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President's Weekly Update

26 January 2017

I hosted our annual dinner for local civic representatives, including the Lord Lieutenant, Warren Smith; the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Carl Austin-Behan; the High Sheriff, Lady Joy Smith, and a number of other local leaders, including the incoming Chief Executive of Manchester City Council, Joanne Roney. As usual, I asked how the University can further contribute to the success of Greater Manchester.

We had a very lively discussion encompassing Manchester’s history and future, business, science, engaging disadvantaged communities, culture (music, art, drama, literature, poetry, history), schools, health and social care, transport, sport, the Northern Powerhouse, international links and attracting inward investment - and probably a few other things as well!

At the Board of Governors’ Finance Committee we reviewed the monthly management accounts and considered the income and costs of our major activities under the annual ‘TRAC’ (Transparent Approach to Costing) analysis. We also heard about the performance of our investments, which has been reasonable over the past year, though offset by deficits on our pension schemes, which are very large and growing as a result of increased liabilities due to the poor performance of gilts.

Capital Planning Sub-Committee reviewed progress with our Campus Masterplan, particularly the major projects including the Manchester Engineering Campus Development, the Alliance Manchester Business School refurbishment, the Schuster Building extension, the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre and the Sir Henry Royce Institute. There is still major pressure on capital projects and great uncertainty in the market, which is why we have ‘paused’ a small number of projects and will review these regularly.

I spoke at one of the regular welcome events for new staff about the University and our goals and was asked about how we might benefit from ‘Devo Manc’ (devolution of the health budget). This was timely as I was also interviewed by external consultants on my perceptions of how well the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership (GMHSCP) is progressing - I said pretty well but, of course, with some major challenges as we have seen in the NHS across the country. We will be discussing GMHSCP when a number of senior colleagues and I visit Harvard this week. We are also considering how our University integrates and enhances our own contributions to health devolution and social care.

Over the last few weeks I have been working with Professors Clive Agnew (Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students) and Richard Reece (Associate Vice-President in this area) on our final submission to the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). We will now await the outcome, expected in May. On a related note, the 2017 National Students’ Satisfaction (NSS) survey will open on Monday, 30 January. Please encourage all students to complete the survey because it provides us with important feedback. Visit:

I was involved in interviews for the next Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority who will be responsible for the collaborative work of our region’s ten councils, and as such will work closely with the new CEO of Manchester City Council, Joanne Roney. The outcome is yet to be ratified so is not yet official, but has been reported in the press! It is likely that both will take up their positions in early April, so before the election of a mayor for Greater Manchester in May.

I met senior staff from a major Chinese investment company that has a base in London and already invests in several UK universities. They had not appreciated the scale of our University or the opportunities for investment and potential commercial spin-outs - hence they said they will be back to visit again very soon.

Mr Wang Ying, the Education Consul from the Chinese Consulate in Manchester, called in to wish me Happy Chinese New Year and to give me a rooster memento since this is the Chinese Year of the Rooster!

Much time has been spent planning my visits to Boston later this week, followed just one day after I return by a trip to India (not my best timing).I will report on both next week.

     

Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor

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