City celebrates success at the annual meeting of the Court

City University London has held its annual meeting of the Court to share news, success and future plans with some of the University’s key stakeholders. The Court includes members of Council and Senate, representatives from City Livery Companies and friends from collaborative institutions and partnerships.

The event, chaired by Pro-Chancellor Rob Woodward, opened with an address from the University Chancellor and Lord Mayor of London, Alderman the Lord Mountevans. During his speech, the Lord Mayor spoke about his role as an ambassador for the City of London, travelling overseas to promote UK business, finance and education. “Events like this are immensely useful to me,” he said. “They provide the opportunity to hear from the best of British education institutions and learn stories I can share across the world.”

Following the Chancellor's address, Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Paul Curran provided a review of the year and Professor Richard Verrall (Pro-Vice Chancellor, Strategy & Planning) gave a presentation on the Vision & Strategy 2026. John Unsworth, Chief Financial Officer, followed with an overview of City's finances. As has been the custom at recent Court meetings, one of City’s leading academics presented their research. This year it was the turn of Professor of Food Policy, Professor Tim Lang who highlighted research taking place at The Centre for Food Policy.

During his speech, Sir Paul reflected on the University’s progress over the past year by sharing news of the University’s recent investments in the estate. He explained that investments made under the Strategic Plan 2012 to 2016 are beginning to show returns. Sir Paul said:

"Our investments are now bearing fruit. More than three-quarters of our submitted research was rated world-leading or internationally excellent in the most recent Government research quality exercise. 40 per cent of our total academic staff now produce research of this quality. The satisfaction of our students has never been higher and we now have the most satisfied university students in London."

For the first time, the Court was addressed by a student speaker. Alumna Tanya Kanagaratnam shared her experience of studying at City. During her speech, Tanya said: “I joined City to pursue my Masters in Project Management, Finance and Risk after completing a bachelors in Medical Engineering at Queen Mary. I was armed with a degree, an idea of who I was and a dream of what I wanted to achieve. And it was City that offered me the best platform to translate my dream into reality. Completing a Masters at City has been the most challenging and rewarding learning experience and I know this is a feeling shared by my peers”.