President's weekly update

11 March 2021

As part of our regular engagement with staff we held an SLT open meeting which was watched by over 700 staff so far. Most of the meeting was devoted to a presentation on our financial position and the year-end accounts for last year, but we were also asked questions about the USS pension, compassionate colleague training and return to campus arrangements. For those who were unable to attend the whole session is available to watch online.

Teaching on campus has restarted for students on courses that require practical and practice based training - please urge them all to get regular free tests which continue to be available to staff and students on campus. Reported COVID infections amongst staff and students remain low but it is still really important that everyone adheres to the safety measures that are in place to limit infections.

I attended two meetings with Kwasi Kwarteng, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, though the title of the department may change as industrial strategy is now less prominent, and the Industrial Strategy Council, of which I am a member has been disbanded. The first meeting was about Innovation Greater Manchester (IGM) with Sir Howard Bernstein, Chris Oglesby, CEO of Bruntwood and interim chair of IGM, and Professor Richard Jones, Chief Scientist of IGM and a member of our staff. The second meeting was with the Russell Group where we discussed the importance of changes to ensure the sustainable funding of research, international funding and national security.

Senior colleagues and I also had meetings with Andy Burnham, elected Mayor of Greater Manchester and with Richard Leese, Chief Executive of Manchester City Council to discuss the University’s future plans and how we can contribute to the recovery from COVID.

The five vice-chancellors of Greater Manchester universities held another meeting with three local Labour MPs, Kate Green, Mike Kane and Jonathan Reynolds to discuss our work together across the region.

I spoke at the Greater Manchester (GM) Economic Growth and Development conference in a session led by Eamonn Boylan, Chief Executive of GM Combined Authority. Many of the questions from the audience were about supporting innovation in the region, skills, particularly for disadvantaged groups and ‘levelling up’.

Now that the USS pension trustee has released the latest valuation and range of costs of financing the deficit and future commitments, I have been in a number of meetings to consider the implications. Universities UK is challenging the USS Trustees and The Pension Regulator about the valuation and costs, and about the strength of the covenant (the ability to pay in the hopefully unlikely event that the scheme should ever collapse) of the member organisations, of which there are over 300. Our aim is deliver a valuable pension scheme that is affordable to the employee members and to employers. Aside from these future projections, the cost of the scheme is already set to rise in October which is a concern for all staff, some of whom are already opting out, and will add an extra £10million per annum on to our University costs, which of course has to be taken from somewhere else. The latest valuation would greatly increase that figure for the University and for staff.

I am now two-thirds of the way through this year’s School visits. At every meeting, we have heard of the challenges and rewards of creating and delivering blended learning materials, and students have acknowledged the tremendous efforts of staff. Our future commits us to ‘increased student choice and flexible learning through combinations of face-to-face, online and blended learning at greater scale’. This plan will be delivered by the recently instigated Flexible Learning Programme (FLP), which will ensure we fully capitalise on the amazing work of staff over the past year.

Please complete the staff survey which takes only a few minutes and is really important for us to get a sense of the wellbeing and concerns of our staff.  

This week there were many events to celebrate International Women’s Day, and we have recognise our many outstanding current and past female staff and students.

Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor

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