President's Weekly Update
10 November 2016
I travelled to Chicago to attend the Board meeting of the North American Foundation of The University of Manchester (NAFUM). The evening before the Board, we held an alumni event at the fabulous residence of the British Consul, which is on the 62nd floor overlooking the lake and the city. At the Board meeting, I updated on major successes, challenges and uncertainties in the University - there was much talk of both Brexit and the US election. We now have a full-time fundraiser based in the USA - Margaret Phelan, Head of Philanthropy, North America, so we intend to ramp up not only fundraising and alumni relations but also student recruitment in the USA. My visit coincided with the celebrations for the Chicago Cubs win in the National Baseball League - reportedly attended by five million people!
The discussion in Chicago of course focussed on the forthcoming US election. Now we know the result, which was unexpected by many and whose impact is uncertain.
We celebrated the tenth anniversary of our Confucius Institute (CI) in the Whitworth Hall. The event was attended by senior staff from Beijing Normal University (which is the link for Confucius Institutes), Wang Ying from the Chinese Consulate and about 150 other participants. We had performances from students and local children of Chinese music and dance. Professor Keith Brown, Vice-President and Dean of Humanities, in his capacity as Chair of CI, welcomed guests and I spoke about the importance of our growing links with China. This was followed by an ‘in conversation’ session between TV historian Michael Wood, the University’s Professor of Public History, who presented a fantastic TV series, ‘The Story of China’; Rana Mitter, who is Professor of Chinese Politics and History (University of Oxford); and the CI Academic Director, Dr Aaron William Moore.
We held a strategic briefing meeting for members of our Board of Governors on the HEFCE Teaching Quality Framework and Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). We also discussed the options available to the University in respect of the North Campus on completion of the Manchester Engineering Campus Development project. The briefing included presentations from Professor Clive Agnew, Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students, and Diana Hampson, Director of Estates and Facilities. I also updated the Board on developments since the last formal meeting.
I met the Chilean Ambassador, who visited the campus. We have a growing number of students and research links with Chile and we are keen to expand these and business collaborations.
Professor Clive Agnew and I had one of our regular meetings with Naa Acquah, General Secretary of the Students’ Union. Key topics of discussion were the forthcoming TEF, about which students have major concerns (a number of which we share, including the fact that there are limited measures of teaching quality), Senate and the fact that we have had very few issues with student behaviour in local neighbourhoods this year.
It was a pleasure to welcome one of our alumni, Dr Eli Harari, back to the University. Eli, who is based in California, studied physics before completing a PhD in the USA. He then founded the very successful company Sandisk. He is a generous donor to our University, supporting an annual prize for the best idea for a start-up company based on applications of graphene, which was launched in 2014. Eli visited some of the projects he had supported, gave a talk to students and met senior researchers working on graphene.
Professor Luke Georghiou, Vice-President for Research and Innovation, and I met Professor Graham Boulnois, who is chair of the new Medicines Technology Catapult based at Alderley Park. We discussed many common areas of interest such as health informatics and clinical trials where we may be able to pool resources and make joint appointments.
I had a regular update meeting with Edward Astle, Chair of our Board of Governors, to tell him about the many and ongoing changes to higher education, continuing uncertainty around Brexit and the Higher Education and Research Bill and many recent successes. I also updated him on the outcomes of our Annual Performance Reviews.
We are seeking nominations for outstanding candidates for our Honorary Degrees and Medal of Honour award, as well as nominations for national honours. If you have suggestions, please see:
I’m pleased to announce that the biggest environmental sustainability initiative in higher education, 10,000 Actions, has been launched today at the University. This programme ensures that every member of staff can take positive action on environmental sustainability. I encourage you all to make your personal action plan by visiting:
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
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