President's weekly update
18 October 2018
At the first Senate meeting of the academic year, I welcomed new members and updated on recent developments. We heard that, although it is a little too early to report conclusive data, student recruitment appears to have gone well across most areas of the University. We discussed the National Student Survey of student satisfaction, research achievements and heard an update on consultations between the Schools of Law and Social Sciences about a potential merger. The Senate Effectiveness sub-group’s period of review of changes to our Statutes and Ordinances has been extended to February.
We have initiated a new series of briefings for Senate members to give them more detail about the operation and management of the University and the external factors influencing the sector. The first of these was given before the Senate meeting by Steve Dauncey, our Director of Finance, on our sources of income and key areas of expenditure. Steve and I have written an article for the November issue of the Magazine on this topic.
Our auditors signed off our financial accounts for 2017-18, which will be published shortly on our website. The auditors also conveyed that there is widespread concern across the higher education sector about uncertainties over Brexit, though the positive statements from government over research funding and recruitment of EU students for 2019 entry have been widely welcomed. Despite this we are considering mitigations of any potentially detrimental outcomes from Brexit on our University. There is also concern across the sector about potential reductions in fees for Home/EU students as an outcome of the Augar review which is still ongoing but due to report soon, and about pensions.
I had one of my regular meetings with staff from across the University. These are invaluable as I hear first-hand their views and can discuss any issues they wish to raise. At this meeting colleagues talked about whether Professional Services are best delivered locally and devolved or centralised; the importance of social responsibility for our distinctiveness; how to increase philanthropy; pressures on time and the need to reduce or stop doing some things that are less valuable; and the future development of online learning.
At the third Foresight Group of the Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) we discussed challenges and opportunities in transport and mobility, including the potential for driverless cars, reduced emissions and fuel efficiency. Professor Philip Bond, who holds a part time position with us and is a fellow member of the Council for Science and Technology, presented a range of opportunities that the region and the UK may face in new technologies for mobility and suggested some actions for Greater Manchester.
We have begun the annual cycle of Annual Performance Reviews where we consider the performance of each part of the University against targets and against comparable universities and identify future priorities. Each Faculty, Professional Services Directorate, the Library and our Cultural Institutions provide detailed reports on performance, a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis and a summary of key items for the future. At the first of these, for the Faculty of Science and Engineering, we considered how we can become more agile and adaptable to change due to external factors and the forthcoming changes and opportunities presented by the new structure in the Faculty and the move into MECD, the new engineering campus.
A key subject in all my discussions with staff has been the ‘Our Future’ conversations which are taking place, and we are inviting staff, students and ‘friends of the University’ to contribute to shaping the future vision for our University over the next ten years and beyond. You can contribute through discussion groups or online. We have already received many interesting ideas and comments and the webpage for Our Future has received 17,000 visits.
I met Rowena Burns, Chair of Health Innovation Manchester (HInM), and Professor Ben Bridgewater, Chief Executive of HInM, to discuss how we strengthen digital and technological advances in health. Ben had travelled to China the week before me with the elected Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, and the Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock, so we compared notes on the huge opportunities for collaboration in China in digital and many other areas of common interest.
I chaired a Corridor Manchester board meeting. This is a partnership between us, Manchester Metropolitan University, the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester University Foundation Trust, Bruntwood, Manchester Science Partnerships and Manchester City Council. We considered the next phase of development around the Oxford Road site, including our own North Campus.
It was wonderful to see the results of the Royal Society of Biology annual ‘Nancy Rothwell Science and Art’ competition with some incredible winners. The prize arose when I stood down as president of the Society because staff were aware of my interest in art as well as science.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor