President's weekly update
16 November
We held a meeting of academic and Professional Support Services leaders. I gave an overview of the current higher education landscape, highlighting the increase in regulation, more assessment frameworks, a review by the Treasury of student debt and major concerns about pensions.
Professor Keith Brown, Vice-President and Dean of Humanities and Chair of the M2020 Programme Management Board, reported on the conclusion of the recent staffing changes and progress with other aspects of the Programme, including future investment in people, distance learning, philanthropy, international students and recovery of income on grants. On the latter you may wish to see the recent Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) report which demonstrates the underfunding of research in British universities – you can read this at:
Professor James Thompson, Vice-President for Social Responsibility, spoke about the actions we are taking to follow up from the Staff Survey this year, particularly on wider staff engagement and development of our next generation of leaders. I ended the meeting by highlighting some recent successes and future opportunities.
At a North Campus Board meeting, we received feedback from the external consultants who are helping us to develop plans, and we discussed the consultation that is planned – externally and internally. I also asked for input from members of the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Board (LEP) at the meeting I attended.
The LEP has just established a ‘Foresight Group’ of people from within and outside Manchester to consider the threats and opportunities to the success of the city region over the next 20 years or so. I attended the first meeting which was on how we best prepare for the growing older population. Presentations were given by Professors Chris Phillipson and Debora Price from the University before a very lively discussion covering adopted grandparents, preparing people for retirement and for new technologies, living with ill health and social inclusion. Ideas for future topics are welcome at:
I spoke at a British American Conference to about 200 attendees from the UK and the USA on living well in the 21st century. I commented on healthy living, including the North-South divide in health outcomes and lifespan in the UK. I also commented on the importance of integration of health and social care in Greater Manchester, technology and the need to engage the wider community in its use and its limitations, and the importance of social inclusion and connectivity. Social scientists may be pleased to hear that I disagreed with the Chair’s reference to social science as a ‘soft science’.
At a lunch I held for staff from across the University, I asked what they would most want to change in the University and what they saw as our priorities for the future. They wanted wider engagement in our future through discussions with staff, more support for international engagement (eg through University partnerships and conferences in Manchester), better promotion of all the great things we do, and they wanted to discuss ‘what makes a great university?’
In the first of my School visits for this academic year, to Physics and Astronomy, I visited the new Schuster Annex, which is fabulous. Within hours of opening on that day, students were working in there. The School covers many leading research areas and facilities, including Jodrell Bank and the National Graphene Institute. Staff expressed concerns about potential loss of EU staff, students and grant income and asked about the Faculty review (which is currently under consideration within the Faculty). Students also raised the review and the expansion of student numbers in the School.
At the Health Innovation Manchester (HInM) Board meeting, we discussed the integration of the Academic Health Science Network and Manchester Academic Health Science Centre into HInM and we discussed the next priorities as part of the Health and Social Care plans for the city region.
I attended a dinner hosted by Juergen Maier, Chief Executive of Siemens UK, who also holds an honorary professorship with us, to consider how we improve productivity in the North. Productivity in the UK generally is below that of many other developed countries and particularly so in the North. It was argued that this is because of poor automation and a failure in relevant skills - notably in digital. I spoke about the need to simplify and ‘de-mystify’ digital and automation for many who find them quite impenetrable and even a bit scary.
This was very relevant since it came a couple of days after I chaired another meeting to bring together those leading in digital/data areas including health, social sciences, creative, ‘fin tech’, ‘legal tech’ and cybersecurity. Expertise in these areas in the University is quite extensive and by collaboration we aim to make them even stronger. We will hold an internal conference early next year for anyone who is interested or already working in this area to attend - details to follow.
Joanne Roney, Chief Executive of Manchester City Council, was taken on a tour of the Oxford Road Corridor. I hosted her visit to our National Graphene Institute with James Baker, who leads on Business Development for graphene and other two-dimensional materials. Joanne was amazed by what she saw and heard and she met Andre Geim on her visit.
Several colleagues and I attended a dinner at the Chinese Consulate, where the Consul General sang for us and showed films of China before a traditional Chinese dinner. They look after Chinese students at universities in the North and said that those attending ours are very happy!
Finally, congratulations to 10,000 Actions and The Sustainability Challenge teams for their Green Gown award, presented to them by the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC) last night. These awards recognise the exceptional sustainability initiatives being undertaken by universities and colleges and we’re all very proud of these two flagship social responsibility initiatives.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
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