As we come to the end of the academic year, I want to take the opportunity to congratulate and thank you for your achievements this year. Whatever stage you are at, I hope you continue to be excited by your research, and have found opportunities to disseminate and share your progress. Thank you also to those of you who support us with your excellent teaching – your enthusiastic communication of your disciplines is an invaluable service to the University and a gift to your students. And it is tremendous to see your efforts rewarded in the research showcase and the awards for teaching excellence.
 
There are plenty of activities coming up over the summer should you be on or around campus, including postgraduate social events, and culminating in July’s Postgrad Summer Fete. Our Summer of Sport will also provide you with plenty to watch and ways to get active. You will also begin to see several changes over the coming months, including works to develop our central campus, and changes in University House.
 
To those of you graduating, I look forward to the chance to see many of you at graduation where you, your families and friends can celebrate the result of all your hard work. But I hope that doesn’t mark the end of our relationship, and that you continue to make use of the support we can offer you. You can continue to access our careers service once you graduate, with access to vacancies listings, CV advice and more. And you can take advantage of the range of support we offer through our Alumni services. Our e-mentoring service, for example, gives you access to our huge network of alumni, helping you land your dream job or get your foot in the door by accessing Warwick graduates working in almost every profession and country in the world.
 
When I started my new job in February, I wrote to you about some of my hopes for Warwick, the challenges we face, and the distinctive ethos we have to succeed. I said in that message that I hoped this would be a useful way of beginning a conversation about our future, and I am very grateful for your response. Through your emails, comments on my blog, engaging me at question time events, or talking to me one to one, you have given me huge insights and prompted reflection on parts of the University I knew less well. I hope you will continue to help me shape our future, including by nominating for our next Chancellor, or by joining our Prevent Reference Group to help shape the implementation of our Prevent Duty inclusively.

We finish this term shortly following UK’s decision to leave the European Union. The changes we will see over the coming years are unprecedented, and detail will take a long, long, time to come. Ongoing and genuine conversation with all of you, and with government and partners, will be essential to enable us to navigate these changes together, and to play our part positively in shaping the future.
 
I made no secret that, in my view, the future of UK universities would have been more certain with a remain vote. But as I wrote in my blog soon after the results, we can and will still be secure with the vote to leave. I doubt any of us, however we voted, would deny that our global community is a tremendous gift to the UK. We will continue to emphasise how the culture, knowledge and skills, quality research, creativity, innovativeness and civic-mindedness of all of our community greatly enriches the region and the country. And I hope you will join with us in celebrating that community too, by joining us on Thursday for our end of year ‘Warwick One World’ celebrations.
 
Though there’s much uncertainty about the future, there are grounds for optimism. This university’s future, like yours, is filled with opportunities. And I’m confident that each of us can and will make the most of those in no small part thanks to the strengths and support that we each provide one another.
 
I wish you a very pleasant summer, whether you are continuing hard at work with your research, or taking time to travel or enjoy time with friends and family. And if this is your final year, I would also like to wish you the very best of luck for the future, and to thank you for all that you have done for Warwick. I hope that your time here has been enriching, enjoyable, and filled with opportunity. And I hope that it has given you lifelong friends, enhanced your talents, and fostered an eagerness to pursue your future with confidence as befits your hard work over the past few years. You have achieved a tremendous amount during your time here, and given us much, and you should be rightly proud.
                                                                         
Very best wishes,