13 June 2023: Vice-Chancellor end of year message

End of year message

Dear students,

As we approach the end of the academic year for many of you, I wanted to write and acknowledge all of the hard work you have done this year. I hope you are able to celebrate what you have achieved and take some well earned rest.

There has been plenty to celebrate. Just this week, YUSU held their annual Love York Awards, and it was brilliant to be reminded of the contributions of so many of you to areas of university life - academic experience, wellbeing and fundraising to name just a few.

Awards like these, much like our Inclusive Impact Awards, reflect the amazing work carried out by so many of you to build York into an even stronger university. Many of you are breaking new ground with your leadership on equality, diversity and inclusion - please do continue to challenge us to identify and remove barriers to inclusion at York. I am constantly inspired at just how much can be achieved and how many of you get involved, not least at the Great York Walk and this month's Pride celebrations, which were perfectly captured by one of our students. 

On the topic of fundraising, earlier this year we were delighted to see our York Unlimited campaign reach its fundraising target of £120 million. This monumental sum of money will support pathbreaking research on global challenges and help our most disadvantaged students into and through university. At the same time we were able to unlock 120,000 volunteer hours to create new ways to tackle inequalities and help our students and our society to flourish. 

More fundraising has also been set in train following the very sad loss of our iconic duck, Long Boi. He had become a campus legend and a reassuring presence for many of you - not to mention quite the media sensation! It has been heartening to see your response, illustrating the deep appreciation our community has for the wildlife and biodiversity on campus. Thank you for this. We hope to preserve the memory of Long Boi in the best way possible on campus soon. 

Looking ahead

Whilst there has been so much to celebrate, I know that at times this year has been challenging for many of you, particularly those affected by the marking and assessment boycott. As I’ve said before, the situation is one of immense regret for me that national level negotiations have not been able to reach a resolution. I will continue to do all that I can to push for reform and an end to the action that is damaging for at least some of our students.

In the meantime, we have published details of how we will manage progression for returning students and finalists’ degree outcomes on our industrial action web pages. Our aim is to support you through this period as smoothly as possible, so please do look at the information and support available.
 
For those of you returning in September, we will have more information on the cost of living support that will be available to you next year. We have listened to student feedback and we will provide additional support for students struggling with off campus rent increases. We know that this is one of the biggest challenges facing our students, and we will share more information ahead of next semester. 

For now though, I’d like to wish you an enjoyable summer. I hope that all of you get the chance to enjoy some rest and time with family and friends.

Best wishes,
Charlie