SRUC - Chair

Who we are:

Vision: To be a global tertiary powerhouse underpinning a vibrant natural economy – a distinctive place-based university college at the heart of the natural economy, characterised by a unique combination of education, research, innovation and enterprise, and commercial ventures.

Mission: We will redefine what tertiary education means in the 21st century, building on traditions in tertiary education; research excellence; and innovation, enterprise, and commercial ventures.

Purpose: To deliver sustained impact and innovation in the natural economy and create a sustainable future for people, communities, business and the environment, today and tomorrow, in Scotland and globally.

Our specialism is the Natural Economy, with a focus on taking a systemic approach, on maintaining a customer focus, and embracing new ways of working.

SRUC is home to 1000 FTE further education students (representing some 2500 learners), approximately 1600 undergraduate students, 200 master’s students and 80 PhD students undertaking study over a number of courses in the domains of circular economy, planetary health and science society and business. In addition, SRUC delivered short course training to over 3000 individuals in the last year, more than 8500 knowledge exchange events (face to face, podcast, webinar, etc), and 600 apprenticeships.

The research power of Agriculture, Food and Veterinary Sciences at SRUC (joint submission with University of Edinburgh) has been ranked as number one in the UK based on the quality and breadth of work in REF2021.  Research ‘power’ is an overarching measure of research quality and volume. We have improved on the quality and size of our submission since the previous exercise, highlighting the scale and excellence of their combined research capabilities.

All 11 impact case studies submitted – eight of which involved SRUC research – were classified as ‘world leading’ (receiving the top 4* REF grading) or ‘internationally excellent’ (3*) in terms of their impact on wider society. All – 100 per cent – of the research environment was also classified as world class or internationally excellent, highlighting the outstanding quality, equipment and culture of the research base. A total of 87 per cent of overall research activity was ranked as 4* or 3*.

SRUC has an annual turnover of £92.3 million and employs approximately 1050 FTE staff operating from six campuses, eight farms, 24 consulting offices, six innovation centres and five veterinary surveillance centres located primarily across Scotland. SRUC’s main purpose is to advance education, science, research and environmental protection and improvement in the rural and land-based industries, both domestically and internationally. The commercial consultancy, and commercially-focused aspects of skills training and some research activities are undertaken through SRUC Innovation Limited.

It is SRUC’s intention to become a new and unique kind of university college for the 21st century that is regional, accessible, market-focused and responsive to a diverse range of challenges in the emerging natural economy. We will remain a strong and unique anchor institution where research, skills and business converge. Such convergence will create new insights that deliver big strategic leaps and new propositions for business, society and government.

All of this activity is firmly rooted in our distinctive ethos of a Scotland-wide presence through regional centres of global excellence. Our objective is to deliver on shared goals with government, business and other partners to drive forward the natural economy through inclusive growth, job creation and generation of commercial opportunities. We will be a research-led organisation pushing on to fulfil higher, world leading goals aligned with the UN SDGs. We will maintain our regional presence in Scotland; essential to allow us to be responsive to local needs. The unique integration of our research, education and consulting specialisms are key to allowing SRUC to deliver an unparalleled service to our students and customers.

SRUC is proud to be a tertiary organisation providing teaching and skills over the FE/HE spectrum. The award of degree awarding powers provides SRUC with a unique opportunity to develop its academic delivery model to serve the natural economy in Scotland and indeed globally. We have introduced a two-school model based on

Veterinary Medicine and Biosciences

and

Natural and Social Sciences

Our new schools are designed to encourage integration (education, research, extension) over the activities of SRUC and be true to our tertiary model. The schools operate over the complete geography of SRUC, leverage of recent infrastructure development and focused on growth

The locations of all our campuses across Scotland can be found here – Study at SRUC | Campuses