Our global ambitions: Watch January’s staff talk

Colleagues should be proud of what Reading offers on the world stage, as we seek to enhance our global profile and international student pulling power.

This was one of the observations shared by Dr Caroline Baylon, our recently-appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International) as she outlined her plans to increase our global engagement and international student recruitment at January’s all-staff talk.

Caroline, who joined University in August 2023, shared her first impressions of Reading during her first months in the role.

These included observing that we are in a good position as a University but have a lot more to offer, and that getting the basics right in key areas will have a big positive impact.

Strategic growth

Caroline outlined our immediate challenges and priorities, such as driving international student growth to increase revenue, developing strategies for regional engagement overseas, and improving our global brand recognition.

She also emphasised that all colleagues can play a role in this growth, by changing how we operate rather than adding to workloads.

A consultation on this new Internationalisation and Global Engagement strategic framework is planned for later this year.

February’s staff talk will also discuss international student numbers as it outlines our plans to increase our overall student numbers to support the revenue growth aspects of our financial challenges response.

An update on these plans will be published on the Staff Portal before the next talk.