President's weekly update
20 October 2022
Helping with cost of living pressures
The high cost of living is adversely affecting our students and staff. We have therefore announced that all staff, apart from members of the Senior Leadership Team, will receive additional payments (or vouchers for those who would prefer them). Further details can be found on StaffNet. We have already provided a cost of living support fund and other measures to support students, but will shortly be announcing further substantive support which is being developed by a group including the Students’ Union (SU) and University staff. Inflation is also affecting the University’s finances, which aside from the extra support for our staff and students, will need some reprioritisation of our future spend.
Biomedical research success
Last week we had confirmation of the fantastic news that Manchester (partnership between the University and the main NHS Trusts, led by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust) has been awarded £59.1 million over the next five years for our Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). This is over double the previous award and the largest uplift of any BRC in the country.
Our success was a key topic in a meeting I held with Heads of Schools and Divisions in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health. We also discussed staff shortages and difficulties in recruitment and the planned academic contribution model.
Connecting with our students
Senior colleagues and I met the Executive Officers of the SU to exchange views on priorities and challenges. The cost of living impact on students inevitably featured strongly, as did student welfare and wellbeing.
Professor April McMahon, Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Students, and I also met with Sam Bronheim, Union Affairs Officer of the SU, where we considered what we can best do to improve the vital issue of student experience.
We have been asked about the fees that are charged for international students, which unlike UK undergraduate fees are set by each university (as are all postgraduate fees for UK and international students). In an attempt to clarify this, we have prepared a paper.
John Blake, Director for Fair Access and Participation at the Office for Students, visited us. In the session I joined, we stressed our focus on not just recruiting students from diverse backgrounds but also ensuring that they succeed. We reiterated our strong partnerships with our SU, regional government and other local HE and FE providers, and how we are supporting students.
First Senate meeting of the new academic year
At in-person sessions we had informal briefing sessions on the Academic and Researcher Development Board and on the Digital Learning Environment Review. At the main meeting, in addition to standard reports, key items were the academic assurance review for teaching, learning and students, the plan for assurance in research and reports from the two Senate Academic Quality and Standards Committees which are both new.
New strategies for EDI and People and Organisational Development (P&OD)
I spoke at the formal launch of these strategies at The Whitworth with a packed audience including our staff leaders, members of the SU Executive, our Board of Governors and Trade Union representatives. You can find out more about our newly-launched strategies on StaffNet next week.
Meeting with senior staff
We heard updates on student recruitment and accommodation (both of which had positive outcomes), adjustments to our five-year financial plan, mitigation of the impacts of inflation, diversification of our international student body and the strategies for EDI and P&OD.
I also attended a session to thank the staff in student accommodation and communications who managed the huge pressures of finding accommodation for our students in Manchester so successfully.
Philanthropy update
Our Global Leadership Board and North American Foundation met in Manchester; both support our philanthropic activities. A major topic was raising funds for international students who may not be able to afford higher fees and extra costs of living abroad.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor