President's weekly update
14 December 2017
The University this week launched its new Manchester China Institute which has been supported by a transformative £5 million gift from Dr Lee Kai Hung. Dr Lee is an honorary graduate of the University and a prominent businessman in Greater Manchester and in Hong Kong, where I have met him on a number of occasions. The Institute will initially focus on Chinese politics and culture but we aim to expand its remit in the near future. It will be led by Professor Pete Gries – the new Lee Kai Hung Chair - who has recently joined us from the USA – and you can find out more at:
The gift will also support a new Chinese Culture Gallery in the Manchester Museum. We held a dinner to mark the occasion in our John Rylands Library, in honour of Dr Lee which was attended by Gerry Yeung, the High Sheriff of Greater Manchester and a former member of our Board of Governors. Other guests included members of the University as well as local Chinese community and business leaders. Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov gave Dr Lee one of his Chinese paintings.
I met the President of Xiamen University in China with Kostya who has established a number of collaborations there. We agreed to follow up on common areas of interest in research and teaching and on the Manchester China Institute.
You will no doubt have seen the welcome announcements about Brexit indicating that good progress has been made on citizens’ rights such that, amongst other developments, there should be no retrospective change of status for EU citizens in the UK or for UK citizens in the EU at the time the UK leaves the EU (March 2019). It was also announced that British researchers will continue to have access to Horizon 2020 funding up to 2020 and participation in the Erasmus programme, with strong indications that membership of future EU research funding schemes will be actively pursued.
You will also have seen that Jo Johnson, Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, has been promoting two year degrees and a consultation has been launched. The University of Manchester does not currently offer two year (intensive) undergraduate programmes. When this was last discussed by the University Senate in April 2017, it was agreed there would be considerable challenges for a research intensive university such as ours to run two year undergraduate programmes alongside three year programmes and that the benefits for the student experience and increasing student mobility were uncertain. We will keep this under review as part of a wider discussion on the future shape and size of the University.
I hosted a very large alumni event at the House of Lords in London, which was kindly sponsored by Lord Keith Bradley, who previously worked for us. Attendees had studied many subjects and some had graduated only this year, but others had graduated as long ago as the 1950s. Keith took me and a couple of members of our Global Leadership Board on a private tour of the House of Lords.
This week we held the winter degree ceremonies. I presided over a ceremony for students graduating in Health Sciences which was packed with families and friends. It was moving to see the students affirm their commitment to support patients and the highest standards in their profession.
I spent a couple of days at Queen’s University in Belfast. I spoke at the memorial service for Professor Paddy Johnston, their President and Vice-Chancellor who sadly died recently after only three years in post. I was awarded an honorary doctorate by Queen’s. I also discussed collaborations and common interests and met a former PhD student of mine, Dr Rob Grundy, who is now working there. Rob gained significant fame as the student who spent ten minutes in icy cold water on my Royal Institution Christmas lecture for the BBC in 1998 – you can watch this at:
- Royal Institution Lectures 1998 (44 minutes in).
Senior colleagues and I reviewed the Annual Performance Reviews for this year, considered areas where we have done well and those where we have not achieved what we had hoped for. We also discussed the priorities for the next year.
In a separate meeting we considered progress over the past year of three of our major cultural institutions -the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, the Whitworth and the Manchester Museum. All have done extremely well in attracting a large number of visitors, especially children and those from our neighbouring areas and very diverse backgrounds. We recognised the value of all three in research, teaching and social responsibility and as important distinguishing features of the University.
Professor Clive Agnew, Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students, and I had one of our regular meetings with Alex Tayler, General Secretary of the Students’ Union. We discussed the challenges of the Teaching Excellence Framework, student bursaries, a potential boycott of the National Student Survey of satisfaction, support for students on North Campus, buses across the University and the provision of food on campus.
I took part in a photo-shoot for our next prospectus with Lemn Sissay, our Chancellor, Professor Danielle George from the Faculty of Science and Engineering and students from across the campus. You can see a behind the scenes video here:
I presented certificates to our staff who have gained a postgraduate certificate in higher education through study in the University while undertaking their normal roles. The staff were from very different parts of the University. It was nice that the event was accompanied by music from a very talented string quarter of our final year students in Music.
There will be no message next week or until Thursday, 11 January because of the Christmas break. I wish you all the very best for Christmas and New Year and thank you for your huge contributions to the University.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
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