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President's Weekly Update

3 May 2018

Over the past week we have held two important annual events in the Whitworth Hall to recognise the great achievements of our staff, students and alumni. The Volunteer of the Year Awards, run by Jane Ratchford, Director of the Student Development and Community Engagement Division, recognised the amazing volunteering undertaken over the past year and the many great partnerships we have in volunteering. The Making A Difference Awards, hosted by Professor James Thompson, Vice-President for Social Responsibility, and Lemn Sissay, our Chancellor, recognised contributions to our social responsibility goal. I spoke at both events to congratulate those who have done so much over the past year. Both were fantastic celebrations of the incredible things that our staff, students and alumni do. An unlikely star of the volunteering event was a delightful guide dog in training called Jem who made it into the photos and stole everyone’s heart.

We held the formal opening of the Manchester China Institute on Wednesday. The Institute, and also a new Lee Kai Hung Chinese Gallery in our Manchester Museum opening in 2020, are supported by a very generous donation from Dr Lee Kai Hung, a Hong Kong businessman and honorary graduate. I hosted the event and the formal opening of the Lee Kai Hung Building was led by Lord Jim O’Neill, who holds an honorary professorship with us and who has extensive experience of working with China. The Institute will be led by Professor Pete Gries and the event was attended by many honoured guests, including the Chinese Consul General, the Lord Lieutenant, the current and most recent High Sheriffs of Manchester and close friends of Dr Lee, including some who had travelled from the USA, Canada and Hong Kong.

I attended our Board's Audit and Finance Committees. At both we updated members on the current situation with the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), industrial action which is suspended, and the impact on staff morale and on a number of our students.

You may have seen a message on StaffNet about The University of Manchester Superannuation Scheme (UMSS). The latest valuation of UMSS shows a deficit of £207 million. It is important that UMSS remains affordable for both members and the University and any proposed changes to UMSS must be consulted upon with feedback taken into account before any final decisions on the future benefit structure of UMSS are made.

Students in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences asked me about the long term strategic plan for the University. They felt that further support for student well-being was important and commented that their staff are very approachable. Staff raised concerns about cross-Faculty teaching and asked about the likely next stages in the USS pension discussions and the development of Teaching and Research Colleges resulting from the changes to the Faculty of Science and Engineering. We were fascinated to hear that they have established a social media committee.

I gave the inaugural Athena Swan lecture at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston. I spoke about my career and research, being a Vice-Chancellor and how the number of women in senior positions might be increased and hence reduce differences in pay.

We held an event for about 500 guests (including staff, students, alumni and visitors) at which George Osborne, Lord Jim O’Neill and I spoke about the contribution of universities to the UK economy. This was facilitated by Andy Bounds, the northern correspondence for the Financial Times, who asked questions then invited questions from the audience. I spoke about the wider contribution and benefit of universities to society. We covered topics ranging from how governments fund public services; tax regimes; the UK’s financial position; the implications of Brexit; and the key role of universities in driving prosperity and devolution.

The Consul General of Pakistan, Mr Aamar Aftab Qureshi, visited the University to discuss Pakistani students wishing to study in the UK, wider links between Manchester and Pakistan (there are nine direct flights each week from Manchester Airport) and the development of the South Asia gallery in our Manchester Museum. After the meeting with me, he talked to a group of our students from Pakistan.

I attended a Board meeting of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership in Manchester where we considered transport across the North, education and skills, the next phases of devolution and digital infrastructure.

At a lunch with staff from across the University we discussed how the University is financed and how we spend our money. As is often the case many were surprised that most of the money that comes in to the University goes out to our three Faculties which then ‘pay back’ for central services including the Library, HR, buildings and insurance, IT, finance, student support etc. They also raised the challenge of changing the way we do things, adverse media coverage about universities, becoming more effective and agile, career progression for Professional Support Staff (PSS) and the importance of a strong relationship between academic and PSS members.

I met Andrew Tasker, the recently appointed Chair of Board of North West eHealth (NWeH) We are shareholders in NWeH which conducts clinical trials using electronic records and, most notably, conducted the Salford Lung Study, which tested a new medicine for respiratory disease at a fraction of the cost of traditional clinical trials.

 

Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor

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