Northumbria Impact Report 2023_24

2023/24

Our graduates and donors have made us proud. Again.

Over the last year, donations of over £2.2 million have supported students across our university.

Scholarships, outreach programmes, enterprise support and research projects gave our students the opportunity to explore their higher education ambitions to the limit –while hardship grants and mental health services offered a lifeline when life’s challenges arose.

Our graduates gave their time and expertise to help students develop their business ideas, and inspired students to seek the endless possibilities awaiting them after university.

This year our Higher Education Without Barriers fund, which provides a range of financial and support services to help students study and succeed at Northumbria, broke the £3 million mark, thanks to the continued support of our donor community.

Thank you for supporting and inspiring another generation of Northumbria University students.

Scholarships

We want to give everyone with the potential to go to university the opportunity to achieve their goal.

Our donors have provided scholarships in everything from the built environment to graphic design, from sports coaching to financial services. We’ve supported care leavers and those estranged from their families, female students, and people from Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds, to not only access higher education but break into fields in which they are typically under-represented.

Our donors have funded

79 undergraduate

60 That’s 139 postgraduate students with scholarships this year. students who may otherwise not have had the chance to study at Northumbria. and

We are happy to be collaborating with Northumbria University to grant a £30,000 scholarship to a student from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background studying graphic design. We firmly believe that the design industry needs to become more inclusive and diverse and this begins with making design education more accessible to students from under-represented communities.

Luke Powell, Partner, Pentagram.

Scholarships

Robson Laidler Accountants are truly proud to support the Northumbria University scholarship programme and delighted to contribute to the nurturing of fresh talent. Our mission to ‘make a positive difference to people’s lives’ aligns seamlessly with this initiative as well as our commitment to creating sustainable and inclusive communities. We recognise and value the innovative ideas, enthusiasm, and diversity the students will bring to our industry, and we are excited to see the outcomes for us all.

We are delighted to partner with Northumbria University – a forward-looking inclusive institution that is taking the necessary steps to diversify its student cohorts at the postgraduate level. We are certainly impressed by the range of initiatives and interventions run by the University in support of marginalised students.

Outreach

We break down the barriers to accessing higher education.

Our outreach and engagement activities helped young people and members of the local community to access educational resources and learn how to progress into further study, volunteering or work.

1,255 young people accessed our donor-funded IntoUniversity Newcastle East Centre last year. The Centre inspires 7- to 18-year-olds to discover their passion for learning, develop academic knowledge and skills, access information and advice to thrive throughout their educational journey and progress to higher education and other career pathways.

Donations came from our community of regular givers as well as Agile Business Consortium, Barbour Foundation, Catherine Cookson Foundation, Enterprise Mobility, Hachette and Ryder Architecture, with staff from Siemens Energy and Mott Macdonald giving their time to share expertise with young people at the Centre.

Inspiring the next generation.

IntoUniversity Newcastle East Centre increased the educational aspirations of young people in our communities. Of those who attended,

75% are working better at school 64% Progression to university soared from the local average of 12% to 69%

improved their grades with the academic support they received

We’re proud to

say 64 IntoUniversity students are studying at Northumbria University since the Centre opened in 2021.

We’re extremely proud of our community impact work at Ryder, which is focused practice-wide on education initiatives that support, inspire and equip young people with the skills to achieve their full potential. Having worked with Northumbria University for over three decades, as both client and business partner, it’s great to be extending that relationship to jointly inspire and encourage future generations to consider higher education as an option.

Mental health and well-being

We believe students’ mental health and physical well-being is just as important as their academic career.

University life is demanding so we make sure students have the support they need to look after their mental and physical health.

Using a donation from Enterprise Mobility, we trained 103 students to become mental health first aiders and provide support to vulnerable peers experiencing mental health challenges.

Funding from The Cameron Grant Memorial Trust allowed therapy dogs and pets to continue to join Students’ Union events. Dogs visited the Union 22 times and provided canine cuddles, play and walks to over 500 students and staff.

Therapy dogs and pets provide a little reminder of home to many students who are homesick or need a pick-me-up. These little moments can make a huge difference to students’ well-being.

The mental health first aider course helped me understand mental health from different perspectives. I now feel more prepared and equipped to handle a mental health conversation or crisis on campus and in my personal life.

Northumbria University student and mental health first aider.

Hardship

We support people from all backgrounds to study and succeed at university.

There’s an average £450 monthly shortfall between student maintenance loans and living costs.

This is the second year I’ve donated. The cost of living increases are badly impacting students and I’m keen to give something back to the current generation of students.

That’s without any unforeseen financial difficulties to manage. Many students rely on part-time work to survive, which means they have less time to focus on their studies, participate in extra-curricular activities and undertake work-related learning.

Generous donations from our graduates and business partners funded over £80,000 in hardship grants that supported accommodation, food, utility bills and childcare costs. They also enabled students to pay for learning resources, and to attend field trips, work placements and job interviews.

I was very grateful to be given this opportunity to meet my mentor in-person for the first time. I received a real legal assignment, worked alongside solicitors on a pro-bono case for the firm and shadowed my mentor, which has helped me build my skills further.

I wanted to give something back to an institution that had a major influence on my development both professionally and as an individual.

SUPPORT

Hardship

We provide a helping hand when students need it most.

The Student Food Pantry opened this year to provide free basic food, toiletries and household supplies to those most in need at Newcastle City Campus.

Funded by donations and run by the Students’ Union, the Pantry has already made a huge difference to students’ day-to-day lives. There are plans to expand it to Coach Lane and London campuses and offer educational sessions to help foodbank users develop financial management skills.

Food insecurity is unfortunately becoming a common feature of student life, between rising costs and flat maintenance loans and finance.

The Student Food Pantry provides an accessible, no judgement route for students to secure basic food items in times of need and is a means for the Students’ Union to engage with those students and link them with services that can support them.

We nurture aspiring entrepreneurs.

Any student with a business idea can access top-quality support and advice through our incubator and enterprise programmes.

The generous donations of time and financial support from a range of benefactors enabled students to test concepts and launch enterprises this year.

It’s one of the reasons why we’ve been ranked in the UK’s top 5 universities for graduate start-ups for 10 of the past 13 years.

82 students

Last year, took part in Enterprise Weekends funded by Santander Universities UK. 180 received financial support through the incubator programme.

The Incubator helped me so much in my entrepreneurship journey. Apart from the obvious benefits of meeting other entrepreneurs and solving problems together, the incubator facilitated many mentoring sessions with sector experts, which helped us grow as a business. The bespoke brand support from Gardiner Richardson and North East Times also made a huge difference to building our profile.

Enterprise

Every successful entrepreneur we create in the North East is good for our local economy. The Northumbria University Incubator has a proven record of fostering successful entrepreneurs. I am one of those; having started Wubbleyou in 2010, we now employ 10 people. The Incubator gave me so much support, advice, office space and community. Being 20 years old, I knew nothing about business and having access to experts to spot my mistakes before I made them was invaluable.

This is why I give back my time and expertise to help student start-ups in the Incubator. At Wubbleyou, we share Northumbria’s drive and vision to foster successful entrepreneurs.

Research

We help our world-class researchers to shape graduates who are the leaders and innovators of the future.

Student researchers received incredible financial support this year through donations to our innovation fund and research programmes.

This allowed us to create the conditions for students to test and research their ideas fully, resulting in some ground-breaking and often industry-leading discoveries along the way.

The Wolfson Foundation awarded £1 million to support the expansion of engineering and surface science research facilities at Newcastle City Campus. The investment is part of a £3 million package that will transform and upgrade laboratory facilities dedicated to the analysis and development of materials used in the renewable energy, healthcare, biomaterials and engineering sectors.

Northumbria graduate, Leila Benyahia, received funding to undertake a PhD investigating the technical, tactical and physical demands and benefits of same- and mixed-gender competition in elite youth girls’ football. The research tests the assumption that playing football with boys is a necessary developmental part of the player pathway, with the aim of informing the optimal games programme for aspiring girl footballers and providing evidence for key stakeholders.

The PhD funding that I have received has enabled me to dedicate myself to my project in girls’ football development and start to gain meaningful insight into the female talent development pathway. The funding has allowed me to study full-time, therefore helping me to gain the skills that I need as a researcher and put them into practice.

Our alumni, staff, students and business partners enjoyed a packed calendar of events this year to celebrate the impact of their philanthropy on the University and its students –while raising vital funds.

NU Amplify

This inaugural event provided an opportunity for students to meet the donors supporting their studies. Donors shared their motivations for supporting Northumbria and students told us about the impact of philanthropy on their success.

Panel members:

INSPIRE

Sport Dinner

Representatives from over 50 businesses and organisations attended our Sport Dinner, which raised over £120,000 to support schemes that engage students in physical activity and inspire young local people to access the opportunity to study at Northumbria.

inspiring keynote speeches from:

CELEBRATE

NULondon Fashion Show

Alumni and supporters attended the Northumbria Graduate Fashion Show in London. The largest showcase of BA Fashion in the world, Graduate Fashion Week represents the future of creative design talent. The Northumbria Fashion Show featured work from graduating students from Fashion, Fashion Design & Marketing and Fashion Communications programmes in a portfolio presentation, exhibition and catwalk show.

NU-Cycle Challenge

£12,000 by cycling over 300 miles

In a month-long cycle-a-thon, a team of Northumbria alumni, staff and business partners raised more than in four days from our London campus to our Newcastle campus.

Left to right:

Gillian Ridley-Whittle (Peachaus), Andy Leck (Flightstory), Victoria Kent (Northumbria University), Annabel Mackie (Five by Five), Emma-Jayne Goldsmith (Northumbria University), James Wilkinson (Northumbria University) and Jon Powell (Santander Universities UK).

218 guests, including 86 graduates working in major construction companies across the UK, attended the Dinner at Northumbria University Students’ Union, to celebrate 50 years of surveying education at Northumbria, in partnership with RICS. As part of the celebrations, the University also hosted an alumni and staff surveying reunion event.

Inspiring graduates

We give our students the confidence and ambition to make a difference in the future.

Northumbria University Alumni Association has over 244,000 graduates located in

178 countries across the world.

81% of our donors are Northumbria graduates.

Many of them returned to visit the University to share their stories with students.

From setting up businesses to leading global enterprises, philanthropic pursuits to passion projects, our alumni guests demonstrated all of the possibilities awaiting students after university.

Alumni mentors also volunteered their time to support students in a wide range of disciplines. Their industry experience and professional advice guided students to make choices about their career paths and further studies.

Darren Davidson, Vice President, Siemens Energy UK and Ireland Gmesa UK and Northumbria graduate.

Looking around the room I felt inspired to see the next generation of engineers, who I know will have a big part to play in the energy transition to carbon neutral.

Nicola Elliot, Founder of NEOM Wellbeing London and Northumbria graduate.

Nicola gave us a bespoke action plan on how we can grow our offline sales within the UK, sharing her experience on what works and what doesn’t. We left the meeting energised to pursue growth areas that we hadn’t even considered.

Tom and Abi Reid, Founders, Merwave and Northumbria graduates.

It was fantastic to see such a successful entrepreneur as Nicola coming back to the University and so willingly passing on her knowledge and experience to the resident graduate businesses at our Incubation facility. I know they found this opportunity invaluable. Hopefully, when time allows, Nicola will also be able to mentor some of our graduate businesses of the future.

Baty,

Inspiring graduates

Lady Edwina Grosvenor, Criminologist, Prison Philanthropist and Northumbria graduate.

Edwina delivered a lecture on Redesigning Justice with a focus on Hope Street and met with students who have benefited from the Lady Edwina Grosvenor Social Sciences Scholarships.

Edwina’s investment in education and research is something that many at Northumbria have benefited from and we are very grateful for the support that Edwina has given to our undergraduate and postgraduate student community.

Carly Guest, Assistant Professor in Criminology and Sociology.

Thank you for your support this year in enabling people from disadvantaged and under-represented groups to access higher education and empowering our students to make valuable contributions in an increasingly complex world. Your generosity is truly inspiring, helping us to create a vibrant learning and research community and to nurture tomorrow’s leaders and thinkers. Together we are pushing boundaries, encouraging excellence, and enabling our students to face the future with confidence.

We look forward to working with you and extending our network of partners next year to continue to offer hope, opportunity, and a sense of belonging and achievement for our students. It is inspiring to see the University’s community of alumni, partners, and friends coming together to support our students. Your commitment this year has been more significant than ever, and we look forward to working with you to enable more students to thrive through challenging times in the future.

Arushi Sinha, President, Northumbria Students’ Union