President's Weekly Update
7 April 2016
I spent a busy couple of days and one night in Singapore. I met the President of Nanyang Technological University, Professor Bertil Andersson. We have a very successful joint training programme with NTU and considered new areas for collaboration and student exchange.
I had discussions with senior staff at the A*STAR Research Institutes about our current and potential future collaborations. We currently have 28 joint PhD students, a number of whom are in Singapore now. I met Christopher Pook, the Regional Director for UK Trade and Investment and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Prosperity Network in South East Asia at the British High Commission.
Professor Andre Geim, Hian Seng (head of Singapore alumni association) and I met Deputy Prime Minister Teo, who is one of our graduates (as is his wife). I visited the Singapore Country Director and the Director of Higher Education at the British Council to discuss recruitment of students from Singapore, and the very impressive new offices of our Alliance Manchester Business School.
On the first evening I hosted a small dinner for alumni. The following evening I took part in an ‘in conversation with’ event with Andre Geim during which we were questioned by Hian Seng in front of an audience of over 120 alumni, some of whom had travelled quite long distances to be there. After an overnight flight back, I managed to get into work again on Tuesday morning for the weekly leadership meetings.
At the Corridor Manchester Board, which I chair, we considered some exciting updates from all partners, including development of the ‘Smart City demonstrator’ for which Corridor Manchester was selected, new investments and initiatives, and heard a presentation from Bruntwood on ‘City Square’, the major development on the old BBC site opposite Oxford Road Station.
I was interviewed by one of our graduates, Professor Vikas Shah, who is working on a project with international university leaders to consider the importance of universities and their contribution to society. This coincided with my being asked by the THE to recommend a book for new vice-chancellors. I chose Stefan Collini’s book ‘What are universities for?’ This is a well-researched, informative and often amusing book, which I would recommend. I don’t agree with all of Stefan’s views, but I do agree with the answer to his question, which is ‘for public good’.
We were visited by Baba Kalyani, chair and managing director of Bharat Forge Limited, a very large Indian company, to discuss collaborations on materials. After spending the morning in the National Graphene Institute, I met Baba and discussed several collaborative projects including placing some of his staff with us. We also talked about opportunities for joint PhD students, student placements and major activities around social responsibility - Bharat Forge train 20,000 school children each year in the least affluent areas of India.
At a lunch for staff from across the University, we discussed the challenges of managing change in universities, how we best achieve wider communication and engagement, identifying real priorities and stopping doing unimportant things to create more time, and enhancing ‘team working’ between academic and professional support staff.
Stephen Dauncey has started working at the University to overlap with Steve Mole for a few weeks before he takes up the position of Director of Finance. I met Stephen to tell him about our current aspirations and challenges and to give him a brief overview of the University - though since Stephen has been a member of our Board of Governors and Chair of the Board Audit Committee for several years, he knows us quite well!
I chaired the ESOF (EuroScience Open Forum) Local Organising Committee. There is really good progress on speakers, events, sponsorship, evaluation,the social programme, ‘Science in the City’ public events and promotion - now we are into the slightly tense ‘last 100 days’ of final preparations and encouraging registrations!
I met Tom Glick, who is Chief Commercial and Operating Officer at Manchester City Football Club (MCFC) and working on MCFC’s global network of clubs. Manchester City and Manchester United football clubs will both visit China in July and play each other in Beijing. As part of raising the profile of Manchester and the University, we will arrange some events around the matches.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
Feedback
Please send comments to: president@manchester.ac.uk
President's Weekly Update
7 April 2016
I spent a busy couple of days and one night in Singapore. I met the President of Nanyang Technological University, Professor Bertil Andersson. We have a very successful joint training programme with NTU and considered new areas for collaboration and student exchange.
I had discussions with senior staff at the A*STAR Research Institutes about our current and potential future collaborations. We currently have 28 joint PhD students, a number of whom are in Singapore now. I met Christopher Pook, the Regional Director for UK Trade and Investment and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Prosperity Network in South East Asia at the British High Commission.
Professor Andre Geim, Hian Seng (head of Singapore alumni association) and I met Deputy Prime Minister Teo, who is one of our graduates (as is his wife). I visited the Singapore Country Director and the Director of Higher Education at the British Council to discuss recruitment of students from Singapore, and the very impressive new offices of our Alliance Manchester Business School.
On the first evening I hosted a small dinner for alumni. The following evening I took part in an ‘in conversation with’ event with Andre Geim during which we were questioned by Hian Seng in front of an audience of over 120 alumni, some of whom had travelled quite long distances to be there. After an overnight flight back, I managed to get into work again on Tuesday morning for the weekly leadership meetings.
At the Corridor Manchester Board, which I chair, we considered some exciting updates from all partners, including development of the ‘Smart City demonstrator’ for which Corridor Manchester was selected, new investments and initiatives, and heard a presentation from Bruntwood on ‘City Square’, the major development on the old BBC site opposite Oxford Road Station.
I was interviewed by one of our graduates, Professor Vikas Shah, who is working on a project with international university leaders to consider the importance of universities and their contribution to society. This coincided with my being asked by the THE to recommend a book for new vice-chancellors. I chose Stefan Collini’s book ‘What are universities for?’ This is a well-researched, informative and often amusing book, which I would recommend. I don’t agree with all of Stefan’s views, but I do agree with the answer to his question, which is ‘for public good’.
We were visited by Baba Kalyani, chair and managing director of Bharat Forge Limited, a very large Indian company, to discuss collaborations on materials. After spending the morning in the National Graphene Institute, I met Baba and discussed several collaborative projects including placing some of his staff with us. We also talked about opportunities for joint PhD students, student placements and major activities around social responsibility - Bharat Forge train 20,000 school children each year in the least affluent areas of India.
At a lunch for staff from across the University, we discussed the challenges of managing change in universities, how we best achieve wider communication and engagement, identifying real priorities and stopping doing unimportant things to create more time, and enhancing ‘team working’ between academic and professional support staff.
Stephen Dauncey has started working at the University to overlap with Steve Mole for a few weeks before he takes up the position of Director of Finance. I met Stephen to tell him about our current aspirations and challenges and to give him a brief overview of the University - though since Stephen has been a member of our Board of Governors and Chair of the Board Audit Committee for several years, he knows us quite well!
I chaired the ESOF (EuroScience Open Forum) Local Organising Committee. There is really good progress on speakers, events, sponsorship, evaluation,the social programme, ‘Science in the City’ public events and promotion - now we are into the slightly tense ‘last 100 days’ of final preparations and encouraging registrations!
I met Tom Glick, who is Chief Commercial and Operating Officer at Manchester City Football Club (MCFC) and working on MCFC’s global network of clubs. Manchester City and Manchester United football clubs will both visit China in July and play each other in Beijing. As part of raising the profile of Manchester and the University, we will arrange some events around the matches.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
Feedback
Please send comments to: president@manchester.ac.uk