The Rector, Professor Alison Treadwell, gave her annual address to Congregation on Monday 28 September, the first day of the autumn term. The University begins the year with 11,862 students, 41 fewer than last year, of whom 2,214 are starting undergraduate courses and 1,307 postgraduate courses.
Professor Treadwell confirmed that Council had approved a new store for the Library on the Riverside site, which will house 610,000 volumes now kept in three temporary stores across the city, and free the Old Library’s lower floors for reading rooms. Building work is expected to begin in the spring.
She was frank about money. The University recorded a deficit of £4.3 million in 2025–26, as income from international students fell for the second year running and costs rose. Council has approved a plan to return to balance by 2027–28, which includes a pause on filling some professional services posts, the sale of two properties on Rendle Street and a review of the University’s estate outside the city centre. “We will not balance the books by teaching less or by researching less,” she said, “and I do not expect compulsory redundancies in academic posts this year.”
The full text of the address is available to members of the University on the staff intranet.