President's Weekly Update
7 July 2016
While much has happened in the last week in British politics, the impact of the vote for the UK to leave the European Union is still unclear and is likely to be so for some time. The ‘EU Group' of senior colleagues which I chair met for the first time to consider the questions submitted to EU@manchester.ac.uk and further actions that can be taken to support out current and future staff and students. Further information has been posted on the internal web site:
I will be holding open meetings - one for any staff at 4pm on Monday, 11 July 2016, Lecture Theatre A, Roscoe Building. If you wish to attend, please email StaffEventJuly@manchester.ac.uk to register your interest. I will also be holding an event for students on Thursday, 14 July at 9.30am in Lecture Theatre B, Simon Building. We have separated these events only because staff and students are likely to have different questions but there are no restrictions on attendance at either. Please just let us know for numbers.
We must be very clear that the University is a global institution that welcomes diversity. This is particularly important in light of some reports of harassment or abuse towards individuals, particularly those from outside the UK, or who are believed to be from outside the UK. Please report any such incidents that you hear of and reassure our colleagues, students and visitors from outside the UK that they are both welcome and valued. We will be working closely with our Students’ Union on a campaign to make it clear that we will not tolerate any kind of abuse or intolerance in our community. Inevitably the subject of the referendum dominated almost all of my meetings this week, including our Board of Governors. They also signed off the budget for next year but noted major pressures on budgets in forthcoming years which must be resolved (even before the implications of ‘Brexit'). We received an excellent report from our Students’ Union on their achievements, strategy and goals, which was warmly welcomed.
The Board was followed by a dinner to thank those members who are leaving the Board - Christine Lee-Jones, Liz Sheffield, Iram Kiani and Pamila Sharma - for their contributions. This was a particularly notable occasion because it is also the last meeting for the Chair of our Board, Anil Ruia. Anil became chair in 2010 and in fact chaired my own appointment committee. Since that time I have greatly welcomed his calm and thoughtful challenge and support and I must admit that I felt quite emotional at his departure. Anil will be succeeded by Edward Astle who joined the Board in 2014.
I attended a meeting of the Russell Group of Vice-Chancellors. We were joined for the first hour by Jo Johnson, Minister of Universities and Science, and a number of his senior colleagues at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. He fully recognised the major impact of the EU referendum now and in the future on universities and said he would do all he could to provide assurances. We particularly asked for assurances for EU students entering in 2017, when the UK would almost certainly still be a full member, but recognised that clarity on other issues is unlikely to be known until negotiations have been completed. We also asked for assurances on continued entitlements for non-UK EU staff working and living here. Jo Johnson stated very clearly that the referendum should have no direct impact on funding from European sources or on staff and students for at least two years, but recognised the real uncertainties and worries of many.
We also spent some time discussing the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), both with the Minister and in the Board meeting afterwards. All were in support of a framework to improve teaching quality and students’ experience at university, but there remain significant concerns about the methodology to assess these.
It is now less than three weeks to go until we host EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) in Manchester. The Local Organising Committee, co-chaired by myself and Sir Howard Bernstein, Chief Executive of Manchester City Council, reviewed the programme, registrations for attendance and detailed planning. Remarkably, just at the last minute another Nobel Laureate and another major international speaker have just confirmed they will speak and we have almost 400 press attending.
I hosted one of the regular lunches for staff from across the University to get their thoughts and comments and try to answer their questions. Aside from the inevitable EU referendum, we discussed getting better electronic processes, on-line courses, mentoring and preparation for promotions, standardisation of how we do things across the University and how universities and our students are now much more driven by financial considerations than say, 20 years ago.
I visited the University Language Centre to speak to about 800 incoming international students about the University. They asked some very pertinent questions about the costs of student accommodation, UK membership of the EU, whether international students should find it easier to get a visa to work after their studies and what qualities make a good leader. Then, of course, lots of ‘selfies’.
We held the first meeting to plan for our interview for funding for a Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) which I will join later this month - as the funding is for £30m, it is quite important!
It was a pleasure to meet Professor Ian Jacobs, who was our Vice-President and Dean of Medical and Human Sciences until early 2015 when he took up the role of Vice-Chancellor of the University of New South Wales in Australia. Ian was surprised at just how much had happened in his own area with health devolution, the BRC and many other activities, and more widely across the campus.
Professor Brian Cox presented the first in a new television series ‘The Forces of Nature’ on Monday evening on BBC One. If you missed it, you can watch it on BBC iPlayer:
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor
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