Dear candidate,

We are delighted that you are considering joining us at Canterbury Christ Church University as the Head of the School of Nursing. This is a key appointment, and we are looking for an experienced nurse educator and leader who has a clear vision for world leading nursing capability, using innovation to support new ways of working that allow our graduates to be sought after because they are equipped to work at the top of their registration. You will be joining us at an exciting time of transformational change for our nursing programmes aligned to the new academic framework and Vision 2030 which supports sustainable futures and new generation skills. As we move forward, we aim to enhance our current programmes to support compassionate leaders, who are equipped with the skills and knowledge to work in the digital world, by embedding these new generation skills and our employer needs into our curriculum. Working with colleagues from the Integrated Care Board, NHSE and the NMC, we are co-creating a revised curriculum ensuring service user and student engagement is at the heart of all that we do. We aspire to be a ‘student ready’ university, aligned to the expectations of the future nurse standards and the demographic needs of our employers in the Southeast Region. This will be aligned to the ’patient first’ agenda that is driven with our local health providers. We are also looking for someone who can drive the nursing agenda and work with practice partners to support the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan.

We aim to build 600 hours of simulated and immersive technology into the new curriculum to support our students to excel in their understanding of the placements they will work in, and we are looking for a leader who has a strong passion in this area, as well as someone with a passion for research and enterprise that supports the Southeast region’s growth and economy.

We are also looking for a candidate that can articulate the nursing journey from widening participation access through to consultant nurse and what that career passport might look like, including understanding portfolio careers.

Canterbury Christ Church University is proud to be building on our heritage as a globally connected, dynamic and innovative University, delivering an excellent and inclusive experience that provides enterprising, professional graduates. We have world leading facilities across our Canterbury and Medway campuses.

You will be part of a Faculty of Medicine, Health, and social care where the opportunity for interprofessional learning and teaching will be highly supported and encouraged. This is truly an exciting time to be leading the School of Nursing in the Faculty of Medicine, Health, and Social Care, where a significant proportion of the University’s exciting developments are occurring.

There is a real sense of optimism within the University as we further develop our vision for the future. This appointment is key to our success moving forward and we are seeking a creative and ambitious individual with the necessary skills, commitment and ability to contribute at a strategic level. In return, we can offer a supportive working environment within a professional and ambitious Senior Management Team and the opportunity to make a significant contribution to our learning and teaching and student experience agenda.

As the Pro-Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty, I look forward to the future of nursing within a new era of healthcare developments and as Vice-Chancellor and Principal, I would like to personally thank you for taking an interest in this role and in Canterbury Christ Church and hope that you will consider making an application.

Kind Regards

There is a real sense of optimism at Canterbury Christ Church University. As one of the fastest growing Universities in the UK, we are home to over 25,000 students across three different campuses and several key collaborative partners in the UK and overseas. We have invested over £100M over the past decade in our facilities – and the most recent Graduate Outcomes survey puts us as the top university in the UK for graduates in employment. With improved student satisfaction and league table placings over the past two years, we are ambitious to continue to grow our reputation across every area of student success.

Background

Established in 1962 as a Church of England teacher training college, Canterbury Christ Church University welcomes students from all faiths and none. It has enjoyed an impressive period of growth and development since acquiring full university status in 2005. With an annual income of over £285m and 1,800 staff, it is a broad-based University offering to its 25,000 students a wide range of programmes across business, health, medicine, education, arts and humanities, social sciences, law and engineering.

The impact of its research and enterprise is felt nationally and internationally as recognised by the recent national Research Excellence Framework and the Knowledge Exchange Framework. It is one of the best choices in the country for teacher training and is the largest provider of education, training and skills to public service in the South East.

Locations

The University’s largest campus is in the centre of the historic city of Canterbury. The Canterbury campus sits at the heart of a World Heritage site and close to Canterbury Cathedral. In the past decade, the University has invested over £100M in facilities, including opening the Verena Holmes Building, an award-winning building for science, technology, engineering, health and medicine, and the Daphne Oram Building, a creative and cultural hub, on the Canterbury Campus. The award-winning Augustine House, situated close to Canterbury City Centre, provides first class Library and Learning Resources for the academic community. The other campuses, all offering high quality facilities, are located at Medway and Royal Tunbridge Wells.

We have over 25,000 students, 84% full-time and 16% part-time. 12,519 of our students are at collaborative partner sites, 11,998 at the Canterbury Campus, 1,499 at the Medway Campus and 358 at Tonbridge Wells.

See more about our campuses here.

Values

Inspired by our Church of England foundation, the University has a set of core values that are at the heart of everything it does. Staff and students place great importance on the University’s culture of inclusivity and the behaviours that result from its foundation. The values of Canterbury Christ Church University are underpinned by a commitment to be:

• Sustainable and ethical
• Compassionate and inclusive
• Innovative and courageous
• Collaborative and creative

Our regional and national relevance spans many different sectors, with a heritage in public service and civic engagement and an expanding investment in sciences, engineering and creative arts.

Our education, research and engagement are inspired by our mission and values, seeking out opportunities to change lives for the better and make a positive difference in the world.

Our research, students, graduates and partnerships all contribute towards the prosperity of the regional economy and communities. Over the last 4 years, our staff and students have given just under 26,000 hours of volunteering to over 119 registered charities across Kent & Medway.

We also engage with the community through our outreach activity in schools. The significance of our work is changing lives for the better: helping those with dementia or long-term health conditions to live well, supporting vulnerable people in the criminal justice system in challenging situations, safeguarding people from the devastating consequences of exploitation or oppression and empowering people to fulfil their potential.

Here are some examples of how our research, education and engagement are touching lives and communities. We have:

• Shown that arts-based interventions improve health outcomes and life experiences for those with respiratory, neurological and mental health conditions, supporting more than 30,000 patients across the UK, and leading to their recommended use in national clinical guidelines.
• Improved delivery of prison mental health services, reducing both repeat offending and the call on NHS acute mental health care.
• Demonstrated that the use of Justice Support Dogs to support the victims of crime enhances the quality of evidence and leads to more secure convictions, leading to their use being commissioned throughout criminal justice systems in the UK, Canada and all 50 US states.
• Led to the development of the first UK national physical activity recommendations and clinical guidance for pregnant and postpartum women, and developed supporting standards and training for health professionals.
• Supported national teacher education, with all 4,700 Church of England schools in England and Wales inspected against a curriculum framework underpinned by our National Institute for Christian Education Research (NICER).
• Developed a new assessment framework for registered firearms dealers and gun owners which has been adopted by all 43 police forces across England, safeguarding communities and leading to the closure of multiple criminal enterprises.
• Changed approaches to delivering sport and physical activity for the least active, increasing physical activity levels among 1.1 million young people, and supporting over half a million young people to newly achieve activity levels exceeding national guidelines.
• Supported and enhanced professional status for carers of babies aged 0-2 years, and underpinned new specialist training focusing on engagement, non-verbal communication and interaction that has improved wellbeing and developmental outcomes for babies.
• Unearthed silenced voices of the Spanish Civil War, supporting communities in 68 towns and villages to challenge state-sponsored narratives and to re-capture memories of the 144,000 ‘disappeared’ victims of oppression.
• Supported investment regulation in Africa, developing a new arbitration code for treaty negotiation and, in Uganda, informing legislation to combat organ trafficking.
• Developed new eligibility protocols that facilitated the inclusion of athletes with Intellectual Disabilities in the Paralympic Games and other elite global sporting competitions.
• Improved education outcomes for Palestinian children by working with the World Bank to enhance teaching quality in Palestine.

Equity and Inclusion

The core purpose of Canterbury Christ Church University is to transform lives through education. The University has a long-standing commitment to social justice and widening participation. The University community is wonderfully diverse, with people from all over the world and from all backgrounds.

Canterbury Christ Church University is committed to:

• Advancing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion outcomes and representation.
• Redressing inequity, discrimination, progression and attainment imbalances for our staff and students.
• Continuously building a culture of equality and inclusion.
• Taking action against all forms of racism.
• Leading the institution in the journey to become an anti-racist university.
• Promoting an LGBTQIA+ inclusive environment for all staff and students.
• The University is a Stonewall Diversity Champion, a member of the Disability Confident Scheme and attained an institutional Athena SWAN Bronze Award in November 2016 and will be embarking on an ambitious plan to achieve a Silver Award by 2023.
• The University’s School of Engineering, Technology and Design and the Kent and Medway Engineering, Design, Growth and
  Enterprise (EDGE) Hub, heavily promotes women in engineering with the aim of creating a sustainable and diverse regional talent pool of graduates, including 30 to 35% women graduates by 2024 in order to challenge inequalities in engineering in the UK.

