President's weekly update
25 July 2024
First, I want to thank everyone who joined me to mark the end of my time as President and Vice-Chancellor. It was an incredible occasion. We began in MECD for its renaming to the Nancy Rothwell Building, which is such an honour. This event was presided over by our Chancellor, Nazir Afzal and included a wonderful performance of a specially commissioned poem from our former Chancellor, Lemn Sissay, which was a lovely surprise to me. We had a fantastic display of dancing robots, led by Barry Lennox and Bruno Adorno’s team. I was presented with the time capsule which was sealed by the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the groundbreaking in 2016 which I had presided over. To mark the name change, the capsule will now be placed in a chamber in the building’s foyer.
We then moved to the Whitworth Hall. I am so grateful to Philippa Hird, Chair of our Board, Professor Stuart Allan, who now leads the research group that I started over 35 years ago in Manchester, Professor Lord Patrick Vallance, former Chief Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister and now Minister for Science, who I have worked with closely, George Obolo, who recently graduated in Medicine and has won many student awards, Professor Sir Andre Geim, who probably needs no introduction, and several other colleagues and friends for their incredibly kind comments. Thank you also for the amazing gifts and to all the people who attended. Some travelled long distances. I felt very humbled by the whole occasion. You can watch the events and read more at Ceremony marks Nancy Rothwell's end of term of office as President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester.
This will be my last message before I end my term as President and Vice-Chancellor after 14 years. As some know, becoming a Vice-Chancellor was never in my career plans. Indeed, I had to be persuaded to apply. But it has been a great honour to lead our wonderful university.
Over the past 14 years, we have seen so many challenges. These have included financial and political pressures, geopolitical turmoil, industrial action, student unrest, Covid and a major cyber-attack. I am enormously proud of how we have risen to the challenges. I regret the lack of progress in some areas, notably on student satisfaction where, despite considerable efforts, the results are still disappointing. Over 14 years you will not get everything right, I certainly didn’t, but I have always acted in what I believed was best interests of our University.
It has been a pleasure to have seen so many successes. To name but a few: a very strong outcome in the Research Excellence Framework, a big increase in research income, and we are host to several national research centres. We are still the most popular university for undergraduate students, ranked outstanding for student outcomes in the Teaching Excellence Framework, and have established a major student mental health centre. We were again ranked number one in Europe and number two in the world in the THE Sustainable Development Goals league table, have received huge accolades for our cultural Institutions and made progress to achieving zero carbon. We have seen a major transformation of our campus, including many more green spaces, the latest being our rejuvenated Old Quad, and now the ongoing development of our North campus into Innovation District Manchester, an 18-acre, £1.7 billion development, likely to create 10,000 jobs. We have nurtured many spin-out companies, increased business income, and seen the establishment of Northern Gritstone, a major investment arm and strengthening of our business and international partnerships. Our partnership with our city region is stronger, for example with regional government, other GM universities, Further Educational Colleges, Schools, health partners and businesses, and we have also built upon relations with our international partners.
Of course there is much more we should celebrate, not least our 200th anniversary which has been a fantastic opportunity to showcase our strengths and activities, locally and globally. It is also significant that we are marking 20 years since UMIST and the Victoria University came together. Next year we will launch our first ever major fundraising campaign.
I can make no claim to the successes we have seen. Each has been down to my fantastic colleagues and our amazing staff, students, alumni, external partners and our incredibly generous donors.
The UK university sector is not in great shape at present, with many universities facing significant financial challenges. Our university is in a relatively strong position, though we recognise the risk and uncertainties, and we still do not have enough money in our financial plans to realise our ambitions, maintain essential infrastructure or meet our zero-carbon target in 2038.
I leave you in the very good hands of Duncan Ivison, who will be a great leader and who knows that in the future, I will be happy to help in any way he asks.
While my term as President and Vice-Chancellor ends, my involvement with the University will continue. I will hold an Emerita Professorship and will help my former research group as much as I can, especially in fundraising. Duncan has asked me to help him in the forthcoming fundraising campaign and in external relations, which I am delighted to do.
I am remaining on the boards of Health Innovation Manchester and UK Biobank, which is moving to Manchester. So, I will remain busy with these roles and well-connected to Manchester, though I hope to have a little more time to relax.
My role as President and Vice-Chancellor has never been a job to me. It has always been a passion for an amazing organisation about which I care deeply – and I always will.
It has been an honour and a privilege to lead The University of Manchester. I have no doubt that it will continue to flourish in its third century.
Thank you to all the amazing members and wider community of our fantastic University.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor