A year at Goldsmiths
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Goldsmiths has had a year to remember.
Students on the college green.
The past 12 months have seen our students, staff and alumni make headlines around the world, influence Government and make vital contributions in all areas of life.
From changing UK tax policy via petitions to informing debate around the ongoing humanitarian crisis and even helping broaden the minds of Britain’s book publishers via the Goldsmiths Prize, 2015 has been full of landmark achievements.
It finished on a high: the Turner Prize was awarded to architecture collective Assemble who will begin building a public art gallery on campus in 2016. The four pillars of our strategic plan have supported all of our successes.
Knowledge Production is a must for an institution like ours. From our beginnings as the Goldsmiths’ Company’s Technical and Recreative Institute in 1891, we have grown to be at the forefront of creative and cultural thought and practice.
Our academic successes were recognised nationally and internationally this year. The Department of Design was ranked the best in Britain by The Guardian while the QS World University Rankings named Art and Design, and Media and Communications at Goldsmiths in the top 25 in the world and in the top five in the UK. Sociology was rated 45th in the world and 9th in the UK.
London and the World celebrates the global nature of Goldsmiths. Whether it’s to study, work or collaborate, our doors are open to all. Our community starts in New Cross and stretches across the world. Just ask the hundreds of alumni in 13 cities across the globe who helped celebrate ‘Goldsmiths Reunite: Around the World in 7 Days’.
The Student Experience is at the heart of all that happens on campus – with the QAA hailing the ‘particularly positive’ inclusion of the student voice across the university. Our duty of care doesn’t end at graduation: our graduates were recently rated among the most employable in the UK.
Financial Sustainability helps us ensure Goldsmiths’ future will be as bright and as bold as its past. We will soon also see profound change in the Higher Education landscape: among government proposals are a new framework to assess teaching excellence and a major reshape of research funding. A ‘No’ vote in the EU referendum could cause further upheaval in the sector.
Because of this we are taking steps to grow Goldsmiths. We have broadened our range of Short Courses and are extending our undergraduate offering with degrees in Arts Management, degrees in Economics and degrees in Criminology. We are also investing in our estate – with exciting plans to further develop our campus.
With so many positive innovations and developments it has been another challenging yet successful year for Goldsmiths, with the needs of our students, staff, alumni and community remaining at the heart of everything we do.