Bournemouth University’s Annual Review 2016 has been launched in the University’s new Fusion Building by Vice-Chancellor Professor John Vinney and Chair of the BU Board, Professor Richard Conder.
The new Fusion Building, on the University’s Talbot Campus, has been fully operational since September and features 27 new seminar rooms, three lecture theatres, research space, and a 24 station PC laboratory.
The Annual Review features a selection of the University’s best research, news and activity from the last 12 months and captures some of the University’s highlights in a year which saw BU ranked as one of the ‘top 200 most international universities in the world’ in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
Professor Vinney and Professor Conder launched the 2016 BU Annual Review alongside BU academic Dr Anita Diaz, Associate Professor in Ecology and Alex Harvey and Laura Hewitt, two of the students who worked on a project featured in the review. Dr Diaz’s work is a good example of BU’s ‘Fusion’ approach - the combination of high quality education with world-class research and active engagement with professional practice.
2016 saw a rise in the employability of BU graduates, with 93.6% of graduates now in work or further study six months after graduating from BU. The university also celebrated the continued success achieved by its graduates, not least Mark Ardington, who returned to Bournemouth in October to talk to current students at the BFX Festival , bringing with him the Oscar he won at the 2016 Academy Awards in Hollywood for his visual effects work on the film Ex Machina.
As well as being named as one of the top 200 most international universities, the Times Higher Education magazine also recognised BU as one of the best new generation universities in the world when they included BU in their rankings of the top 150 universities under 50 years of age in the world.
The year also marked the first ever global element to BU’s Festival of Learning, taking Bournemouth University research and knowledge to both China and Malaysia, with over 50 BU academics and students taking part. The Festival of Learning was held locally for the fourth year, bringing the public onto the University’s campus for a wide range of free and engaging learning opportunities.
Commenting on the launch of the Annual Review, Professor John Vinney said, “This year has been very significant for the delivery of our global vision for the future of the university and it is fitting that we launch our Annual Review in the Fusion Building, celebrating our world-leading research, high quality education and engagement with professional practice. The Fusion Building is our first new academic building for over a decade and represents an important part of a wider plan to invest further in our campuses in both Bournemouth and Poole.
“This year’s rise in graduate employability shows that we are producing the kind of graduates who can make a real impact in their chosen fields, while the BU brand has gone global, reaching many new international audiences. We now look to the future, building on the achievements of 2016.”
To read the Annual Review in full, visit: http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/annual-review-2016
