Social Purpose

From who we are to everything we do

We believe in the value of a creative education to make the world a better place. We're working to embed our social purpose in everything we do and use our position to shape thriving and sustainable creative industries.

Following university-wide forums to learn about the values and priorities of staff and students, we've defined our social purpose as powering the cultural experiences that:

• bring joy, meaning and purpose to our lives
• build inclusive societies in which difference of all kinds is celebrated and valued
• stabilise our climate and regenerate the environment
• build more equitable prosperity and wellbeing for all people.

Social Purpose Implementation Plan

The Social Purpose Implementation Plan (PDF 1.3MB) is our plan to make a better social and environmental impact. It contains our:

• community’s priorities, like powering creative experiences and building inclusive societies
• focus areas for its year, like embedding our social purpose in the appraisal process and researching how to reduce the carbon footprint of our purchasing.

In January 2025, we published an update to the Social Purpose Implementation Plan (PDF 4.5MB), sharing our progress and and our intentions for the 2024/25 academic year.

Social Purpose Lab

The Social Purpose Lab helps UAL to positively impact the world in line with our social purpose.

To do this, we promote collaboration across the university, facilitate decision-making to align with our values, identify effective practices and influence the outside world by advocating for positive change in higher education and the creative industries.

As a lab, we test new approaches – and ensure we learn from them. We work with all parts of our university community, including students, academics, professional services staff and senior management, as well as external stakeholders, to embed social purpose into everything we do.

We'd love to hear from you! To reach out, email socialpurposelab@arts.ac.uk.