, and to building the inclusive understanding that will help us to co-create a better future. Bringing these groups together will enable us to grow specialist areas across a broad range of disciplines and strengthen our commitment to world–class scholarship, education and student experience. By combining our strengths in evaluating the past, our understanding of societies and cultures, our distinctive methodologies and our curiosity and application, we will bring human, social, cultural and professional considerations together to deepen disciplinary and cross–disciplinary understanding, to identify and address important future challenges and unlock opportunities.

This faculty will champion our work on ‘making progress towards creating a fair, socially just and inclusive society’.

view the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences chart‌

Faculty of Health and Life Sciences

The health, wellbeing and life sciences agenda continues to grow rapidly in regional, national and global importance. Research, education, philanthropic and commercial funding are all increasingly directed to this field and we must clearly signal our intention to address the challenges and opportunities this presents. The faculty reinforces our identity in this area and sets us up to tackle not just the traditional health, biological and medical sciences agendas, but signals our existing excellence and intent on the broader but increasingly important areas of social and environmental aspects of human health. We are strong across public health, physical health and mental health agendas and can build a distinctive profile for integrating health, wellbeing and the broader life sciences. Although we have experienced huge growth in the scale of our submission for REF2021 compared with REF2014, we are still relatively small. Critical mass with quality will be important in determining where major funding is directed in future. This faculty will champion our Strategy work on ‘making key breakthroughs to transform human health and wellbeing’ within the context of strong fundamental health and life sciences.

view the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences chart‌

Faculty of Environment, Science and the Economy

The creation of sustainable futures is a key pillar of Strategy 2030, arising from our institutional strength in environment and sustainability research and education, and a recognition that this is now a regional, national and global priority. We are one of the world’s best universities in environment and sustainability-driven science, engineering and business, founded on strong fundamental disciplinary research and education. We excel in areas allied to environment and sustainability both within and between disciplines. For example; climate change science and policy is a core strength across Mathematics, Geography, Biology, Economics and Management; sustainable engineering and technology solutions run across Engineering and the Business School; ecology and natural capital across Biology, Geography, Geology and Mining, Economics and Management; environmental management and solutions runs across Geography, Biology, and Engineering; environmental intelligence is at the forefront of our Computer and Data Sciences activity; and the Business School is possibly the leading environmental economics and sustainability management business school in the UK. Bringing the previous colleges together into this faculty strengthens the synergies, highlights our brand identity and helps drive the interdisciplinary approach needed to tackle future challenges and opportunities in environment and sustainability, under a broad-based set of disciplinary strengths in Environment, Science and the Economy. This faculty will champion our work on ‘taking meaningful action against the climate emergency and ecological crisis’.

view the Faculty of the Environment, Science and Economy chart

The academic core of a faculty is the departments. Departments bring related subjects or activities together to create a more coherent vision and higher impact for department activity.

There were previously 30+ departments and the proposal was to move to 23. The position after the consultation was for 25 departments. Our aim is to put departments at the heart of the University with them becoming much stronger drivers of university and faculty strategy and activity. The scale and focus of departments vary but they will be empowered with greater financial and strategic accountability than previously. Departments are led by a Head supported by academic Directors of Research, Education, Global, and others aligned to the academic portfolio, with support from embedded and aligned professional services teams. In large departments there may be a Deputy Head associated with a key subject area or campus location. Faculties support their departments in the best ways for their context, thereby increasing agility and ensuring that our departments are able to focus on their research and education cultures and communities rather than governance or administration. In departments that have reimagined their shape, further work and resources is needed to ensure that individual subject areas in the new departments are supported effectively and can project and strengthen their reputations through these arrangements.

Departments:

• Develop their strategic and intellectual plans to deliver faculty priorities.
• Support disciplinary strength while enabling interdisciplinarity in both education and research.
• Manage their faculty-assigned budgets and academic strategy, including staff recruitment and support for planning.
• Deliver excellent education and research programmes, more student involvement, more inclusive learning communities and vibrant research cultures.
• Provide a strong and coherent community of learning and scholarship and build a sense of identity with training, advice and support.
• Provide opportunities for students and colleagues to work across traditional boundaries.
• Facilitate a team approach between colleagues in all job families and students at all levels.
• Remain a key feature of external assessment such as Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), Research Excellence Framework (REF), Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) and league tables.
• Have embedded Professional Services Department Managers (at levels appropriate with their size and complexity) and operations support.

View current and previous departments for each faculty. ‌

Clearer focus for Cornwall

Strategy 2030 clearly states our commitment to our place and building an exceptional education and research ecosystem in Cornwall. The three-faculty model enables a distinctive offer and clearer identity around which a renamed University of Exeter, Cornwall can base its future ambitions for growth and contribute to the major opportunities for development and collaboration in Cornwall including sustainability, marine, space, technology metals, renewable energy, culture and environmental and public health.

