President's Weekly Update
22 October 2015
Members of our Global Leadership Board (GLB) and the North American Foundation of The University of Manchester (NAFUM) travelled to attend our Foundation Day last week and stayed on for joint meetings the following day. Both boards support us primarily in raising funds for the University, but also provide valuable feedback and advice on our strategy and plans, support our students through advice and work experience, as well as financially, and are very helpful in introducing key individuals and networks.
The joint meeting was held at Jodrell Bank where members heard about the heritage of the site, the current and future science (including the site’s role as the international headquarters of the Square Kilometre Array, SKA) and the important role of the Discovery Centre in attracting and inspiring potential future scientists. They also received general updates on the University, including our successes and challenges, the economic pressure on UK universities, our plan for internationalisation and the opportunities presented in health due to devolution of the health budget to Greater Manchester.
The University was awarded a Guinness world record for the number of staff trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR – designed to save people after heart attacks) in one day as part of ‘European Restart a Heart Day’. I visited the very enthusiastic and organised event next to University Place, which was led by Professor Chris Cutts from the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences. The aim was to beat the record of 700 people trained - in fact they trained 1,238 people and 900 people took part in the record attempt. Thanks must go to the many volunteers, the fire brigade and ambulance services and of course everyone who participated.
The private equity and venture capital research company, PitchBook, have revealed their annual ranking of universities producing venture capital-backed entrepreneurs, titled The Universities Report. We were ranked third in Europe for our entrepreneurial performance measured by the production of entrepreneurs from undergraduate programmes, spin-out companies formed and venture capital attracted – a great result already meeting one of our 2020 goals!
Professor Colin Bailey, Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Dr Tim Westlake, Director of Student Experience, and I met Lucy Powell, the MP who covers the City including the University and is shadow Secretary of State for Education. We discussed our work in widening participation and social responsibility, the value of international students, the importance of students registering on the electoral role and the impact of students on the economy and vibrancy of Manchester.
I met with the Vice-Chancellors of Manchester Metropolitan and Salford Universities in what is now a regular meeting to talk about pressures facing the sector, how we each contribute to the prosperity of Greater Manchester and areas where we can work together or share ideas.
At the Simon and Hallsworth Fellowship event, I saw posters from fellowship holders in Humanities ranging from economics and banking regulations, to Roma immigration and the growing pharmaceutical industry in India and Sub-Saharan Africa from some of our best young researchers.
This week we began quite intensive meetings as part of our Annual Performance Reviews to consider the progress and plans for each area of the University.
At Capital Planning Sub-Committee we discussed at some length the challenges of ‘building cost inflation’ for our major refurbishments and new buildings, but also heard of several that were signed off and completed.
Professor Clive Agnew, Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students, and I had one of our regular meetings with Naa Acquah, the General Secretary of the Students’ Union, to discuss ongoing activities in the Students’ Union, the University and the City, and the areas that the Students’ Union wants to discuss with senior colleagues.
Great to see large banners across the City, including on the Town Hall, advertising European City of Science as part of ESOF (Euroscience Open Forum in 2016) – details of City of Science can be found at http://www.esof.eu/
I gave the opening welcome at the University’s first Communications and Marketing Conference, which brought together professionals working in these areas from across the University. I talked about the critical importance of communications within and across the University (including of course two-way communication) and with our numerous external stakeholders and the importance of making sure our achievements and distinctive nature are disseminated widely. We have come a very long way in the last two years, as seen from quite a number of awards and accolades for our communications and marketing work for some specific projects and particularly for our website (quite a change there, though more work ongoing). In fact, last week our website won two awards from the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS) in the School and Education category.
It was a real pleasure to have dinner with my research collaborators to mark the recent retirement of Angela Blagbrough, who was my personal assistant for many years – and for my 60th birthday – and fantastic to see some colleagues who I hadn’t seen for a long time. Fab present – thank you all!
I heard last week that one of my former PhD students has named his daughter Nancy – after me! What a privilege.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
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