Strategic Plan

The University’s Strategic Plan Vision 2030 sets a clear direction and goals for the University. Developed through a comprehensive consultation exercise with students, partners and staff, its objectives are to strengthen and enhance the brand of Canterbury Christ Church
University, both nationally and internationally and to ensure a well-grounded network of partnerships to enhance the scope of its activities.

The strategic framework, underpinned by a commitment to sustainable futures, has four clear strategic aims:

1. Student learning, life and futures
2. Research, enterprise and innovation
3. People, culture and community
4. Impact

The Faculty comprises of two schools, an institute, research centre, and is the affiliate home for the Kent and Medway Medical School within Canterbury Christ Church University. Our Faculty is engaged in delivering programmes of learning, innovation and research that enrich, educate and support the health and wellbeing of students, practitioners and communities, and prepare citizens for lives of consequence.
Our Portfolio of programmes and our research has helped us establish a reputation for the development of knowledge, skills and behaviours to influence and transform individuals, teams and organisations across the sector.

The School is the largest school in the Faculty, and offers pre-registration courses in social work and nursing (adult, child, and metal health). The School of Allied and Public Health Professions offers courses in diagnostic radiography, occupational therapy, operating department practice, paramedic science, public health and health promotion, opthalmic dispensing, physiotherapy, and speech and language therapy. The Institute of Medical Sciences offers postgraduate courses for surgeons and physician associates and our new joint medical school has welcomed its second cohort of students.

Our curriculum content is research informed and delivered by scholarly and research engaged academics who are at the forefront of developing their subject and which promotes interprofessional and integrated practice.

Our excellent teaching and learning facilities cater for students who want to be immersed within our culture, those who want to visit intermittently, or those who are studying from their own home. This includes fully-equipped Simulation Suites and access to award winning libraries at Canterbury and Medway campuses and access to integrated technology with ready to access content.

High quality student experiences in placements through effective partnership working via our network local, regional, national and international providers of health and social care services (including the NHS, Local Authorities, Social Enterprise and Private Voluntary and the Independent Sector).

A university experience which will support students to develop skills for their chosen career, for life and for employability. 93% of all our most recent undergraduates are in employment or further study after six months (DHLE 2016/17). Flexible Work Based Continuing Development Programmes at undergraduate and postgraduate level to allow bespoke solutions to match students own or their employer’s desired outcomes Research opportunities within our supportive and friendly community, which are proven to have impact. 98% of the research undertaken and submitted to the 2014 REF (Research Excellence Framework) by staff within this area has been recognised as world leading or internationally significant. Our 2021 submission saw an increased scope with a 50% growth on REF 2014 in terms of the number of staff with significant responsibility for independent research (SRIR) submitted. This signifies the University’s firm establishment as a research-active institution.

The charming medieval city of Canterbury is home to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The best known of these is Canterbury Cathedral, but you will also find the oldest church in the English-speaking world here – the Church of St Martin – as well as the ruins of St Augustine’s Abbey. Our Canterbury campus sits alongside all of them. The city offers a mix of shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants, the Marlowe Theatre, the Gulbenkian artscentre and the River Stour, where you can hire a punt.

There is a thriving arts and music scene in Margate and Whitstable nearby and the city is surrounded by open space, including Blean Woods National Nature Reserve, the Kent Downs and many beautiful beaches.

It is a great place for walking and cycling. London is less than one hour away by train while the Eurotunnel at Folkestone and ferries at Dover make Canterbury a gateway to Europe too. Canterbury is a lovely place for families, with plenty of attractions and parks for young children and a variety of state and independent schools.

It is considered a safe place to live with crime rates generally below the national average. We offer a relocation package, and our resourcing team will support the successful candidate wherever we can with questions about moving to Canterbury.

The University will offer a remuneration package fully commensurate both with the significance of this appointment and the caliber of the successful candidate.

• The details of the terms of appointment will be open to discussion with the preferred candidate.
• You will be entitled to join or continue as a member of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme. You will be able to continue existing membership of USS or LGPS. These are contributory schemes with benefits based on final salary.
• The annual leave entitlement is 35 days plus statutory public holidays. In addition, and at the discretion of the Vice-Chancellor, the University closes for the period between Christmas and New Year.
• The successful candidate will be subject to occupational health screening.
• This is a hybrid role requiring  3-4 days on campus, and a relocation package may be considered.

For further information on the benefits of working at Canterbury Christ Church University, please click here.