President's weekly update
9 March 2017
I took part in two events for International Women’s Day. I gave a talk organised by our local WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) group about my career, research and my current role. I highlighted the important role women play in science and engineering and the fact that, while some may face negative attitudes and discrimination, there are also many advantages and opportunities for women.
I opened an event on this topic in the Whitworth Hall, where a very impressive group, including one of our staff, an alumna, a student and the President of our Alumni Association, took part in a panel discussion chaired by Dr Dawn Edge (Academic Lead for Equality Diversity and Inclusion).
In another celebration of women I was honoured to open and host the inaugural Katharine Perera Women in Leadership Annual Lecture, which this year was on ‘The Leadership Challenges of 2020 and Why Gender Matters’ and was given by Lorna Fitzsimons, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Pipeline. Some of you will remember Katharine as a remarkable academic and University leader who was a great champion of equality and diversity and who sadly died last year.
In a separate event I gave an ‘MGS PhilSoc' talk at Withington Girls’ School. This organisation was founded in 1869 and includes Manchester Grammar School, Manchester High School for Girls and Withington Girls’ School. I spoke about my career and research, about being a Vice-Chancellor and about why science is such an exciting career!
I visited three Schools this week in the usual format of a meeting with senior staff, an open meeting with students and an open meeting with staff.
In the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, Professor Colin Bailey (Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor) and I heard about exciting plans for new degree programmes and closer links with cultural institutions across the region. Staff asked about expected outcomes from the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and Brexit. Students talked about careers advice and the great support they get from staff. The parting shot from a student was ‘The Uni’s great!’
During our visit to the School of Social Sciences, Professor Clive Agnew (Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students) and I heard that students felt they were well supported and had good avenues to feed back any concerns, which were then dealt with effectively. They raised a wish for more career support and credit for courses outside their degree programme. Staff raised issues about Brexit, increased reports of student anxiety and depression, TEF and REF.
Staff in the School of Environment, Education and Development raised concerns about student recruitment (especially on some postgraduate taught courses where it is difficult to judge likely acceptances), told us about great successes in winning research grants and further opportunities for funding. Students told us about their positive experiences of recruitment but concerns about the quality of some work spaces for postgraduate research students and the difficulty of finding space in the Alan Gilbert Learning Commons.
Several senior colleagues and I attended a ‘civic dinner’ to mark the remarkable contributions of Sir Howard Bernstein, who will retire as the Chief Executive of Manchester City Council at the end of this month. It was a truly inspirational event in the wonderful surroundings of the Town Hall with about 200 present from so many walks of life. The tributes brought a tear to many eyes, including mine, and Howard said he will continue to work for this great City.
I spent a day and a half in Bristol at the Russell Group of Vice-Chancellors' annual conference. Key topics were Brexit (not surprisingly!), the Higher Education and Research Bill, international student recruitment, TEF and the new UK Research and Innovation organisation which will oversee the majority of government research funding. Professor Les Ebdon (Head of the Office for Fair Access) spoke to us about ‘widening participation’ and indicated that universities may not be required to sponsor individual schools (as suggested by government previously), but that flexible approaches would be accepted. This fits us well as we work with many hundreds of schools across Greater Manchester and beyond. We also heard that while the number of young people eligible to go to University in China and other parts of South East Asia will decline sharply, those in India, Pakistan, Africa and Indonesia will grow very rapidly.
I attended the annual Service of Thanksgiving run by the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health to thank those who have donated their bodies for medical and scientific teaching and research. It was a very moving ceremony attended by many students and friends and family of the donors.
Finally a reminder to complete our Staff Survey which launched this week – I have just completed it and it doesn’t take very long. You’ll have received an email from Capita with a link and password to access the survey. It’s important that you take part as your feedback is really important to us. You can find out more at:
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
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