Welcome to your Dunelm magazine
As a University community, we have much to celebrate from the past year and much to look forward to. We are grateful that you, our alumni and supporter community, continue to be our greatest ambassadors globally, advocating for Durham and supporting our students both throughout their studies and in their onward journeys.
We have been named in the QS World University Rankings World Top 100, a position we have achieved every year since 2010. This is a significant achievement. It speaks to the high quality and global standing of our University. Our position is hard won when many universities are competing for top rankings.
The World Top 100 ranking in this prestigious league table confirms the University’s strong global reputation for employability and reflects the quality and relevance of our education and research. Our research makes a difference to lives globally and locally. Our collaborative approach across our departments, faculties and research institutes increases its impact. We shared Durham’s exciting vision for transformative humanities with alumni at the annual meeting of Convocation recently. There is more detail about that, and our collaborative work across science, in this magazine.
Sustainability remains an important part of our University Strategy. Our staff, students and alumni endeavour to address the impact of the challenges of today and prepare for those of the future. The latest QS World University Rankings for Sustainability place Durham 22nd globally and eighth in the UK.
Our students and graduate entrepreneurs strive to find solutions to climate challenges and continue to develop social enterprise projects locally and internationally.
At Durham, our students receive a challenging, enabling and research-led education that encourages intellectual rigor. They are resourceful and able to apply their knowledge and skills to real-world challenges. We welcomed alumnus Richard Walker, CEO of Iceland Stores, back to Durham twenty years after graduating to share his experience with students. Richard describes himself as ‘environmentally conscious’ and credits his time at Durham, and particularly his degree in Geography, with shaping his passion to help meet the challenges of climate change.
We begin to consider our bicentenary in 2032 and reflect on our historic milestones. St Mary’s College opened as Durham’s first female-only college in 1899 and introduced male students 106 years later in 2005. The College is celebrating its 125th birthday this year. The generosity of the gifts left by some of St Mary’s remarkable alumni and friends support and inspire the journeys of the students of today. Two colleges formed against the backdrop of the educational reforms of the 1960s are celebrating 60 years: Van Mildert, one of our early co-educational colleges, and Ustinov, our only exclusively postgraduate college. Both are working closely with their alumni to secure their future goals.
It has been a pivotal year for our world-leading Business School. Its new home, Waterside, was officially opened to find solutions to climate challenges and continue to develop social enterprise projects locally and internationally.
In the last year we have experienced challenging circumstances for UK higher education and we are grateful to the whole community for inspiring us with your achievements.
We have witnessed many alumni and friends being appointed to positions in Parliament and across all political parties following the UK general election. We were in awe of the sporting prowess of our Olympians last year and admired the determination of our young entrepreneurs to take on the challenge of the Dragon’s Den. Then at Christmas time, we cheered the triumph of our team in the alumni version of the University Challenge quiz show.
Thank you to those of our community who have contributed to this magazine. I hope you enjoy reading it.