Key features for University of Exeter, Cornwall include:

Elements of all three faculties will be located in Cornwall, ensuring a whole-university approach to our Cornwall activity with a distinctive offer and clearer identity including maintaining the brand of Camborne School of Mines (CSM).
Where possible, departments located in Cornwall will have clear leadership and clear professional services support. We also encourage the appointment of some Heads of cross-campus departments to be located in Cornwall.
Faculty Executive Boards will be strongly connected to Cornwall issues with shared representation.
The University of Exeter, Cornwall will fully encompass our communities in Penryn and Truro.
There will be a new role of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (DVC) Cornwall driving a strong strategic plan, accountability and budget with a major focus on external engagement; they will be based in Cornwall supported by a Director of Cornwall Operations (DCO).
There will be an academically-driven plan enabled by local leadership, local service delivery and strong campus partnerships.
The group of departmental leaders will form a Cornwall Leadership team, chaired by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Cornwall and including the relevant Faculty Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellors. Heads of Cornwall Departments will also be members of the Faculty Executive Board of the relevant faculty. Professional services teams in Cornwall will continue to provide flexible support to Cornwall-based academic teams.
We will grow the standing, political influence and reputation of University of Exeter, Cornwall, enabling strong partners, like Cornwall Council, the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust and the region’s communities to have a clearer understanding of the University of Exeter, Cornwall and see the value that a research-intensive university can contribute to the county’s future.
See the diagram showing the configuration of faculties in Cornwall.

See the diagram showing the configuration of faculties in Cornwall.

Cornwall Departments‌

Cross faculty and university-wide initiatives
It is critical that these new structures make cross-faculty working easier. Governance structures and working culture will promote, encourage and highlight collaborative working.

a) University-wide priorities and strategies
University strategies and associated priorities and goals (for example, strategic investments, improvements to National Students Survey (NSS),Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), Research Excellence Framework (REF) or Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) scores or global engagement) are collectively owned by University Executive Board and led by an identified member, normally a Deputy Vice-Chancellor/ Pro-Vice-Chancellor or senior Professional Services Director. They will work with Faculty Pro-Vice-Chancellors to ensure effective delivery of priorities. The Pro-Vice-Chancellor is accountable for the delivery of the priority in their faculty and the Head of Department is responsible for delivery in their department. Issues or new ideas raised in departments can quickly be considered by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor and escalated to University Executive Board in the new structures. Proposals for innovation and improvement will be taken through the Pro-Vice-Chancellors/Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellors/Head of Departments to identify leads in relevant departments (often a Director of Research/Education/Global etc.) and professional services support for implementation.

b) Cross-faculty collaboration

• Having three faculties (rather than six colleges) will enable closer collaboration between the academic leaders in each domain (Pro-Vice-Chancellors, Deputy Vice-Chancellors / Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellors etc.) reducing complexity and barriers and making large-scale University-wide initiatives easier to achieve. Deputy Vice-Chancellors will continue to facilitate cross-faculty work by using their strategic budgets.
• A key role for the Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellors will be to foster interdisciplinarity within and between faculties and they will meet regularly to facilitate this and to remove barriers to achieving success.
• Cross-faculty research initiatives are also supported through Research Institutes and Research Networks and the proposed Exeter Futures Initiative. A key benefit for interdisciplinary working will be the development of education programmes that cross departmental or faculty boundaries and which open new areas of opportunity for students, partners and colleagues. These will be supported through the Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor network and increasingly through the new Exeter Education Innovation Institute.
• We expect to see new approaches to managing research technology facilities through a Research Technology Hub with shared governance for the major research facilities, with terms of reference and clear roles and responsibilities. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Impact is working on proposals to develop this.

The faculties will be responsible for ensuring that the following types of cross-faculty activity are enabled:

• Major cross-University initiatives and big ideas.
• Shared modules offered to all Exeter students reflecting the three themes– e.g. sustainability, climate, proficiency in entrepreneurship, management or law, healthy living, gender rights, social justice.
• Enabling cross-institutional teaching delivery (financial, resource management).
• Growth of Degree apprenticeships, online/Continuing Professional Development/Exec Education, shared and delivered across faculties.
• Growth of Interdisciplinary PhD themes that cut across faculties.
• Greater visibility of core facilities at faculty level to support the overarching strategy themes.
• Sharing best practice in education and research.
• Joint faculty international student recruitment activities.
• Building existing and new relationships with partners within the context of the new strategy themes and establishing cross-faculty groupings to engage with key partners or particular business sectors.

Where groups of departments together manage complex, high-value programmes and have a distinctive outward-facing role or accreditation, they may be known as a School. This is the case for the Business School and the Medical School. Both Schools are large management entities, with clear external-facing responsibilities e.g. the Medical School’s requirements for engagement with the NHS and the wider health service, as well as formal roles such as facing the GMC and the Medical Schools Council. We recognise the need for the Business and Medical Schools to retain important elements of autonomy related to their distinctive accreditation processes and branding, with the need for clear external presences (e.g. for GMC and Business School Triple Accreditation).

They require slightly different arrangements to other groupings of departments within their faculties. Schools are led by a Faculty Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Dean of the School, who reports to the Faculty Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean. The Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Dean oversees strategic direction for the overall portfolio of the school and interaction with other departments as part of their Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor role. They identify new opportunities for wider faculty and university innovation and, in consultation with school staff, Heads of Departments, Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellors and the Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean, determine and implement plans to meet school, faculty and institutional objectives. The Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Dean is responsible for ensuring the school meets its financial targets. The Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Dean also plays a key role in developing external relationships, including corporate or clinical relationships, and with fundraising. The Heads of Department will work closely with the Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Dean to deliver the school strategic goals.

A key feature of schools is that considerable activity is undertaken and coordinated across departments rather than directly within them, with effective management required to reflect this. Therefore, in the schools, we have embeded a set of Associate Dean roles to support the Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Dean with these functions; the roles also support the Faculty Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellors (APVCs) with specific knowledge and expertise of practice in the school sector. These roles have two reporting lines: i.e. to the Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Dean and a dotted line to the appropriate Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor in the faculty. The post holders will coordinate the functions across the departments working with departmental counterparts as required. As a result of these roles, there are fewer department-based ‘Directors of’ in the Business and Medical Schools.

If single departments require a school designation for marketing or reputational reasons each will be considered on its merits (e.g. the Exeter Law School, Graduate School of Education). It has been agreed that the Camborne School of Mines will retain its title.

Each faculty will also act as the host for at least one interdisciplinary university research institute. Institutes will have a stronger connection into their host faculty with their strategies closely aligned with academic and financial planning. Bringing institutes into faculties will have practical benefits e.g. strategic and budgetary planning, streamlining appointments processes, supervision of Postgraduate Research (PGR) students and development of education programmes.

The institutes will continue to play a key role in fostering cross-University research and education initiatives. They will also further build and develop their external partnerships. Institute Directors will report to Faculty Pro-Vice-Chancellors and Executive Deans and will be members of Faculty Executive Boards. The position of the Directors on the Faculty Executive Boards is designed to help them have more input to University strategy and achieve their institute’s ambitions but institute interdisciplinarity will be maintained and fostered through their own Steering Groups. Institute Steering Groups chaired by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research and Impact will ensure their research will continue to span across faculties.

The leadership structures are summarised in the table below. NB. The Taught Faculty and Doctoral College are not in scope for this reorganisation, but once any new structures are in place we will assess the best way to fulfil their functions in the new context.

View the Education Governance modeL.

Faculty leadership arrangements are designed to ensure that colleagues with responsibility for delivery are able to do so with appropriate authority and clear lines of accountability. Line management will be undertaken by trained individuals covering appropriate spans of control. Overall, the number of leadership roles will decrease, reducing governance overhead. However, we will be establishing some new leadership roles which will create new opportunities for colleagues. The roles featured in the new arrangements are summarised in the Faculty Structure chart and described in the table below.

*Time to be agreed on appointment, to include consideration of contractual hours and other support that can be made available to facilitate this role within the JDs.

We have looked at all structures through an Equalities Impact lens so that our structures do not lead to inequalities. We aim to create an inclusive culture, environment and sense of belonging, so that for example:

• There is an increase in diversity of perspectives in decision-making, including local decision-making structures.
• Larger units will have fewer barriers and enable more interaction between our people, and more support and mentoring around EDI.
• A number of new roles will enhance opportunity for career development and pathways to promotion.
• Leadership roles can be offered as job share and part-time arrangements.
• One of the Faculty Pro-Vice-Chancellor/Executive Deans will be responsible for championing the strategic cross-institutional theme around inclusivity and social justice; we will have a new management structure to support faculties – The Wellbeing, Inclusion and Culture Board.
• Faculty Executive Boards, chaired by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean are accountable to the Provost for the creation of a positive, inclusive culture.
• Careful consideration will be given to mix of characteristics and skills on faculty boards.
• Full leadership development will be provided for staff taking on new leadership roles.

The specific rationales for establishing faculties and allocating individual departments or groups within them can be found on the individual faculty pages. However, in developing these proposals, Pro-Vice-Chancellors used the following general principles:

Wherever possible, new departments should:

• Link academic fields, maintain disciplinary identity, nurture interdisciplinarity and maximise opportunity for collaboration.
• Connect communities through shared programmes, facilities and professional services expertise.
• Provide the basis for future strategic growth and investment, building on our strengths to further improve national and international profile and reputation.
• Enable more supportive management arrangements for colleagues, Heads of Departments and their teams.
• Open up new funding streams, partnerships and opportunities.
• Create critical mass to ensure resilience and justify closer alignment of professional services.
• Balance student numbers, income and activity across the faculty.

In addition Univeristy Executive Board (UEB) agreed that:

• Where departments have reimagined their shape, further work and resources will be needed to ensure that individual subject areas in the new departments are supported effectively and can project and strengthen their reputations through these arrangements.
• Where UEB accepted alternative proposals for single discipline structures, those departments will be invited to develop strong growth and delivery plans and UEB will monitor progress towards these goals closely.