MISSION STATEMENT (5)

The objects of the University shall be to advance learning and knowledge by teaching and research, particularly in science and technology, and in close association with industry and commerce. ... the advancement of knowledge, the dissemination and extension of sciences and arts, the provision of technological, liberal and professional education ... The mission of the University of Bath evolves from the above quotations from the Charter and Charter Petition. The principal aim of the University is to deliver that mission by the continuing development of its distinctive academic style, based on a belief that teaching and research are enhanced by being conducted in an atmosphere where the application of knowledge to useful ends, in the light of the requirements of the contemporary world, is seen as complementing on an equal footing the basic processes of acquiring and disseminating knowledge. The University looks resolutely to the future, and sees itself as a research university whose context is European and international as much as local and national. Three strands can be identified in such development: quality, balance and diversity. The University of Bath is an institution committed to the continuing review and improvement of the quality of its activities. We aim to admit able students and help them to emerge as some of the best and most sought after graduates of their generation, with an education which fits them for leadership in the future. We aim to conduct research which leads to significant advances in our subject areas when judged by the most exacting international standards, and at the same time demonstrates that solving problems arising in the application of knowledge can be as important an intellectual achievement as solving problems posed out of curiosity. We shall actively promote quality in teaching and research and shall regularly evaluate our performance against our mission. We seek to establish a proper balance between different aspects of our activities. Teaching and research are complementary: we believe that good university teaching needs the invigorating stimulus of active research, and that the disciplined approach needed to make a new topic teachable canfeed back to influence the future course of research. Pure and applied work in both teaching and research are also complementary: we welcomeopportunities to work in collaboration with industry, commerce and public services, but would never wish to lower our sights from education to training or from research to development, since we believe that one of the hallmarks of a high-quality university lies in its ability to invest in the longterm intellectual future of its students, its staff, and the community at large. We seek to move towards a subject balance in which the scientific and technological dimension is better complemented by the humane and artistic dimension. We seek also to place our academic portfolio in an enriching social, cultural and recreational context. We believe that nationally most universities do not provide adequately for the distinctive style of education offered at the University of Bath. We seek to remedy this by making our activities more widely accessible to diverse students; at the undergraduate level both to students with conventional qualifications, and to those who have acquired their background through less standard routes; and at the postgraduate level through the establishment of courses which can be pursued concurrently with work in industry and commerce. In today’s complex and changing world, education is a life-long endeavour. We aim to make our research activities more accessible to industry, for example by the expansion of research partnerships and of high-level short courses, and the more vigorous exploitation of the intellectual property arising from our research. Finally, we aim to set the University of Bath ever more firmly in a European and international context, in the belief that to bring together people from different countries to understand and test one another’s ideas is the most effective possible method of preparation for contributing to international understanding.