President's weekly update
28 March 2019
I’ve visited three Schools over the past few days along with other Senior Leadership Team colleagues, and will visit another three next week to hear from staff and students.
In the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering (MACE), students asked about whether we have achieved our goals in our Manchester 2020 Strategic Plan: I said some but not all, many of our goals are ambitious. They asked why Food on Campus is more expensive than commercial outlets. I explained that this is because we pay our staff at or above the Living Wage and offer benefits such as holiday pay, pensions, sickness and other relevant leave; we try to source local produce and consider sustainability and waste; and we cater for a wide range of dietary needs. Staff raised the sustainability of MECD (Manchester Engineering Campus Development), the impact of Brexit on EU students and the time taken for contract agreements to be agreed.
Students in the School of Materials asked about the move into MECD and in particular the provision of work spaces and when these will be finalised; the likely impact of Brexit on the University (which given the ongoing uncertainties we struggled to answer); and support for students on the North Campus, for example, from the Students’ Union. Staff also raised questions about space allocation in MECD and there were some concerns about the speed of agreeing research contracts and staff appointments via Human Resources. We were reminded that many staff in Materials have a strong presence in the National Graphene Institute and in the Royce Institute which is under construction.
In Chemical Engineering and Analytical Sciences, students wanted more rapid feedback from staff on issues that they raised, most notably on their lab sessions. They also wanted the Students’ Union to focus more on student well-being and the wider student experience. Staff asked about the current position on pensions (where we are waiting for a response from the Universities Superannuation Scheme pension regulator on employers’ proposals including our own, the likelihood of a fall in the cap on undergraduate home fees resulting from the Augar review, the implications of Brexit for EU students (they will be treated as international students), how we are performing against our goals and concerns about staff workloads.
At a meeting of the Faculty Leadership Team in Humanities which I attended we discussed opportunities for our new Strategic Plan which is currently in development, especially around more efficient processes, rethinking how we deliver the teaching and assessment of students, interdisciplinary research across the University, fostering entrepreneurship and innovation and the many areas of expertise that Humanities can offer to other disciplines. We also discussed more radical changes to the academic calendar and curriculum, such as an offer of degrees in liberal arts and natural sciences to provide a broader education.
I attended the final meeting of staff who have taken part in the second cohort of our Inspiring Leaders Programme (ILP). Each table described the key things they have learnt and will take forward from the programme. Then everyone posted up their main personal aim that has resulted from the programme. They all gave extremely positive feedback. I spoke about why we initiated ILP - to inspire, engage, inform and empower our leaders, then they heard about follow on programmes. The next cohort of ILP will begin in September.
The German Ambassador to the UK, the Honourable Dr Peter Wittig visited the University. He met German students studying with us and students studying German and gave a talk on UK relations with Germany after Brexit. I had a very productive discussion with him about strengthening our research and educational relationships with German universities and companies.
I spoke at an event in Manchester organised by the Higher Education Policy Institute attended by representatives from universities across the North. HEPI is led by Nick Hillman, one of our alumni and a current member of our Board of Governors. I spoke about the need for universities to demonstrate their wider value to society beyond economic impacts, universities as ‘anchor institutions’, wider partnerships and the outcomes of the Civic Universities Commission on the civic role of universities. This is an area in which we are very strong and I gave some examples, but I also urged that universities need to define what they can contribute to but cannot solve, for example, local inequalities and poverty, health and schools education.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor