People

1. Offer every student a transformational education, empowering them to discover and develop their own Essex Spirit, to achieve their potential, to improve their own lives and, through social and community engagement and action, to find solutions to societal and environmental problems for the benefit of people and communities.
2. Seek out input and ideas from our students to enable them, in partnership with staff who are responsive to their needs and aspirations, to help shape our living and learning communities and contribute to the University’s decision making processes.
3. Recognise and celebrate the contributions of every member of staff to the achievement of transformational education and research and to sustaining the environments in which these can flourish.
4. Promote and facilitate formal and informal learning across all sections and departments of the University, and support all colleagues in their roles as educators working within and across teams.
5. Nurture and promote our commitment to research-led education and the development of a research mind-set for undergraduate and postgraduate students, for staff researchers and through our practices of research and data-informed decision-making across all departments and sections of the University.
6. Ensure that every member of staff is supported, through induction and ongoing professional development, to be inspirational, inclusive and innovative, to define their own professional paths, plan their career goals, identify and address learning needs and opportunities, build and develop skills and knowledge, maintain rigorous professional standards, navigate moments of transition and share good practice across the University.
7. Listen to, support and develop each other, responding to employee voices, building our staff community through practices of coaching and mentoring, recognising the connection between rest, creativity and wellbeing and helping our community to manage their physical and mental wellbeing through healthy working lifestyles.
8. Support an inclusive working environment which recognises and harnesses the contribution of every member of the University, through inclusive policies and processes that put people at the centre and also by our behaviours, which will promote an environment where people learn from others and are supported through effective processes and partnership to take decisions on behalf of the organisation.
9. Establish a flexible, digitally fluent working culture which leads to self-managed time with a focus on outcomes over input, fluid boundaries between teams and a culture of collaborative problem solving.
10. Support our graduates to realise their personal ambitions, supporting them through the multiple transitions of their future careers, future learning and future lives and celebrating the impact of their Essex Spirit through agency, activism, advocacy, entrepreneurship, service to our communities and their commitment to social action.

1.1.1 Supporting students to achieve success is at the heart of our mission. Our students are a diverse community of committed, engaged learners. We are committed to supporting every student to realise their personal ambitions, transform their lives and use their Essex education for the benefit of people and communities. Our students are active members of our University communities, taking responsibility for their own learning and helping to shape our living and learning communities, in partnership with each other and with staff who are responsive to their needs and aspirations.

1.1.2 Student success will remain at the heart of our mission, as we support our students to discover and define their own ‘Essex Spirit’ within our living and learning community, supported by committed partnerships between the University, the Students’ Union and external partner organisations.

1.1.3 Essex graduates are members of the University for life. We cherish and celebrate the impact of our graduates and their Essex Spirit on our global community. We welcome the contributions that our graduates make to shaping the life and future of the University, supporting the advancement of University and helping current and future generations of Essex students to realise their full potential and fulfil their own Essex Spirit.

1.2.1 Our commitment to transformational education for every student, regardless of background, is realised through the care, skill and commitment of our community of talented people. Our people are dedicated to student success, recognise the power of transformational education, view talent as a starting point for future potential, value inclusion and are responsive to the needs and aspirations of our diverse student population.

1.2.2 Every member of Essex staff contributes to our mission of excellence in education, through their contributions to student learning, student experience and by creating and sustaining the environments in which transformational education flourishes. Our staff will be supported to develop and apply their skills, professional knowledge and expertise to educate and enable every student to realise their full potential, and to nurture and sustain the environments that enable transformational education.

1.2.3 Through collaborative networks and communities of staff and students, we will support our staff to work together across departments and sections, and - with our students and external partners - to ensure that an Essex education meets our students’ needs and aspirations, preparing them for their future lives, future careers and future learning.

1.3.1 Our commitment to transformational research is realised through the care, skill and commitment of our community of talented people. Our staff and students are dedicated to asking difficult questions, challenging received wisdom, conducting ambitious, innovative and significant research that addresses contemporary and emerging challenges, and applying knowledge and ideas for the benefit of individuals, communities and society.

1.3.2 Every member of our community contributes to our mission of excellence in research, through the creation, application and communication of knowledge, ideas and innovations and by creating and sustaining the environments in which transformational research flourishes.

1.3.3 Our people will be equipped with the capabilities to realise their own Essex Spirit as active, empathetic, entrepreneurial and engaged global citizens. Our staff will be supported to develop and apply their skills, professional knowledge and expertise, to realise their full potential as researchers and to nurture the environments that enable transformational research. Through collaborative networks and communities of staff, students and partners, we will support research at the growing points of knowledge, meet the needs of our time, and harness our collective power as a community that drives innovation, creativity and enterprise internationally, nationally and in our region.

1.4.1 At Essex, we value the contribution that every member of staff makes to our University mission. We recognise the importance of meaningful relationships and partnerships across the University in realising our shared endeavour, and the role of staff voices in helping to shape our living and learning communities.

1.4.2 As a learning organisation, we value and support the ongoing development of professional knowledge, expertise and skills. We are committed to a culture of collaboration, agility and team-work, sharing good practices, promoting learning and skills across departments and sections and working across disciplines and functions to produce outstanding outcomes.

1.4.3 We will work in partnership across the University’s communities to nurture the environments that support transformational education and research, enabling and recognising the contributions of all staff to our shared mission. We will promote our commitment to education and research through the value we place on learning within and across teams, and on evidence and data-led decision making, in academic departments and professional services. We never stop learning and this commitment shapes our relationships with each other and with our partners.