• Home
• /
• KT Network

DMU Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Katie Normington, visits DMU Dubai

The VC visited DMU Dubai campus and Expo 2020 where she met key stakeholders to further DMU’s global strategy

Prof. Katie Normington, Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive, De Montfort University was at DMU Dubai recently as part of the award-winning UK university’s policy to promote innovation and its global strategy.

Katie, who joined DMU as VC in 2021, launched a new project – Education 2030 – which aims to develop a student-centred framework that is robust and future-proofed to best support teaching and learning and deliver a high-quality student experience and student outcomes. During her interaction with staff and students at DMU Dubai, she discussed DMU Dubai’s roadmap for alignment with Education 2030.

She said:

“At our Dubai Campus, I've been learning about the fantastic facilities that we have, our study spaces, our design spaces, the library, and also the facilities that we have for students to play sports, both outdoors and indoors. I've also been learning from the students about how they were particularly attracted to the fact that the modules that we offer in our programmes were just the things that they were looking for, and how those things are going to take them from where they are here to the new place in the future.

That will form as part of our new strategy at the university. Our strategy is that we're an empowering university. We empower students, staff, and our partners to create a fairer society.”

Katie has also successfully extended the university’s term as a United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) global hub for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aimed at transforming lives around the world. DMU is the only university in the world representing the UNAI on Goal 16: peace, justice and strong institutions, and the only SDG hub based in the UK.

As one of the founding partners at the UK Pavilion, DMU also has a strong presence at Expo 2020, where sustainability and innovation are the key focuses. The DMU Vice Chancellor held discussions with Maher Nasser, commissioner general, UN Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai and Director of the Outreach Division, UN Department of Global Communications; Laura Faulkner, commissioner general UK Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai; Sunita Mirchandani, UAE lead advisor for education and training, British Embassy in Dubai and Sarah Taylor, Director for International trade in Dubai, Department of International Trade.

Prof Katie will also be one of the panellists at the ‘Future of Higher Education’ panel on 11 December, 2021 at the Higher Education Day, which will be co-hosted by DMU at the Expo 2020 UK Pavilion.