President's weekly update
27 October 2022
Government – all change
What a week it has been in terms of further government turmoil. With Rishi Sunak now installed as Prime Minister, we also know the shape of the Cabinet, and our latest government department leads, notably Grant Shapps as Business Secretary and Gillian Keegan as Education Secretary. We await details of any policies and how they will affect our sector.
UCU ballots outcome and next steps
While we appreciate the very difficult and challenging times in which students and staff are living and working, the outcomes of the latest UCU ballots are inevitably disappointing.
In two national aggregated ballots on pay and conditions and the USS pension, respectively 57.7% and 60.2% of the UCU membership voted, with 81.1% and 84.9% voting in favour of industrial action. It will be a further week before we know what action will be taken or when. We are planning mitigations to minimise the impact on our students and ensure they continue to receive the experience they deserve.
Meetings with staff
At one of my regular meetings with a small group of staff from across the University, as usual I asked about what is really good and what they would like to see improved about the University.
They agreed that one of the best things is our people - brilliant, friendly staff and very talented students - who they said were much more engaged this year. They also praised the research facilities and culture, Professional Services (PS) staff (who they said were not valued enough), our cultural institutions, the campus and buildings (though one said while some buildings are fantastic, others are awful), civic engagement, and our city region.
As expected, areas they want to see improved include some of our cumbersome processes, IT, more PS support, some of our estate (notably the library and some student residences) and workload. They added that the latter was particularly acute because of what they described as ‘a lot of red tape and repetition’. We also discussed that our much-needed upgrades in areas such as IT should help to streamline our processes.
We also have many staff vacancies across PS. Normally we have about 3% vacancies in central PS staff, but currently its 10% and much higher in some areas. This vacancy pressure is being seen in all sectors.
I joined our BAME network event for Black History month and heard a wonderful presentation from Dame Elizabeth Anionwu on intersectionality. We gave her an honorary doctorate several years ago in recognition of her achievements in healthcare and inclusion.
Students’ Union
Senior colleagues and I met the officers of the Students’ Union. They said that student engagement was back above pre-COVID levels which is really encouraging. We talked about the impact of the cost of living on students and the fact that many are taking on part-time jobs which may be affecting their wellbeing and time to study. We also discussed hiring of rooms out of hours for student activities and their meeting with the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham.
Research and Innovation
At the governance board meeting for the Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), there was of course much celebration of our recent award of £59.1m and planning for the next phase of biomedical research.
At a separate meeting, we discussed the future ambitions for our cancer research given the exciting opportunities presented by the BRC, the new Paterson Research Building, a new Director for the CRUK Manchester Institute and UK Biobank moving to Manchester.
At the Innovation Greater Manchester (IGM) Board meeting we discussed our bid to government for funding as one of three ‘innovation accelerators’ which will be submitted soon, and the longer-term goals of IGM.
Philanthropy
I’ve spent quite a bit of time recently with major donors, or potential donors to the University, by video, in Manchester and in London. Rory and Elizabeth Brooks, who are great supporters of ours (Rory is a founding member of our Global Leadership Board) hosted an event for us with several senior alumni and friends of the University with me and Professor April McMahon to discuss support for our students.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor