QMU secures £2.8m to drive transformation and future skills development
Queen Margaret University (QMU), Edinburgh has secured a £2.8m grant from the Scottish Funding Council’s (SFC) University Transformation Framework to support a major programme of institutional change.
QMU’s successful bid was recognised by the SFC as a well-structured and evidence-based proposal. Funding will support two major areas of work: the redesign of the University’s operating model to improve efficiency, resilience and long-term sustainability, and the transformation of academic provision and delivery to meet emerging workforce and economic needs.
Part of the funding will be used to accelerate QMU’s operational redesign programme aimed at creating a leaner, more responsive and financially sustainable University. It will include the redesign of professional services, strengthened change and programme-management capacity, and improved use of data insight to support planning, performance management and strategic decision-making. The award is allowing QMU to employ a Head of Transformation to take this important work forward in the coming months.
In addition, the University will reform its range of academic subjects and the ways in which learners can access and engage with them. The academic transformation programme will support QMU to establish a significant new presence in informatics and data science, complementing the University’s established strengths in health, business, education, creative industries and social sciences. New programmes will focus on the practical, human and socially responsible application of technology, rather than seeking to replicate the more theoretical computer science provision offered elsewhere. These developments will help address Scotland’s evolving workforce and economic needs while ensuring learners can access education in ways that fit their lives and careers.
QMU was also successful in a joint bid with Edinburgh Napier University and Scotland’s Rural College, which secured £3.2m of SFC transformational funding to create a vehicle for deeper shared services and collaboration across the three institutions.
Sir Paul Grice, Principal of Queen Margaret University, confirmed:
These decisions represent a hugely welcome vote of confidence from the Scottish Funding Council in QMU’s plans for the future. This funding is pivotal to our transformation. It will assist us in becoming a more agile, efficient and sustainable university while expanding our digital and technology-focused provision to meet Scotland’s future skills needs.
QMU doesn’t just want to transform on its own terms — we aim to help shape a more collaborative future for the sector. Our strategic alliance with Edinburgh Napier University and SRUC will enable us to pool expertise and develop services and digital infrastructure more effectively together than we could alone.
This investment gives QMU a strong platform for the future and brings our ‘Head, Heart and Hand’ strategy to life — combining intellectual ambition and new skills, a strong social purpose and commitment to inclusion, and the practical, applied learning that prepares people to make a difference in their professions and communities.
For further media information contact Lynne Russell, Communications Manager, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, E: lrussell@qmu.ac.uk (copy to E: pressoffice@qmu.ac.uk).
