President’s Weekly Update
1 December 2016
Our full financial accounts for the last academic year have now been signed off by our Board of Governors and have been published – you can find out more and view the accounts at:
As I have mentioned previously, this is the first set of accounts produced using new reporting standards. This means that, while they do need more explanation than in previous years, they also represent a more realistic picture of the University’s financial position.
We have yet to hear more details of the good news from government last week about a major increase in spending on research and development. This promises to be fantastic news for a research-intensive University like ours; however, we will still need to keep a focus on recovering the true costs of research grants because research income from most sources does not cover full costs.
Cancer Research UK has just announced funding of a number of UK research centres. Manchester has been very successful, but details will not be available for a short while.
As President of the British Science Association (BSA), I attended the annual ‘Gala Dinner’ hosted by its Chair, Lord David Willetts, at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. The event was attended by many sponsors and supporters of the BSA. Some took the opportunity to go down the ArcelorMittal Orbit slide, reported to be the longest in the world, and described by many as exhilarating, but by others as just scary. I decided it wasn’t very compatible with a long dress and high heels.
The Council meeting of the Royal Society that I attended in London was my last, as my tenure on the Council has finished. It was followed by the Society’s ‘Anniversary Day’ at which we heard about progress over the last year and I managed to meet many colleagues.
I have taken on a new role as a Board member of the new Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP), initiated and chaired by the Right Honourable George Osborne. This is a non-political organisation which aims to support inward investment, economic growth and increased productivity across the North. Most members represent major companies in the North, but the Board also includes the Leaders of Liverpool, Sheffield and Manchester City Councils and two independent members, Lord Jim O’Neill and me.
I had a meeting with Jim (who holds an honorary professorship with us) in London to talk about the NPP and our planned links with Harvard on Devo Health, as he had attended a dinner with the senior staff who visited recently from Harvard.
In a visit to the School of Chemistry with Professor Kersti Borjars, Associate Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students, we met a small group of undergraduate students who seemed happy with their course, but asked for more detailed and timely feedback on their assessments. I talked to staff about the many unknowns at the moment and heard concerns about European funding, space and estates (the Chemistry Building is undergoing a major refurbishment over the next few years which will inevitably be disruptive) and support for research contracts.
At Capital Planning Sub-Committee (CPSC) we conducted the Annual Performance Review of environmental sustainability led by Dr Emma Gardner, our Head of Environmental Sustainability. It was pleasing to see improvements in a number of areas, including reducing energy and water use and our carbon footprint, but we also saw an increase in the number of air flights taken by staff. We commended Emma on great achievements, but noted that we have much to do to reach our ambitious carbon footprint targets.
At CPSC we also reviewed room booking and occupancy, which is well below where we would hope to be. This needs to be addressed, but we recognised that much of the problem lies in our very complex choices of study courses and curricula. I was with a senior member of staff who had previously worked in Melbourne, where they had reduced all degree entries to five programmes. He deemed that it had been a huge success. I’m not sure it would work here, but we do need to simplify our curricula.
Diana Hampson, Director of Estates and Facilities, also gave us an update at CPSC on designs for the new Manchester Engineering Campus Development (MECD). This currently appears as a very large pile of rubble opposite the National Graphene Institute, but will be transformed into a huge and very impressive building for research and teaching in engineering. Plans are also advancing for the Sir Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials nearby and work is progressing on the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre and the major refurbishment of the Alliance Manchester Business School.
Congratulations to Professor Alys Young from the School of Health Sciences who won the inaugural THE Award for Outstanding Research Supervisor!
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
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