Updates

An archive of information regarding the merger.

28 May 2019

Meetings with Law and Criminology

Meetings between colleagues in the School of Social Sciences (SoSS), Law and Criminology were held on 14 May. Read more in the minutes. 

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21 February 2019

Message from Brian and Chris 

Dear colleagues, 

The Board of Governors has approved a recommendation from Senate to merge the School of Law and the School of Social Sciences. More specifically that: 

• the School of Law and School of Social Sciences should be merged to form a single School, from 1 August 2019;
• the School be called the ‘School of Social Sciences’.

 It was also noted that there are branding and external relationship reasons that suggest it will be important to keep a ‘Law School’ identity for clarity with students and external stakeholders. 

As I said in my last email, based on feedback from colleagues in both schools, a number of opportunities for new activities and greater collaboration within a single School were highlighted which should enhance student experience and support improvements in research. Read the proposal that went to Senate.

 Bringing together the two Schools will align the newly merged School with the University structure of large multi-discipline Schools. As agreed at the outset, the only post being lost as a direct consequence of the merger is that of the Head of School Administration post in the School of Law. However, this has now become vacant. There are no financial drivers behind the recommendation, as both Schools operate on a sound and sustainable footing. 

Next steps 

In order to start planning the process to bring the two Schools together, a Working Group will be established to direct the work needed to realise the transition to a single School. This will be led by Keith Brown, Vice-President and Dean, and staff in both Schools will be involved in each step of the process. 

I am sure you will have lots of questions over the next six months as we go from two Schools to one. I also recognise that the process of merging will require effort and resource when there continue to be many other demands on your time and energy. We will endeavour to ensure that existing activity is not unduly affected and that additional support is provided.

An email will be sent to all students in both Schools this afternoon to update them on the decision. 

Kind regards 

Brian and Chris

15 February 2019

Message from Brian and Chris

Dear colleagues 

Please find below an update on discussions about the potential merger of the Schools of Law and Social Sciences, and the recommendation made by the Faculty Executive on 14 January 2019. 

Firstly, we want to thank everyone who submitted comments during the feedback period, which ended on 14 December. Having considered the feedback on the position paper, looking at both the advantages and disadvantages of merging the two Schools, the Working Group’s view (at its meeting on 18 December 2018) was that a merger would be beneficial to both Schools, with no academic disadvantages. 

Faculty Executive agreed with this position. The following recommendations will now go forward and be subject to final agreement at University level:

• the Schools of Law and Social Sciences should be merged to a form a single School, from 1 August 2019;
• the single School be called the ‘School of Social Sciences’, and
• ‘School of Law’ name to be retained for identity and external branding purposes. 

Opportunities

Based on feedback from colleagues in both schools, a number of opportunities for new activities and greater collaboration from a single school were highlighted which could enhance student experience and support improvements in research. These include: 

• A single school will provide opportunities for a different environment in which to address cultural, performance and managerial challenges within the School of Law.
• To establish a stronger presence in Global Justice, as well as big data and Legal Tech.
• A closer relationship between the subject areas within both Schools, broadening the intellectual breadth of both schools.
• Significant potential for greater collaboration which can lead to greater interdisciplinarity, grant funding, as well as joint supervision opportunities for PGR.
• A more consistent approach to research targets across the Faculty and reassessment of research support requirements.
• Sharing of best practice to manage UG student numbers while improving quality and overseas PGT.
• Enhancing PS support to improve the student experience.
• Potential provision of new programmes, and availability of existing units on existing programmes.
• Building on shared experience of curriculum review and development, and of blended and online learning. 

These recommendations would align the newly merged School with the University structure of large multi-discipline Schools. As agreed at the outset, there is a commitment to only one post being lost as a direct consequence of a merger, that being a Head of School Administration post in the School of Law. There are no financial drivers behind the recommendation, as both Schools operate on a sound and sustainable footing. 

Next steps

The recommendation for merger will now be progressed through the University’s Policy and Resources Committee on 5 February, Senate (13 February) and the Board of Governors (20 February), and is subject to approval at each stage. 

We will update you further after a decision has been made by the Board of Governors. If they agree to the recommendation, we will then be able to provide you with more details on the next steps. 

We appreciate that this has been a challenging time for staff within both Schools and thank you for your understanding and feedback. 

