President's weekly update
13 May 2021
We had two important annual events this week- the ‘Making a Difference Awards’ and ‘Volunteer of the Year Awards’ to celebrate the amazing contributions of our students, staff, alumni and partners to society. Although we couldn’t celebrate in-person, we had fantastic online events. Dr Julian Skyrme, Director of Social Responsibility, and our Chancellor, Lemn Sissay, hosted the Making a Difference Awards which received over 140 entries. You can watch the Making a Difference Awards and Volunteer of the Year Awards online.
The government announced that it will proceed to the next step of the roadmap from 17 May, enabling all remaining students to return to campus from that date. While this is all great news, social distancing is still very important and face coverings should continue to be worn in indoor settings. We are also entering a period of assessment but will do as much delivery of in-person teaching as is possible. In early June we will have a large number of home test kits and will be urging all staff and students to continue to be tested twice weekly. There will be several collection points on campus and further details will follow.
The government as now released a list of green, amber and red travel countries, with varying restrictions due to COVID. We are in regular meetings with government to facilitate travel and quarantine of students who travel from red-listed countries, though we are offering online study for the first semester of the next academic year, on programmes where this is feasible, for students who are unable to travel.
I joined a tour of MECD, our amazing new engineering building. It includes many innovative features, huge study spaces for students and is very light and bright. I love the way that Oddfellows Hall has been designed to retain many of the beautiful old features which sit well alongside the modern new building. The plants are starting to grow outside and the first students and staff will be moving in, in September, though Oddfellows is currently in use by the library and students are studying in there. It was also nice to be able to chat again (with masks and at a distance) with many staff that I haven’t ‘seen’ other than on a computer screen for many months. MECD will bring our staff and students together on the same site, and through its design, provide a shop window for the public to see what happens day to day at a university. It will replace old buildings with very high running costs and poor carbon footprint and will release land or Innovation District Manchester (IDM).
We held additional meetings of our Planning and Resources Committee and a joint meeting of our Board Finance Committee and North Campus Working Group to update on plans for Innovation District Manchester and seek approval to recommend the next steps in selecting a commercial partner to our Board.
We have announced that Matthew Moth will become our new Director of Communications in July and Oyebanji (Banji) Adewumi has been appointed as Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and will join our University on 3 August 2021.
This was timely because we were asked at the SLT open meeting about progress on equality, diversity and inclusion, so we were able to announce Banji’s appointment. At the same meeting we were asked about returning to campus, hybrid working (ie partly on campus and remotely) and the next academic year. Of course much of this is still uncertain but we are hoping that for staff who are able to and choose to they will be able to spend at least part of their working week from home. We know from the recent staff pulse survey that many felt the benefits of this in avoiding travel and achieving a better work-life balance, but some prefer to be on campus. Staff also raised questions about extension of PhD study and support for postgraduate researchers and our financial position.
We held one of our regular joint meetings between senior University staff and those in Greater Manchester Authority. We heard that infection rates continue to fall quickly across the region, with the exception of Bolton where cases are rising. We discussed bids to government around Innovation Greater Manchester and research and development.
We were visited by Professor Shitij Kapur who will soon become President and Vice-Chancellor of King’s College London, my alma mater. Shitij has just moved from the University of Melbourne with which we have a strategic partnership. We compared views, aspirations and concerns about the future of higher education, much of which is shared between the UK and Australia where both higher education sectors are facing financial challenges that are growing worse.
I was interviewed by staff from Halpin, the external organisation which is reviewing our governance. They have been attending Board meetings, sub-committees and Senate and are interviewing members of each of these and holding focus groups. We discussed most aspects of governance, accountability and reporting. We noted the wish of some staff and students to play a greater role in decision making. Of course inputs to any decisions are welcome, but most decisions about the University require both background context and often detailed and complex information. For all key decisions it has to be clear who is responsible and accountable.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor