President’s Weekly Update
6 October 2016
We held the first meeting of the academic year of our Board of Governors, with a number of new members and our new chair, Edward Astle. You can find out a little more about Edward at:
In a slight change of format, one of the University’s Vice-Presidents gave a short talk on their main current activities. This time, Professor Clive Agnew, Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students, talked about our ‘Stellify’ programme for students (see below), the marked improvement in graduate employability and actions to improve all aspects of our students’ performance. He focussed on our poor scores in the National Student Survey of satisfaction (NSS) which fell from 86% overall to 85%, and meant that we moved down in the Sunday Times/Times league table. The NSS is important because it tells us what students think of their experience with us and also because the NSS data will feature prominently in the forthcoming Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). NSS and other measures of student success (retention, degree attainment and employability) are critical issues that we must address urgently.
I updated the Board on key activities and outcomes over the summer, including our improved position in the three main international league tables (Academic Ranking of World Universities, QS and THE), how we are trying to drive up the quality of all outcomes for teaching and research, and the financial challenges we face.
Professor Ian Greer, Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, updated the Board on our discussions with Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Salford on a new International Medical School and the implications of the recent announcement that the government is to fund a 25% increase in medical training places for UK students.
At the Planning and Resources Committee we discussed reports on research compliance; progress in philanthropy and alumni relations; national and international league tables; internationalisation strategy and progress; draft year-end accounts; student registration numbers; NSS and investment policies. We also discussed the government’s proposals that universities should sponsor specific schools. This does not match our strategy of supporting schools across Greater Manchester.
Senior colleagues and I reviewed the extensive data sets for the Annual Performance Reviews which will be taking place in a few weeks to identify areas of success and underperformance that we need to address across every area of the University.
We held a dinner to celebrate ten years of Manchester Access Programme (MAP), which has recruited over 1,600 students from disadvantaged backgrounds and has raised over £4.5 million in donations. It was attended by many donors to the programme, current and past MAP students and staff involved in the programme. I spoke about the importance of MAP to the University’s core goals, Professor Brian Cox talked about his experience as a donor to the programme and two great MAP graduates talked about how the support they had received through the programme had changed their lives.
I met Jon Rouse, Chief Officer of Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, which oversees devolution of the health budget to Greater Manchester. I described our strengths across all three Faculties that are relevant to health and social care and our plans for future activities. We also discussed how the University can contribute to improving health outcomes.
On a similar topic, I met Rowena Burns, Executive Chair of Health Innovation Manchester (of which I am a member), which oversees research and innovation aspects of ‘Devo Health’ and aligns closely with many of our own activities, particularly in Biology, Medicine and Health, but also more widely in health economics, social care and opportunities to bring our strengths in engineering and physical sciences to health benefit.
It was a great pleasure to meet Sir Mark Elder, Music Director of the Halle Orchestra, who holds an honorary professorship with us. He had just given a lecture to a packed audience of students and we discussed further joint activities in music and the arts more widely.
Last week I reported on the great success of our first Ethical Grand Challenge for students – we now know it was attended by 5,000 first year undergraduates. This forms part of our programme ‘Stellify’ (meaning to become a star) which is now launched for all our students. You can find out more at:
We held a rehearsal for the forthcoming visit (on 14 October) of Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to our National Graphene Institute and the site and plans for Manchester Engineering Campus Development (MECD). The schedule, which is very tight for time, had to be fixed some time ago, so sadly there is no opportunity for any changes to the protocol for the visit. Visit:
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
Feedback
Please send comments to: president@manchester.ac.uk
President’s Weekly Update
6 October 2016
We held the first meeting of the academic year of our Board of Governors, with a number of new members and our new chair, Edward Astle. You can find out a little more about Edward at:
In a slight change of format, one of the University’s Vice-Presidents gave a short talk on their main current activities. This time, Professor Clive Agnew, Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students, talked about our ‘Stellify’ programme for students (see below), the marked improvement in graduate employability and actions to improve all aspects of our students’ performance. He focussed on our poor scores in the National Student Survey of satisfaction (NSS) which fell from 86% overall to 85%, and meant that we moved down in the Sunday Times/Times league table. The NSS is important because it tells us what students think of their experience with us and also because the NSS data will feature prominently in the forthcoming Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). NSS and other measures of student success (retention, degree attainment and employability) are critical issues that we must address urgently.
I updated the Board on key activities and outcomes over the summer, including our improved position in the three main international league tables (Academic Ranking of World Universities, QS and THE), how we are trying to drive up the quality of all outcomes for teaching and research, and the financial challenges we face.
Professor Ian Greer, Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, updated the Board on our discussions with Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Salford on a new International Medical School and the implications of the recent announcement that the government is to fund a 25% increase in medical training places for UK students.
At the Planning and Resources Committee we discussed reports on research compliance; progress in philanthropy and alumni relations; national and international league tables; internationalisation strategy and progress; draft year-end accounts; student registration numbers; NSS and investment policies. We also discussed the government’s proposals that universities should sponsor specific schools. This does not match our strategy of supporting schools across Greater Manchester.
Senior colleagues and I reviewed the extensive data sets for the Annual Performance Reviews which will be taking place in a few weeks to identify areas of success and underperformance that we need to address across every area of the University.