Kind regards 

Brian and Chris

24 September 2018

Message from Keith, Brian, Chris and Vikki

Dear colleagues,

The Working Group has now published the position paper (including appendices) on the potential for a merger of the School of Law and School of Social Sciences (SoSS). There is a lot of detail in the paper and the supporting information and, based on this evidence and feedback from engagement, an assessment will be made on the opportunities and risks of a merger.

From today until 14 December, the process will focus on getting your views on those opportunities and risks, along with identifying any additional factors which need to be considered. We are confident you will take the opportunity to engage in this process, and we welcome feedback from individuals and from wider teams, whether you are based in the School of Law or School of Social Sciences, or hold a Faculty role which supports either of the Schools. You will have an opportunity to feedback through team meetings, School boards and also on an individual basis. Details of engagement sessions will be advised through each School shortly.

Please take the time to read the position paper and consider your response from an individual, team/department, School and Faculty point of view. You should also consider the operational priorities of the School of Law and School of Social Sciences, and what will best support their delivery.

Feedback can be submitted online here. This can be submitted by teams or individuals at any time between now and 14 December 2018.

The position paper is being shared with students in both Schools, and we are working with the Students' Union to coordinate engagement through societies and student representatives.

All feedback will be collated during December for consideration by the Working Group. The Working Group will then present this to the Faculty Executive in January. Faculty Executive’s decision on whether or not to put a case for merger before the February Senate will be communicated to staff in January.

If you have any questions or concerns as you develop your response, please contact lawsoss@manchester.ac.uk. 

We would like to thank you all in advance for your engagement in this process, and look forward to hearing your thoughts over the coming weeks.

Best wishes

Keith Brown, Brian Heaphy, Chris Thornhill, and Vikki Goddard

 11 July 2018

Message from the Dean

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to update you on the third meeting of the working group which took place this week (9 July).

Over recent weeks various staff have expressed a desire to have a longer time for engagement in this process and both School Boards have made recommendations to their Heads of School to change the timescales. I indicated from the outset that the timetable was flexible and so at the working group we agreed that the engagement process will be extended until December.

Consequently, there will be changes to the timetable which was outlined last week. Instead of developing a high-level position paper and a later detailed position paper, the working group will focus on delivering a detailed position paper only. This paper will be the basis of the engagement from September onwards and will give the rationale which has been requested by both Schools.

By moving the timeline this will give staff more time to engage on an individual and team/department level, as requested, and give the working group additional time to comprehensively develop the rationale/position paper for wider engagement. That draft paper, or a more concise version of it, will go to Senate in October for comment as requested by them.

If at the end of this process the Faculty Executive decides to proceed with a recommendation to merge the two Schools, a formal proposal will go to Senate in February 2019 at the earliest. An implementation date will depend on an assessment of the scale of the operation, which will be assessed nearer the time.

I would like to thank the Chairs of the School Boards, School Board members, the working group and individual staff for their feedback. I look forward to hearing your thoughts when we progress to the next stage of the engagement process in September.

Keith Brown 

Timeline for staff engagement (subject to confirmation)

• Late August 2018  / Early September 2018 - Working group meeting.
• Mid-September to December 2018 - Detailed draft position paper circulated for staff engagement (full details to be confirmed)
• October 2018  – Concise version of the draft position paper to go to Senate for comment.
• February 2019 – If at the end of this process the Faculty Executive decides to proceed with a recommendation to merge the two Schools, a formal proposal will go to Senate in February 2019 at the earliest.

An implementation date will depend on an assessment of the scale of the operation, which will be assessed nearer the time.

27 June 2018

What has happened since the first working group meeting?

Following the first working group meeting on 4 June, we shared with staff the functional areas being looked at and the people who are leading on these.

• Research
• Teaching, learning and student experience (including the Legal Advice Centre)
• Social responsibility
• Structure and management
• Professional Support Services (PSS)
• Finances
• Reputation and external branding

When will we find out more information?

In the next few weeks, activity will be taking place to enable staff to share their views on the emerging themes from the functional areas.

We want to get your thoughts on those initial ideas, but there will be further opportunities to engage when the detailed position paper is shared with staff.

When will the detailed position paper be available for input?

Members of the working group are already speaking with staff in departments to get input to their functional area. This information will be brought together from 20 August. A detailed position paper will then be shared with staff on 3 September.

Again, we will be making sure there are a variety of ways for staff to be involved in the process to gather as many thoughts as possible; this will include the paper being discussed at School Boards.