President's Weekly Update
5 October 2017
Board of Governors
We held the first meeting of our Board of Governors for this academic year and welcomed three newly-elected staff members.
An important item of business was the recommendation from the Staffing Committee that we proceed to compulsory redundancy for a small number of Professional Support Services (PSS) staff in one area that has been restructured, which was supported by the Board. Staff selected for redundancy will leave the University on 23 June 2018, unless a redeployment opportunity is secured. We are still awaiting responses to offers of voluntary severance for affected staff in other PSS and the academic areas, which we are seeking to conclude within the next few weeks. You can read more at:
We are very aware that this is an anxious and unsettling time for our staff. The University is committed to mitigating the need for redundancy, and in line with the Security of Employment Policy, has taken a number of steps including sourcing redeployment opportunities for ‘at risk’ staff, tight vacancy management control and offering a generous Voluntary Severance Scheme.
We highlighted to the Board that staff morale has been adversely affected by staffing changes and that we are committed to supporting and communicating with colleagues on an ongoing basis. The Board was made aware of a local and unofficial survey relating to staff morale in the context of the M2020 proposals in the Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS), though it was noted that the survey was flawed for a number of reasons. We also referred the Board to the many FAQs which are being updated on a regular basis in response to questions and concerns about M2020, and highlighted to them those covering the ability to discuss proposals at School Boards and the rationale for and data used to inform the various M2020 Programmes proposals. You can find FAQs at:
The University is naturally disappointed that members of the UCU have opted to take industrial action, particularly because these staffing changes have been considered carefully through an extensive consultation process with all three of the recognised Trade Unions, including the UCU. Whilst we hope that staff will decide to continue to work normally, every effort will be made to ensure that there will be no significant disruption to operations at the University and particularly to our students should there be any industrial action. We also remain committed to continue our dialogue with the Trade Unions and staff on these plans as they are implemented.
In addition to normal business, the Board received presentations on the work of the Division of Development and Alumni Relations, the Gift Oversight Group and the Research Compliance Committee over the past year. Professor Luke Georghiou, Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor described our recent successes and future plans for industry research collaborations and, in particular, the focus on smaller and medium-sized companies.
Prior to the formal Board meeting we had one of the regular update sessions. Professor Clive Agnew, Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students, spoke about the next stages of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), including qualifications of incoming students (which are the best indicator of student outcomes), the National Student Survey (NSS) and ongoing discussions about fees and student debt. Steve Dauncey, Director of Finance, described the income streams of the University and Matt Atkin, Director of Planning, explained the revised regulatory framework for the higher education sector.
These discussions were very timely given the Prime Minister’s announcement that fees for undergraduate home students will be capped at £9,250 per annum for the foreseeable future. Unless this is compensated by government funding, it will have a very major impact on our financial position over coming years. The increase in threshold for student repayment of debt has been increased to £25,000 which is a welcome relief on the financial burden on graduates.
I attended a breakfast meeting on the Northern Powerhouse, where Greg Clark, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, gave the main speech. Later the same day I chaired an event where Greg Clark joined a panel with Joanne Roney, Chief Executive of Manchester City Council; Mike Emmerich, Founding Director of Metro Dynamics; and Professor Diane Coyle from our School of Social Sciences to discuss industrial strategy, city regions and the economy. The role of universities in city regions and the impact of devolution of powers and budgets were key topics.
Alistair Jarvis, Chief Executive of Universities UK, visited the University. We discussed many topics, including student fees and debt; international student recruitment; Brexit; Vice-Chancellors’ salaries and the general adverse publicity about higher education over the past few months.
I gave a welcome to the latest cohort of President’s Doctoral Scholars (PDS) who join us from across the world and are undertaking research in almost all disciplines. We now have over 500 PDS students. I talked about the key features of doing a PhD and the past success of the PDS scheme -several previous students have won the PhD Student of the Year award.
I met Professors Malcolm Press and Helen Marshall, Vice-Chancellors of Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Salford respectively and discussed progress with the planned new Greater Manchester Medical School, then we met with Eamonn Boylan, Chief Executive of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, to talk about health education and research, community engagement, contribution of universities to the Greater Manchester economy and the growth of new higher education providers.
Sir Howard Bernstein, former Chief Executive of Manchester City Council, who now holds a part-time appointment with the University, and Rhys Whalley, who leads the Manchester-China Forum, met with several senior colleagues and me to talk about our growing links with China in education, research and business. My recent visits to Shenzhen and Hong Kong raised a number of opportunities that we are following up on.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
Feedback
Please send comments to: