President's weekly update
24 March 2022
Graduation ceremonies
We are delighted to have begun three weeks of additional degree ceremonies for those students whose ceremonies we had to cancel due to COVID. Some have waited for nearly two years for their ceremony, and some will be celebrating the award of more than one degree. These are such important occasions when family and friends can come to celebrate the achievements of our students with staff in the Whitworth Hall. It was so nice to see students and their families happy and celebrating in the sunshine. None of this would have been possible without a significant collaborative effort and it has been a brilliant example of many different Professional Services teams working as one to put on over 60 ceremonies.
Ukraine
We continue to support our staff and students who have been affected by the terrible situation in Ukraine. We are working with other agencies, such as Universities UK and CARA and will soon announce a student scholarship scheme and support for staff.
Board of Governors
Our Board had an extended briefing session on China, given the importance of our links with the country and the number of Chinese students who study with us. We had an excellent opening presentation from Lord Jim O’Neill who holds an honorary chair with us and chairs Northern Gritstone. When he was Chief Economist at Goldman Sachs, Jim coined the term BRICs to describe the growing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. For the rest of the day Jim had a tour and updates on our Productivity Institute, ID Manchester, the Royce Institute and MECD.
Board members also held meetings with staff in each of our Schools. Feedback was similar to that I have received from my other meetings with staff with concerns about workload and wellbeing, IT and the extent of change programmes, particularly SEP. There was also much positive feedback about staff feeling proud to work for the University, a huge commitment to their amazing colleagues and students, all that we achieved throughout COVID and a strong pride in social responsibility.
In the formal Board meeting, we had presentations on progress in the Faculties of Humanities and in Biology, Medicine and Health. In addition to my regular update, the Board received feedback on actions resulting from the sessions they had held previously with students, had a briefing on risk with a focus on cybersecurity and approved our proposals for academic governance and assurance.
Alumni
I spent a day in London meeting senior alumni, largely to get their views on how the University is doing, what is distinctive, and I talked about how we plan our future - not least in an ever more turbulent world. All were very complimentary and had some great suggestions.
Regional issues
I chaired a meeting of the Oxford Road Corridor Board. We considered the future strategy for the region, how we align with the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda and Innovation Greater Manchester, and how we use the great opportunities presented by our facilities, particularly ID Manchester.
The Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) meeting, of which I am a member, was held this time in Rochdale - we are trying to visit all of the ten regions of GM Combined Authority. We heard about plans for Northern Gateway, in which we are heavily involved. We also heard that Manchester airport is seeing growing passenger numbers but has significant staff shortages that are leading to delays.
Science Media Centre (SMC)
We were visited by Fiona Fox, who leads the SMC, and who I have known for many years. They do a brilliant job of promoting science in the media and we work closely with them. I was also interviewed by SMC about the importance of communications in research.
International travel
You may have seen that Professor Graham Lord, Vice-President and Dean of Biology, Medicine and Health, led a delegation to Kenya to discuss health partnerships.
Next week I am travelling to Dubai and Abu Dhabi to meet students and staff in our centre in Dubai, also alumni and partners. This is the first university international travel I have done for over two years due to the pandemic. The last time was a trip to India just a few weeks before COVID struck. I will report back on my trip, which looks absolutely packed, next week.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor