President's weekly update
1 November 2018
At a meeting of Russell Group Vice-Chancellors last week I met with members of the African Research Universities Alliance (who are all Vice-Chancellors) and the lead for the UKRI’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) which supports collaborations between the UK and developing countries. They were particularly interested in sabbaticals and split site PhDs. We have several GCRF funded projects with African universities and other collaborations. We are in contact with over 8,000 of our alumni in Africa and offer our Equity and Merit scholarships to students from Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania.
The Right Honourable John McDonnell, Shadow Chancellor and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, attended part of the Russell Group meeting. He recognised the great value of universities in research, education and more widely. The Labour Party has an aim of spending 3% of Gross Domestic Product to research and development (the current government has a target of 2.4%) and to abolish undergraduate fees. The latter would be done with no cap on the number of student places so there was uncertainty expressed about how it will be paid for without serious cuts to universities’ funding.
The Russell Group Board meeting was rather depressing as we considered three different risks: rumours of a significant cut in fees for undergraduates resulting from the Augar review (with possibly only modest replacement of funds for STEM subjects), Brexit and pensions.
We have responded to the Universities UK consultation on responses from member employers who are part of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) to the Joint Expert Panel report and recommendations. USS is the major pension scheme for academic and academic related staff in our University. We felt it would be helpful to make our statement available and you can read it on StaffNet. We look forward to a more open dialogue of the pensions challenges the higher education sector faces which are common to many other public and private sector schemes. We have also released a statement on the University’s own pension scheme UMSS.
In the Budget statement the Chancellor reiterated the government’s support for science and stated £1.6bn support for new investments in science including £150m to attract international scientists to the UK and funding for the Strength In Places fund to develop research innovation in regions across the UK though it appears that none of this is ‘additional new money’. We also welcome support for mental health services. Last month, we pledged our support for a Greater Manchester universities’ partnership that will transform student mental health provision, and is the first initiative in the country where higher education institutions have joined together to support students’ mental wellbeing.
UNISON (the trade union that a significant number of our staff belong to) reported that in the ballot for strike action in relation to pay, of those who voted 62% were in favour of strike action but only 31% of members voted (i.e. 19% of overall membership voted in favour of strike) which is below the 50% required to achieve a mandate for strike action.
At a regular meeting of senior University staff and executive members of our Students’ Union we discussed the timing of announcement of dates for exams; socially responsible investment; the impact of strike action on the student experience; international students and our position on the living wage. On the latter, we pay staff above the Living Wage Foundation rate. We also offer a range of benefits to staff including paid annual leave, pension schemes, sickness and compassionate leave benefits and flexible working which are all important considerations.
At a Westminster Social Policy Forum meeting on the Future of the Northern Powerhouse in Manchester, I spoke about the contribution of universities to discovery, innovation, attracting talent, skills development and the economy. I also described the wider benefits of universities to their region, citing the work of our Inclusive Growth Unit, Manchester Access Programmes, The Works, our public venues and the many staff and student volunteers. I pointed out that that economic growth is dependent not only on science and technology, but also on the creative industries which are particularly important for Greater Manchester. In Greater Manchester alone the four universities contribute about £3 billion to the economy annually and account for nearly 38,000 jobs. The discussion focussed on health inequalities between the North and the South which, in addition to posing a major societal problem, has a significant impact on productivity due to absence from work. This was a timely discussion given research from our University on this issue which made the front page of The Guardian this week: North South divide in early deaths deepening.
I spent several days in London as part of the team reviewing the progress of The Francis Crick Institute which has only been in its remarkable new building next to St Pancras for 18 months. We spent a long time debating measures of success and KPIs for their formal review in a few years, but we also noted the huge success of the Crick to date.
Finally, if you use the Outlook Web App, from 6 November you will need to sign in with 2-factor authentication – Duo. This is part of our University’s Cyber Security Programme and it’s important that all staff comply. If you’ve not already signed up to Duo then follow these easy steps.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor