Looking to the future
As we celebrate our rich heritage, the University is also looking forward to a bright future.
The University’s Strategic Plan to 2016 outlines the way the University will work and the outcomes it aspires to achieve over the next few years. Among the key themes are the further development of the University’s overseas profile, the establishment of an international reputation for innovation and the continued delivery of first-rate teaching and research.
Loughborough was confirmed as one of the country’s leading research universities in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), which will provide the framework for the future allocation of research infrastructure funding. Every department was found to be undertaking research that is internationally recognised, 18% of the University’s research was considered to be ‘world leading’, and the Times Higher Education (THE) magazine named Loughborough as one of three rising stars among research-intensive universities.
Plans for the further development of the University’s estate are also underway. The official opening of the Health, Exercise and Biosciences Building in May 2009, named after Professor Clyde Williams, marks the first step in the East Park development project, which will transform this part of campus over the next ten to twenty years. Four new 'zones' will be created - residential, academic, cultural and leisure, with new academic space and student accommodation provided.
The proposal to create a Science and Enterprise Park at the University is moving forward, with a development partner now being sought. The Park would allow the University to further expand its science and enterprise links with industry, by attracting research and development activities that require university expertise and by providing facilities for its own researchers.
Part of the land is already being used for the SportPark development – a £15 million management hub providing office accommodation for sports organisations, which will reinforce Loughborough’s position the UK’s leading centre for sport. Work began in October 2008 and is due for completion by the end of 2009.
Having been instrumental in the East Midlands' regional support for London's 2012 Olympic bid, the University will now play an integral part in the Games. With perhaps the best integrated sports development environment in the world, the University’s performance sport training facilities will primarily be utilised for Great Britain’s potential Olympians and Olympic squads to train ahead of the Games. The Japanese Olympic team is to be based at the University and will make use of Loughborough's training facilities for preparation and acclimatisation in the run up to the event.