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President's Weekly Update

25 September 2014

My final day in Hong Kong last week was just as busy as the rest of my trip to the Far East. Chris Cox (Director of Development and Alumni), Dr Eric Li (Chair of our Hong Kong Foundation) and I met the Presidents and other senior staff from Hong Kong University; the Chinese University of Hong Kong; Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST); and Hong Kong Polytechnic; to discuss student exchanges and research collaborations. HKUST has to have one of the best views of any university in the world. Their President’s office is high on a hill overlooking the bay and the islands - the sea was deep blue and bathed in beautiful sunshine just a couple of days after typhoon Kalmaegi had passed.

In the evening I hosted a dinner for about 70 alumni, including members of our Hong Kong Foundation, staff from our Manchester Business School Worldwide office in Hong Kong, and some very familiar faces from my previous visits to Hong Kong. I gave an update on our University and plans for the future, and had many, many photos taken! I then took the overnight flight back to Manchester via Helsinki and came into work - feeling a little tired!

Earlier this week, I spoke at a lunch to welcome this year’s intake of ‘President’s Doctoral Scholars’ (PDS). These represent some of our strongest PhD students from across the University. In addition to the normal doctoral training programmes, PDS’s attend some further events to encourage them to meet and talk to PhD students outside their own discipline and to bring forward ideas for innovation in postgraduate training. This is the third cohort of PDS’s who have joined the University, bringing their total number to about 350. About 80 students attended the event from many different disciplines, and some from across the world.

This week I also addressed an event to celebrate Professor Arthur Lewis, a member of staff at our University, who was the first black professor in the UK, appointed at the age of just 33, and a Nobel Prize winner for his work on economics. He also had a remarkable impact on local communities in Manchester. The event was held in our Arthur Lewis Building here on campus. A plaque outside the building and portrait of him in the main entrance were unveiled by Jim O’Neill, a Mancunian and highly regarded economist, who is the former chair of global assets and chief economist at Goldman Sachs, and who holds an honorary chair in economics with us. Jim was also here to take part in an ‘in conservation’ event with Andy Bounds from the Financial Times as part of the Business School’s ‘Vital Topics’ series, sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland. The event was packed, informative and amusing and followed by a dinner with major ‘friends’ of the Business School. I also had lunch with Jim, when we managed to discuss his remit as leader of the ‘Cities Commission’ for the government and his new role leading a review of anti-microbial resistance, as well as our activities in business engagement and social responsibility.

Oxford Road is, of course, busy with our new students, but if you have travelled into the city centre you will have seen a similar hive of activity due to the Labour Party conference. The University has a stand in the exhibition centre and a number of our staff have taken part in workshops and meetings, as at other party conferences. I attended the conference ‘gala dinner’ at the Midland Hotel on a table hosted by KPMG. One of the guests was Liam Byrne, the Shadow Minister for Universities, Science and Skills, and a University of Manchester graduate.

Liam also came to meet me at the University. We have had discussions previously about student fees; government funding of universities; support for postgraduate students; the value of international students; regulation of the higher education sector and other common topics, and this time we focussed on universities as drivers of growth; partnership with host cities and our work on social responsibility.

The Chinese Consul, Mr Pan, came to visit me, together with his wife (who heads up the visa section) and his colleagues, including the new education consul, Mr Wang Ying. The purpose of the visit was for Mr Pan to say farewell, as he leaves soon to take up a post in Macau. We both recognised the very strong relationship between the Consulate and the University and Mr Pan praised us for how well we look after our many Chinese students. Mr Pan’s wife will stay on in Manchester while their son finishes his A-levels.

I travelled to London for a meeting of the Council for Science and Technology. The dinner guest for the meeting was Greg Clarke, recently appointed as the Minister for Universities, Science and Cities.

 

Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor

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