President's Weekly Update

24 November 2016

The Prime Minister announced an additional £2 billion per annum funding for research and development by the end of this Parliament. Though the detail of this is yet to be seen, it seems to be very good news. There was little in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement of relevance to universities, but we believe that further statements are to follow.

At the meeting of our Board of Governors this week, the final University accounts for 2015-16 were signed off. Professor Colin Bailey, Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, presented on our position in national and international league tables, our internationalisation strategy and the Sir Henry Royce Institute. Professor Luke Georghiou, Vice-President for Research and Innovation, updated on some notable recent successes in research awards and start-up companies and Professor Clive Agnew, Vice-President for Teaching Learning and Students spoke about assuring the Board on quality of education and on the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).

I reported to the Board on issues including the TEF; the Higher Education and Research Bill; government statements on international students; recruitment of students in this academic year and applications for 2017 entry, and our current financial position.

My regular visits to Schools across the University began this week with a visit to the new School of Biological Sciences in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health (FBMH). Professor Richard Reece, Associate Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students, Emma Atkins, Education Officer for the Students’ Union, and I met a group of students who were extremely positive about their courses and their teachers. At an open meeting for staff, I gave an overview of the University and the higher education sector in the UK, Professor Ian Greer, Vice-President and Dean of FBMH, highlighted opportunities, challenges and some major recent successes, and we both answered questions. A major discussion point was the development of the strategy for the Faculty which is due to be consulted on shortly.

I met a group of ‘President’s Doctoral Scholars’ to answer their many questions ranging from Brexit and its likely impact, achieving the University’s ambitious goals, the purposes of universities, teaching by PhD students and my own views of what makes a successful PhD.

Simon Collins, Chairman and Senior Partner of KPMG UK, and one of our alumni and member of our Global Leadership Board, hosted a dinner in London for a group of senior alumni which I attended with Kate White and Dominic Boyd from the Directorate of Development and Alumni Relations and Dr Aravind Vijayaraghavan, a lecturer in the School of Materials Science who works on graphene. Many present had graduated in the early 1980s and some had not been back to the University for a long time. After I gave a general update, Aravind talked about graphene and its potential applications - many of our alumni were keen to know how much money we would make out of it!

Cancer Research UK, Manchester Institute (CRUK MI) held an event to review projects on the ‘3Rs’-to reduce, refine or replace the use of animals in biomedical research. I was a judge of the projects, based on an abstract, a one minute ‘pitch’ to the audience and posters. All were excellent.

I was interviewed about the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, which is taking the views of a number of external stakeholders, as we do in our own biannual External Stakeholders Survey. I’m sure this is no coincidence, as the Vice-Chancellor of UNSW is Professor Ian Jacobs who was previously our Vice-President and Dean of Medical and Human Sciences.

Professors Malcolm Press, Vice-Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University, and Linda Merrick, Principal of the Royal Northern College of Music, and I met to discuss how, as next-door neighbours, we can do more together, general issues that universities are facing and when the works on Oxford Road will be finished - early next year, I gather.

I gave a welcome to a group of about 50 staff who have recently joined the University. These events are led by Jonathan Winter, Head of Staff Learning and Development, to provide staff with an overview of the University and give them an opportunity to ask questions.

Councillor Sean Anstee (Leader of Trafford Council) hosted a dinner that I attended to talk about the development of an Institute of Technology in Manchester to provide stronger skills training to young people in science, engineering and technology, since we have a major local skills gap.

Some of you may remember Professor Richard Clegg, who led our Dalton Institute for Nuclear Research some years ago. Richard is now Managing Director of Lloyd’s Register Foundation which funds research and he visited the University to discuss a new collaboration with Lloyd’s on ‘Risk and Regulatory Research’.

After our Board of Governors meeting, I managed to join the last half-hour celebration to thank the many staff who contributed to our success in winning funding for a Biomedical Research Centre.

Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor

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