President's Weekly Update
19 March 2015
Senior colleagues and I met with High Commissioners and Ambassadors from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) who visited the University. All ten ASEAN countries were represented - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. We already have strong relationships with, and many students from, some of these countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. We discussed how we can strengthen educational, research and business ties with all ASEAN countries and the possibility of an ASEAN representative based in Manchester.
I was interviewed by our students’ newspaper the ‘Mancunion’ about a range of topics including Vice-Chancellors' salaries, student fees and the statements from the Labour Party on their proposal to reduce the fee cap from £9,000 to £6,000, the lack of women and ethnic diversity in senior positions and the University’s investment policy (particularly investment in oil and gas companies).
I went back to my old secondary school, Penwortham Girls’ High School, just outside Preston, to talk about my career and answer many questions from the students studying science. Just the week before my fellow classmate Dame Sue Ion had spoken to them - she is now a member of our Board of Governors and one of the teachers is an ex-MSc student of mine.
It was a pleasure to meet William Lam, head of our alumni association in Hong Kong. I have met him several times in Hong Kong, which is one of our strongest and most active alumni associations. William visited Manchester for the first time in over 30 years since he graduated in electrical and electronic engineering. He toured the campus with his wife and grown-up daughter who has bought a flat in Manchester.
At the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) meeting my membership was renewed (along with other independent members) for a further two years. Amongst many topics discussed, devolution of the health budget to Greater Manchester was, of course, a significant issue along with international links with India and initiatives on manufacturing and digital technology in the region.
You may have seen a number of statements in the Chancellor’s budget that are relevant to universities, including investment of £20 million in ‘Health North’ which is to support a number of cities in health data in which we will be closely involved. You can find out more at:
We held one of our regular meetings with the executive members of the Students’ Union (UMSU). They were rightly proud of their recent elections for next year’s Union Executive - the turnout of over 13,000 voters was the highest in the UK.
I visited the Directorate of Development and Alumni Relations (DDAR) in a whistle-stop tour around their offices. We have details of over 400,000 alumni and are in contact with nearly 300,000 of them. Last year donations to the University increased dramatically. I also got a very nice Vimto lollipop!
I met Professor Rod Coombs, who recently stood down as Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University, and now holds a part-time position as an Associate Vice-President. Rod is particularly involved in local partnerships and is working with us on ESOF for July 2016.
I met one of the partners from Ernst and Young who have just been appointed as the University’s external auditors, to give them a general overview of the University and its strengths. We also discussed challenges to the University sector and how they will operate their audit – Ernst and Young recognised the challenge of really getting to know such a huge organisation.
I hope you are all watching ‘Stargazing Live’ on BBC 2, transmitted from Jodrell Bank and led by Professor Brian Cox and the comedian Dara O’Brian. On Friday they will be filming the solar eclipse live - and I hope to be there! If you missed any of the programmes, you can watch them at:
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
Feedback
Please send comments to president@manchester.ac.uk
President's Weekly Update
19 March 2015
Senior colleagues and I met with High Commissioners and Ambassadors from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) who visited the University. All ten ASEAN countries were represented - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. We already have strong relationships with, and many students from, some of these countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. We discussed how we can strengthen educational, research and business ties with all ASEAN countries and the possibility of an ASEAN representative based in Manchester.
I was interviewed by our students’ newspaper the ‘Mancunion’ about a range of topics including Vice-Chancellors' salaries, student fees and the statements from the Labour Party on their proposal to reduce the fee cap from £9,000 to £6,000, the lack of women and ethnic diversity in senior positions and the University’s investment policy (particularly investment in oil and gas companies).
I went back to my old secondary school, Penwortham Girls’ High School, just outside Preston, to talk about my career and answer many questions from the students studying science. Just the week before my fellow classmate Dame Sue Ion had spoken to them - she is now a member of our Board of Governors and one of the teachers is an ex-MSc student of mine.
It was a pleasure to meet William Lam, head of our alumni association in Hong Kong. I have met him several times in Hong Kong, which is one of our strongest and most active alumni associations. William visited Manchester for the first time in over 30 years since he graduated in electrical and electronic engineering. He toured the campus with his wife and grown-up daughter who has bought a flat in Manchester.
At the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) meeting my membership was renewed (along with other independent members) for a further two years. Amongst many topics discussed, devolution of the health budget to Greater Manchester was, of course, a significant issue along with international links with India and initiatives on manufacturing and digital technology in the region.
You may have seen a number of statements in the Chancellor’s budget that are relevant to universities, including investment of £20 million in ‘Health North’ which is to support a number of cities in health data in which we will be closely involved. You can find out more at:
We held one of our regular meetings with the executive members of the Students’ Union (UMSU). They were rightly proud of their recent elections for next year’s Union Executive - the turnout of over 13,000 voters was the highest in the UK.
I visited the Directorate of Development and Alumni Relations (DDAR) in a whistle-stop tour around their offices. We have details of over 400,000 alumni and are in contact with nearly 300,000 of them. Last year donations to the University increased dramatically. I also got a very nice Vimto lollipop!
I met Professor Rod Coombs, who recently stood down as Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University, and now holds a part-time position as an Associate Vice-President. Rod is particularly involved in local partnerships and is working with us on ESOF for July 2016.
I met one of the partners from Ernst and Young who have just been appointed as the University’s external auditors, to give them a general overview of the University and its strengths. We also discussed challenges to the University sector and how they will operate their audit – Ernst and Young recognised the challenge of really getting to know such a huge organisation.
I hope you are all watching ‘Stargazing Live’ on BBC 2, transmitted from Jodrell Bank and led by Professor Brian Cox and the comedian Dara O’Brian. On Friday they will be filming the solar eclipse live - and I hope to be there! If you missed any of the programmes, you can watch them at:
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
Feedback
Please send comments to president@manchester.ac.uk