September message from SEED Head of School, Khalid Nadvi
24 Sep 2026
Khalid welcomes colleagues to the new academic year, with updates on student recruitment, our financial position, listening forums and strategy delivery
Dear colleagues,
It’s amazing how quickly the year passes by and before you know it, we’re at the start of a new academic year. I do hope that you were able to get a break and a recharge of batteries over the past few weeks. Like many of you, I appreciated the opportunity that summer brought to pause, reflect and take a few short breaks with family (and my very large extended family) in France, Wales and Ireland.
There's been a palpable sense of energy on campus in recent weeks, as our returning students reconnect with friends and colleagues and we welcome a new cohort embarking on their journey at Manchester. This also means new surroundings for many of our colleagues;. Geography staff have moved into the newly renovated Rutherford Building over the summer and the majority of GDI have now moved down to occupy the whole of the first floor of ALB - hopefully strengthening the already strong collegial bonds in GDI. My thanks to all colleagues for making these moves reasonably painless, especially Jonny Brewster in SEED Operations.
Student Recruitment
The start of a new academic year is also an important time for us to take stock and look ahead. With that in mind, I want to provide an update on student recruitment and what this means for our financial position.
SEED had a very successful clearing week during August and are welcoming one of our largest contingents of undergraduates (UG), especially in Geography, PPEM, GDI and Architecture. Overall, we expect to have close to 800 UG students across the School - about a 150 above target. I'm pleased to say PGR recruitment levels are also looking on track and in line with last year’s numbers too. I particularly want to thank our colleagues in the School’s admissions team who have worked hard to get us to this point.
The Postgraduate Taught (PGT) picture is less optimistic however. It appears that we will be significantly short of our target both for home and overseas PGT students. Whilst it is very hard to give an accurate estimate at this point, we expect a shortfall of around 150-200. The PGT shortfall is especially felt in Architecture, Geography and MIE. Nevertheless, this still leaves us with a significant intake, with over 2000 PGT students joining us in SEED this year.
While UG has improved, lower overseas PGT numbers mean we expect to begin the year around £4-5M below our tuition fee income target. This compares with a shortfall of more than £9M at the same point last year, although targets were reduced this year to reflect sector-wide recruitment pressures.
We're not alone either - both AMBS and SALC have also found it difficult to meet targets on overseas PGT recruitment. Consequently, we will need to continue to manage our resources carefully, maintaining the same practices that we have put in place for our external teaching budgets, our GTA budgets and our Fieldwork budgets.
I know that this will be challenging given the tight budgetary environment of the past year but I do want to confirm that the School Executive has agreed that we will retain academic colleagues’ individual PRSA allowances at the same levels as before. Similarly, departmental HoD budgets remain intact, as do budgets linked with research, the teaching experience, social responsibility and EDI. However, I continue to emphasise that we need to exercise a great deal of prudence again this year, managing our funds as efficiently and effectively as we can.
Your Voice matters
As the recent ‘Your Voice Matters 'staff survey highlighted, to be the best that we can be as a School, it is vital that we take the time to listen and learn from one another. I want to start this academic year as we mean to go on: by creating spaces where colleagues feel able to speak openly and share their ideas and experiences.
One of the first meetings I held this semester was with colleagues of Black heritage to discuss their views and concerns in light of the tragic death of Professor Jason Arday. This proved to be a very thoughtful reflection on the fears and sense of heightened scrutiny that some colleagues feel, and to recognise the increasingly more challenging social and political environment within Britain. I want to emphasise both my personal commitment, and that of the School, in not only promoting our EDI objectives on diversity and inclusion and ensuring that we do everything to reduce incidences of bullying, harassment and discrimination. In all areas, including across race, disabilities, sexual and religious identities.
In my commitment to creating spaces where colleagues feel heard, my next step is to hold a series of informal listening forums throughout the year, in buildings across SEED. These sessions are an opportunity to drop in, have a conversation and share your views, experiences and ideas about working in SEED. No booking is required, so please feel free to drop in at any point on the dates/times provided.
Turning strategy into action
As we approach the first anniversary of the launch of the university's From Manchester for the World strategy, many of you will have noticed how quickly some of its ambitions are beginning to come to life.
From the recently approved AI in Teaching and Learning Policy developed by Peter Kahn, which Director of Teaching and Learning, Rory Stanton expands upon in his update, to the forthcoming launch of Oracle Fusion, colleagues across the University are already beginning to see how strategic priorities are translating into tangible action and changing the way we work.
In SEED, we’ve been rolling out our new marketing and recruitment strategy including everything from a refresh of our programme web pages and our approach to targeted marketing activities through to a stronger focus on employability within our course offerings and an on-going effort to improve the student experience. We did well again last year on the NSS and we continue to work to improve, particularly through greater engagement with ‘student voice’ in our working practices. The key point to note is that we are working strategically across the School, with support from Faculty and Centre, to improve our position going forward. This continues to be a collective effort in which the School and individual departments are keen to draw on your ideas and inputs in an inclusive and consultative process.
To support the second year of strategy delivery, the University is launching a series of delivery plans covering priority areas including International, Research, Innovation and Teaching and Learning. I would encourage colleagues to keep an eye on PVC communications for continued updates on these developments. With both the International and Research Delivery Plans now published, we are beginning to see clear examples of how the University's strategic ambitions are being translated into practical action and opportunities for colleagues to get involved. We’ll be communicating further what these delivery plans mean for SEED in the coming weeks and months.
Finally, before I close, I want to extend my congratulations to Professor Richard Kingston (PPEM) on his appointment as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. This is an important measure of esteem, and well-deserved.
My thanks go to all colleagues across SEED for everything you do. The start of a new academic year is always busy and full of possibility. And whilst we cannot predict every bump and twist in the road that lies ahead, I remain confident in our collective ability to navigate it together, drawing on the creativity, expertise and sense of community that make SEED such a special place to work
Khalid
Head of School