While the stewardship of the reputation of the university can be thought of as backward‑looking, the second important role is about creating discomfort and facilitating growth and change.

At a meta level, institutional planning can be seen as playing two closely interlinked roles. In relation to the first, the stewardship of the reputation of the university, this is expressed through academic planning that ensures that the qualifications that we offer are relevant, worthwhile and, crucially, recognised by statutory bodies. The reputation stewardship also exists in relation to our quality management systems and the excellence of our core functions of teaching and learning, research and social responsiveness. It relates to how we report on who we are and what we do, in a way that says that what we do has meaning. In terms of the quality of reporting that we do, internally and externally with rigour, that we are deliberate about our activities and we affirm that they conform to our own standards and are recognised locally and internationally.