President's weekly update

17 December 2021

Thank you to all of you

As we approach the holiday season, I want to thank all our staff for the incredible efforts you have all made over the past very difficult 12 months.

Sadly, COVID is still with us and the new variant is causing real concerns. But we are all in a much stronger position than a year ago:  most of us are vaccinated and, if not already, hopefully soon will have had the booster, and we are now much better prepared to adapt to any changes, should they be needed.

Meetings with staff

We held a further open meeting for staff with members of the Senior Leadership Team, which you can watch. The main topics of discussion were inevitably about COVID. Staff also asked about our Civic University Agreement, teaching in Semester 2 and celebrations for our 200^th anniversary in 2024. I reported on the very positive external stakeholders’ survey which we will be communicating in the new year.

I also met with a small group of staff to hear about what they think is good and where we could and should do better in the University. They felt that we do not do enough to reward, recognise and celebrate our excellent Professional Services colleagues, that we have too much bureaucracy, need to do more on equality, diversity and inclusion, and noted how staff struggle with the cumulative impact of our change programmes. They acknowledged though the need for change, and particularly the need to improve our systems.

Cultural institutions

At Planning and Resources Committee, we held the annual performance reviews for Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre and our Museum. Teresa Anderson and Esme Ward attended. We fully recognised what a very difficult year it had been for both due to COVID restrictions which caused closures and reduced visitor numbers, and we praised them for their leadership and asked them to thank all their staff. Both have fantastic new projects that are already winning awards and will be amazing when they are open, this is very much something to look forward to.

Students’ Union

Senior colleagues and I met with officers of the Students’ Union. Much discussion was about COVID restrictions, though we have clear advice from government that teaching should remain in person. Obviously, our future teaching plans remain subject to government advice. Student officers asked about changes to the access and participation plan (APP) which will now focus much more on outcomes, including graduation and successful employment, rather than on the numbers of widening participation students recruited. We asked them to consider how they would like us to use any money deducted from pay from those taking industrial action; they will bring forward proposals.

Regional engagement

At the Health Innovation Manchester (HInM) Board we had updates on our cancer research centre, on industry engagement and on delivery of the HInM plan and heard about the major re-organisation of numerous health bodies under the Integrated Care Board which will be chaired by Sir Richard Leese.

External engagement

We hosted a visit from Dervilla Mitchell, Deputy Chair of Arup, who I know well as a long-standing member of the Council for Science and Technology. Dervilla met our senior staff working on graphene and other two-dimensional materials where a range of current and future applications was discussed. She also had a tour of MECD, which Arup worked on. As an engineer with a keen interest in skills and engineering, she was very impressed by MECD, and the new environment for learning and research that it offers.

At the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) meeting we held an extended discussion on skills across the region, the need for more training opportunities and better joining up between companies with employment opportunities and those seeking jobs. We heard that the hospitality sector has already been hit hard by Omicron with many cancellations, which is obviously a concern.

University governance

We held two meetings to discuss delivery of our plans in relation to the independent review of governance by Halpin. At an additional meeting of Senate on this, we discussed the membership of Senate and School Boards, potential sub-committees of Senate and better representation of students. Our Board Nomination Committees, which has oversight of the implementation of the recommendations of Halpin, heard an update on progress with implementing the recommendations and plans for wider Board engagement across the University.

Holidays

There will be no message next week as we are closed from 23 December to 4 January, including an extra day of holiday. There is no doubt that we all need a break. To those staff who work over the Christmas period, I am as always, so grateful for your commitment in ensuring we maintain critical operations, and the support you give to our students who stay with us at this time of year.

I hope that you have an enjoyable and restful time over Christmas and the New Year.

Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor

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