President's weekly update
30 November 2018
We held the 'topping out' ceremony for the Henry Royce Institute (the UK’s National Institute for Materials Science and Research and Innovation) to mark the building reaching its full height. The Royce is a partnership between our University and the universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield, Imperial College, the National Nuclear Laboratory and the UK Atomic Energy Authority. The main centre is based at our University and we lead the partnership. The event was attended by Professor Julia King (Baroness Brown of Cambridge) who chairs the Royce Board, representatives of the partners and those involved in the design and construction of the building and David Sweeney, Executive Chair of Research England, representing the main funder.
In a visit to the School of Physics and Astronomy, I heard about the great success of the new Schuster Building extension, some recent major awards and strong student recruitment. PhD students expressed concerns about the process for payment for teaching assistants and what is being done to address this, and undergraduate students spoke about some outstanding teachers, but also some instances where the School is working to improve teaching support.
Proposals for changes to our Professional Services (PS) Leadership Model in the Directorate for Student Experience and specific areas of the Faculties and Schools resulting from the implementation of the Student Lifecycle Project and the requirement for a new PS leadership structure linked to the restructure of the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE) have now been announced.
I attended a small meeting in London with Philip Hammond, Chancellor of the Exchequer, to discuss how research and universities can better contribute to national prosperity and the industrial strategy. We also discussed the need to train many more people in subjects linked to the delivery of the industrial strategy and the importance of recruiting top international talent.
I also took part in a discussion in Manchester with Liz Truss, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, on the strengths of our city and the developments needed for further success. These included improved transport and other infrastructure, an improved skills base across all levels and closing the gap in health outcomes between the North and the South. I focused on the need to improve skills in maths and digital in people of all ages.
Several University colleagues and I met Sir David Dalton, Chief Executive of Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust (SRFT) and Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, and his colleagues to discuss how we further develop neuroscience research between our organisations. SRFT has the largest neurosurgical centre in the UK. We agreed that a focus should be on three related areas: neurovascular, neuro-inflammation and neuro-oncology.
At one of our regular meetings with members of the Students’ Union Executive we updated on exam timetabling and we heard that this year the Students’ Union would not lead a boycott of the National Student Survey (NSS) of satisfaction. They also raised concerns about overcrowding on the 147 bus which travels between the city centre and parts of the University. They asked us about potential industrial action in the future, but we did not hear until the following day that the ballot by UNISON over changes to The University of Manchester Superannuation Scheme (UMSS) did not achieve the 50% turnout required to call for industrial action.
Professor Luke Georghiou, Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, and I met Dr Joe Marshall, the new Chief Executive of the National Centre for Universities and Business (NCUB). We discussed our recent growth in industrial income and some major successes in business engagement and asked that NCUB acts to promote the value of universities to society.
I spoke at the Manchester Tech Forum dinner which was attended by about 60 young entrepreneurs, leaders of start-up companies and more established business people and investors at our John Rylands Library on Deansgate, following their very successful meeting earlier that day. It coincided with Manchester moving up 11 places to 34th in the 2018 Innovation Cities Index. This puts Manchester ahead of Beijing and the only UK city apart from London to appear in the top 50.
Fantastic news that our University has been awarded the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement’s Gold Engage Watermark (the highest award, the only Gold and the first time any awards have been made). This was due to the very hard work of many people, but especially Professor Sheena Cruickshank, academic lead for Public Engagement, and Dr Julian Skyrme and Suzanne Spicer in the Office for Social Responsibility.
You may have seen a documentary led by our Chancellor, Lemn Sissay, ‘Superkids: Breaking Away From Care’ (28 November, Channel 4, 10pm) which you can watch on Channel 4 catch up.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor