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The President and Vice-Chancellor

President's weekly update

27 January 2022

Extended Senate meeting

We had an extended meeting of Senate. The first part included all standard reports from Vice-Presidents and me, including: an update on COVID safety, arrangements for Semester 2, an update on admissions and student applications, a summary of discipline cases and complaints, and a revised statement of research contribution expectations.

The second part of Senate was devoted to further discussion of our governance effectiveness, following the independent review by Halpin, and an update on progress to date. Senate considered the establishment of formal sub-committees on academic assurance in teaching and learning and in research. It was agreed to establish these two in the first instance but with a review of their effectiveness after a year. They also discussed a number of options for the membership of Senate. Halpin had recommended that Heads of Schools should be members while some Senate members suggested that chairs of School Boards should also be members. Senate members will now vote on several options for membership of Senate.

UCU further industrial action

The Universities and Colleges Union has announced that without concessions on pay and USS pension, they will take UK wide strike action next month. At present we do not have further details. UCU has also submitted a proposal on USS with a new valuation in 2022, but formal consideration of this would mean that the steep increases in costs this year would have to come in.

COVID update

Following Government confirmation of the lifting of most Plan B measures, we’ve reviewed the latest DfE guidance and discussed our COVID-secure measures with Manchester’s Director of Public Health. Subsequently, we’ve announced further guidance for staff and students. While a sense of normality is returning we are still in a pandemic. We will therefore revert for now to our September 2021 approach, being particularly mindful of those who may be more vulnerable to COVID, and the disruption COVID can cause to planned in person activity through staff and students needing to isolate – you can find out more about what this means on StaffNet.

Office for Students (OfS) consultations

OfS has released several lengthy consultations on minimum standards for student continuation, completion and graduate employment and on the next stages of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). There are some challenging timelines, with our likely submission for provider-level TEF in November 2022.

Performance and Development Reviews

I have now completed the P&DRs for all my senior direct reports. My own P&DR will be held shortly, with the Chair of our Board, with input from senior colleagues and all Board members. If you have not yet completed yours, I would encourage you to do so as these are an excellent opportunity to reflect on achievements and challenges over the past year (which has again been quite exceptional) and look to future goals and any development needs.

External meetings

I met the Chief Executive and Director of Higher Education Engagement from Unite Students to discuss likely future trends in HE, recognising the current very high demand for student accommodation, including in Manchester.

I attended an online event on Monday to mark the Chinese New Year of the Tiger. This was hosted by the Chinese Ambassador and included musical presentations and speeches.

The Vice-Chancellors of Greater Manchester (GM) Universities discussed the implications of the latest Office for Students (OfS) announcements, our Civic Universities Agreement and work with the GM Further Education Colleges.

Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor

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