I AM pleased to be writing the first column for the Oxford Mail’s new regular feature on life at the city’s universities.

We have many good stories to tell about the work of our staff and students and I hope readers will be able to gain an insight into some of the aspects of higher education which might otherwise go unreported.

Last week our chancellor, Shami Chakrabarti, opened our new Abercrombie extension.

Staff, visitors and, most importantly, our students have been benefiting from this wonderful space on our Headington campus since it opened in July last year, but we wanted to recognise formally the first major part of our campus redevelopment with a celebratory event.

The new Abercrombie extension provides studios and learning spaces connected by glass walkways spanning an airy atrium.

A recent visitor to the university described her arrival in the building as moving from the mid- twentieth century to the future – and it is, of course, entirely appropriate that the building is home to the students who will determine the shape and character of our built environment in the coming decades.

The open-plan work areas in the Abercrombie are designed to encourage collaboration and, on the ground floor, the Glass Tank exhibition space provides us with a central location in which to mount exhibitions and showcase the achievements of our students – like the recent displays of the work of the graduating classes in fine art and architecture.

The Glass Tank is currently displaying materials from the Booker Prize Archive which is held here at Brookes.

There are more exciting exhibitions planned and I would encourage people to come along and share in what we feel is a development which the whole city and wider region can take pride in and enjoy.

In the next stage, the John Henry Brookes Building will be opened, in phases, during the autumn semester.

We will be bringing many of our student-facing services together under one roof, including library, teaching rooms, social learning areas, the Students’ Union and the careers and employment centre.

Our graduates, like many others, will be entering a fiercely competitive employment market where high level skills, adaptability and self-awareness will be vital to their success.

To provide the best possible opportunities for personal development, we need our facilities to match the high quality of our teaching and support services.

At Oxford Brookes we want to provide first-class spaces to think and live.

We want our campuses to be places of inspiration, places to face challenges and to work together, and the John Henry Brookes building will be crucial to creating the student experience of the future.

We have just graduated the class of 2013, many of whom will be beginning their careers in Oxfordshire’s schools, hospitals, businesses, local authorities and charities.

And as we move into the John Henry Brookes Building we have much to look forward to, including our 150th anniversary in 2015, a birthday which will provide many opportunities to engage and celebrate with our students, staff and wider community.