We held a dinner to celebrate ten years of Manchester Access Programme (MAP), which has recruited over 1,600 students from disadvantaged backgrounds and has raised over £4.5 million in donations. It was attended by many donors to the programme, current and past MAP students and staff involved in the programme. I spoke about the importance of MAP to the University’s core goals, Professor Brian Cox talked about his experience as a donor to the programme and two great MAP graduates talked about how the support they had received through the programme had changed their lives.
I met Jon Rouse, Chief Officer of Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, which oversees devolution of the health budget to Greater Manchester. I described our strengths across all three Faculties that are relevant to health and social care and our plans for future activities. We also discussed how the University can contribute to improving health outcomes.
On a similar topic, I met Rowena Burns, Executive Chair of Health Innovation Manchester (of which I am a member), which oversees research and innovation aspects of ‘Devo Health’ and aligns closely with many of our own activities, particularly in Biology, Medicine and Health, but also more widely in health economics, social care and opportunities to bring our strengths in engineering and physical sciences to health benefit.
It was a great pleasure to meet Sir Mark Elder, Music Director of the Halle Orchestra, who holds an honorary professorship with us. He had just given a lecture to a packed audience of students and we discussed further joint activities in music and the arts more widely.
Last week I reported on the great success of our first Ethical Grand Challenge for students – we now know it was attended by 5,000 first year undergraduates. This forms part of our programme ‘Stellify’ (meaning to become a star) which is now launched for all our students. You can find out more at:
We held a rehearsal for the forthcoming visit (on 14 October) of Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to our National Graphene Institute and the site and plans for Manchester Engineering Campus Development (MECD). The schedule, which is very tight for time, had to be fixed some time ago, so sadly there is no opportunity for any changes to the protocol for the visit. Visit:
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
Feedback
Please send comments to: president@manchester.ac.uk
President’s Weekly Update
6 October 2016
We held the first meeting of the academic year of our Board of Governors, with a number of new members and our new chair, Edward Astle. You can find out a little more about Edward at:
In a slight change of format, one of the University’s Vice-Presidents gave a short talk on their main current activities. This time, Professor Clive Agnew, Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students, talked about our ‘Stellify’ programme for students (see below), the marked improvement in graduate employability and actions to improve all aspects of our students’ performance. He focussed on our poor scores in the National Student Survey of satisfaction (NSS) which fell from 86% overall to 85%, and meant that we moved down in the Sunday Times/Times league table. The NSS is important because it tells us what students think of their experience with us and also because the NSS data will feature prominently in the forthcoming Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). NSS and other measures of student success (retention, degree attainment and employability) are critical issues that we must address urgently.
I updated the Board on key activities and outcomes over the summer, including our improved position in the three main international league tables (Academic Ranking of World Universities, QS and THE), how we are trying to drive up the quality of all outcomes for teaching and research, and the financial challenges we face.
Professor Ian Greer, Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, updated the Board on our discussions with Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Salford on a new International Medical School and the implications of the recent announcement that the government is to fund a 25% increase in medical training places for UK students.
At the Planning and Resources Committee we discussed reports on research compliance; progress in philanthropy and alumni relations; national and international league tables; internationalisation strategy and progress; draft year-end accounts; student registration numbers; NSS and investment policies. We also discussed the government’s proposals that universities should sponsor specific schools. This does not match our strategy of supporting schools across Greater Manchester.
Senior colleagues and I reviewed the extensive data sets for the Annual Performance Reviews which will be taking place in a few weeks to identify areas of success and underperformance that we need to address across every area of the University.
We held a dinner to celebrate ten years of Manchester Access Programme (MAP), which has recruited over 1,600 students from disadvantaged backgrounds and has raised over £4.5 million in donations. It was attended by many donors to the programme, current and past MAP students and staff involved in the programme. I spoke about the importance of MAP to the University’s core goals, Professor Brian Cox talked about his experience as a donor to the programme and two great MAP graduates talked about how the support they had received through the programme had changed their lives.
I met Jon Rouse, Chief Officer of Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership, which oversees devolution of the health budget to Greater Manchester. I described our strengths across all three Faculties that are relevant to health and social care and our plans for future activities. We also discussed how the University can contribute to improving health outcomes.
On a similar topic, I met Rowena Burns, Executive Chair of Health Innovation Manchester (of which I am a member), which oversees research and innovation aspects of ‘Devo Health’ and aligns closely with many of our own activities, particularly in Biology, Medicine and Health, but also more widely in health economics, social care and opportunities to bring our strengths in engineering and physical sciences to health benefit.
It was a great pleasure to meet Sir Mark Elder, Music Director of the Halle Orchestra, who holds an honorary professorship with us. He had just given a lecture to a packed audience of students and we discussed further joint activities in music and the arts more widely.
Last week I reported on the great success of our first Ethical Grand Challenge for students – we now know it was attended by 5,000 first year undergraduates. This forms part of our programme ‘Stellify’ (meaning to become a star) which is now launched for all our students. You can find out more at:
We held a rehearsal for the forthcoming visit (on 14 October) of Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to our National Graphene Institute and the site and plans for Manchester Engineering Campus Development (MECD). The schedule, which is very tight for time, had to be fixed some time ago, so sadly there is no opportunity for any changes to the protocol for the visit. Visit:
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
Feedback
Please send comments to: president@manchester.ac.uk