President's Weekly Update
16 April 2015
At one of our regular strategic briefing meetings for our Board of Governors, Diana Hampson, Director of Estates and Facilities, gave an update on our Campus Masterplan projects. We have recently celebrated the completion of the National Graphene Institute, which was opened by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the extension to the Whitworth Art Gallery, which hosted many guests and generated much publicity for its official opening. We will soon complete our new Manchester Cancer Research Centre building opposite The Christie. Diana outlined the rationale for our major plans, not least leading to long term savings, described the projects in progress, in the design phase and still being planned, and the risks (and how we can mitigate against these) in the overall Masterplan.
I attended a meeting of the Faculty Management Team in the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, where we discussed recent initiatives including ‘Health North’ and the implications of the devolution of the NHS budget of £6 billion per annum to Greater Manchester (the shorthand for this is now ‘Devo Health’). A major topic was inevitably the imminent arrival (on 1 June) of the Faculty’s new Vice-President and Dean, Professor Ian Greer.
In fact, I met with Ian Greer this week to discuss the many initiatives around health research and education, including future funding initiatives and the potential for integration of health and social care under ‘Devo Health’ and what this would mean for the University.
I was interviewed by TMP Worldwide, a company that is looking at the way the University is viewed both internally and externally, particularly in relation to the recruitment of staff. I was asked much about what I saw as our strengths and how others perceived us. Of course my own views are based on my many meetings with staff and on the results of the last Staff Survey - hence it is really important that you all complete the current Staff Survey and urge others to do so - the closing date is Monday, 20 April and you can find out more about the survey at:
I visited the Manchester Medical School with Professor Clive Agnew, Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students. We talked to first year medical students in the clinical skills suite where they practise examining ‘patients’. These ‘patients’ are in fact actors and I saw several very experienced participants helping the students with their examinations. In the staff meeting we talked about how we ensure that all academic staff are engaged in teaching.
Our visit to the School of Dentistry was in their temporary accommodation called JR Moore Building - which was very pleasant! Yet again the staff discussions focussed on Devo Health, while the students we met were positive and very keen to recommend Manchester as a great place to study dentistry and related disciplines, and were very positive about their support and the facilities.
At Planning and Resources Committee, in addition to the usual business, we agreed our targets for OFFA (the Office for Fair Access) which sets how many students we aim to recruit from disadvantaged backgrounds. I am proud to say that as a percentage we are amongst the highest in the Russell Group of leading universities and in absolute numbers we are certainly the highest.
Senior colleagues and I, including the Chair of our Board of Governors, Anil Ruia, met the Executive Director and the Business Development Director of Tata Ltd to discuss potential collaborations in research, education and social responsibility.
At our annual meeting of the Awards and Honours Group we decided on who of our excellent list of nominations should be proposed to the Board for consideration for honorary degrees. This is always an extremely difficult task with so many remarkable people nominated - though we still urge further nominations for honorary degrees, for our Medal of Honour (which particularly recognises extensive and usually long-term commitment to the University) and for national honours.
I met Janette Faherty, one of our alumni, who has had a very successful career in starting and leading her own business. Jeanette is a great supporter of our Manchester Access Programme to support students who have the ability, but perhaps not the support, to get into university, and she has been a very regular speaker on our Manchester Leadership Programme for our students.
Several senior colleagues and I hosted a dinner for new professors - both those promoted within the University and staff who have joined us from other institutions. We asked them what was good about the University and what needs to improve, and received many helpful and constructive comments on both. At one of the tables, I was asked (as I often am): “Who writes my weekly message?” As usual I said: “I do!!” Of course, I was then asked to add a little more on my ‘academic activities’. So this week I am preparing for two first year lectures, finalising a review with two colleagues on our research (deadline looming), anxiously awaiting results of our ongoing clinical trial (on a potential new treatment for stroke which blocks an inflammatory molecule called interleukin-1), and trying to decide if there is any chance at all that I can accept an invitation to speak at a stroke meeting in a fairly inaccessible place with serious time limits!
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
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