University of Sussex bosses have announced plans to spend £220 million over the next five years to expand and enhance their main campus.
Some £185m is to be earmarked for new buildings, such as a library extension and an improved science estate, with £35m set for the refurbishment and maintenance of current sites on the Falmer Campus.
The proposals, which form the university’s strategic plan for 2013 to 2018, have been set out by the vice-chancellor Michael Farthing in an internal newsletter. He said: “The creation of our new plan is a collaborative endeavour, ensuring that the goals and ambitions we set are the right ones for the positive development and continued success of the university.”
Although the current plan runs through to 2015, the vice-chancellor said they had already achieved “most of its goals” thanks to the “hard work of the people at Sussex”.
Although the full details of the 2013 to 2018 plan are yet to be revealed, Mr Farthing outlined some areas set to benefit from investment.
Most of the new build money will focus on the Falmer Campus with an improved science estate, extended library, new teaching space and investment in sport.
There are also plans to remove large areas of parking on campus and instead build “stacked car parks” around the periphery.
He added that additional student residences would be developed with the use of “external finance” so that university cash can be focussed on “teaching, research and social needs”.
The university boss also set out plans for the increased use of “external partners” to develop “high-quality services” in the future.
Improvements
This year has seen mass protests on campus, with activists occupying one of the main buildings for seven weeks in opposition to privatisation of services.
A spokesman for the group said that they would continue to “strongly oppose” any further plans to privatise.
The vice-chancellor also outlined plans for investment in technology with a new payroll system, e-submission for students and improvements in online distance learning.
He added: “What has enabled this success has been growth. We have grown over the last three years by around 1,000 students a year.
“This student growth has allowed us to expand and develop the academy and the university and is key to the successful future development of Sussex.”
Setting out why continued growth was important he said it would enable the university to continue important research, offer more opportunities to students and make the organisation financially resilient to better cope with challenging economic times.
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