University principles
Our principles serve as the lens through which we develop the strategic aims and all the supporting strategies and their implementation. These principles speak to the moral compass that guides our actions.
Environmental sustainability
A University for Public Good must, by definition, embrace and promote the principle of sustainability. Improving environmental conditions not only is a prerequisite for societies and economies to flourish, and for people to live healthy and fulfilled lives.
It's also a powerful driver for research, education and partnerships, because the complexity of the challenge requires distinctly new knowledge, fundamentally new ways of generating it, and radically new ways of acting on it.
Collaboration across multidisciplinary boundaries
Through the partnerships we create in research, education and engagement, we will put to rest the assumption that competition lies at the heart of progress. Instead, it will be the collaboration across different disciplines, by people from different backgrounds and with different expertise and experiences, from York and around the world, that will ring in a new era of prosperity and health.
Internationalism
We embrace global awareness and responsibility in all that we do. And we seek partners with complementary skill sets, ambitions and networks, so that together we can address pressing and emerging environmental, social and economic challenges efficiently and effectively, wherever we are.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
Freedom of inquiry and expression are central to intellectual advancement and to social and economic development. Upholding them is tantamount to assuring that every single member of our communities – whatever their heritage, creed, or orientation – is treated with the respect we expect for ourselves, is afforded the same opportunities, and feels at ease with being in our midst.
Without inclusion and equitable treatment of people of diverse backgrounds, the principles of collaboration, internationalism and sustainability cannot be meaningfully upheld, and the vision of a University for Public Good will not be achieved.