President's Weekly Update
10 March 2016
The Vice-Chancellors of the Russell Group (which represents 24 of the UK’s research intensive universities) held their annual residential meeting in Manchester last week. The key topics of discussion were the forthcoming EU referendum, the Stern review of the Research Excellence Framework, university-business collaboration, philanthropy, the next budget, international students, private medical schools and a general update on issues affecting universities. The dinner was held in our Manchester Museum’s Living Worlds gallery, with Ric Parker from Rolls Royce as the guest of honour. Ric is retiring, so we wanted to thank him for his huge support for universities.
At the same time as the Russell Group meeting, some members of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee visited the University. I met them in the National Graphene Institute where we discussed the challenges facing universities, notably government funding, flat cash for teaching against the very high costs for teaching science and engineering, the value of international students and the importance of engagement with Europe.
George Freeman, Minister for Life Sciences, visited to discuss health informatics, which is extremely strong in Manchester, led by Professor Iain Buchan. The Minister and I officially opened the fabulously refurbished Vaughan House where many of activities in this area are located. We discussed our future plans, particularly around ‘Connected Health Cities’, a collaborative project on health data across the North and funded by government through the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA).
During a visit to the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, the international students we met said they chose Manchester (as a city and a university) because both were so multicultural. Staff asked about what the Teaching Excellence Framework might mean for us (which is still largely unknown until we hear the outcome of the consultation) and commented on their enthusiasm for developing distance learning programmes.
I chaired a panel meeting of Inspiring Women at Manchester, with fantastic panel members: Janette Faherty OBE, one of our alumni with a very successful career in business and currently Chairperson of the Digital Youth Academy; Margot Brazier, our own, very eminent Professor of Law; and Naa Acquah, General Secretary of our Students’ Union. The event in the Whitworth Hall was packed and the audience heard some fascinating discussion. You can watch it at:
I gave the opening welcome at an important event on disorders arising from problems in the small blood vessels in the brain organised by the Fondation Leducq and led locally by Dr Adam Greenstein in our Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences. Following the general welcome, I then talked briefly about our own research on stroke and vascular diseases of the brain.
I also gave a welcome to the charity Alzheimer’s Research UK’s annual meeting at Manchester Town Hall. This was another packed event which addressed both research and social care and included a number of our own academics as organisers and speakers. I was pleased to speak about our research strengths, our commitment to engaging ‘Dementia Friends’ and that of Manchester to be a ‘dementia-friendly city’.
It was a great pleasure to hear Dame Sue Ion, a long standing member of our Board of Governors, on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Desert Island Discs’ this week. If you missed the original broadcast, you can listen at:
It was particularly important to me because Sue and I were at school together and both studied maths, physics and chemistry. Sue went on to Imperial College while I went to Queen Elizabeth College (now part of King’s College London). Aside from brief meetings in London, we didn’t really get together again until we met up when I became Vice-President for Research in 2004 and Sue was then a member of our Board of Governors. She is now Deputy Chair of our Board.
We heard the fantastic news of yet another prize for our Whitworth Art Gallery, which was named Large Visitor Attraction of the Year in the Visit England Awards for Excellence 2016. You can read more about this great accolade at:
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
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