President's weekly update
14 October 2021
Board of Governors
We launched the
The Board Finance Committee considered the likely financial outturn for the last academic year, which is subject to audit. Our finances last year were very unusual. We discounted rents for student residences due to the pandemic and lost much income on catering and conferences but we dramatically reduced spending on many items because of limited activities, and delays on many projects, particularly capital and maintenance, so these costs will come into the current year.
Celebrations with Marcus Rashford
On the day after our Foundation Day, we presented Marcus Rashford, the Manchester United and England footballer with an honorary doctorate, for his remarkable campaign against child poverty off the field and outstanding sporting achievements on the pitch. Marcus was unable to attend our Foundation Day because he was playing, so we held the event at Old Trafford, where he became our youngest ever recipient of an honorary doctorate. The main attendees were Marcus’ family, team-mates from the training academy, coaches and Sir Alex Ferguson. The event received very wide coverage in the media.
Listening to staff concerns and acting on them
At the Professional Services (PS) Leadership Team meeting discussions focused on managing the transition to hybrid working, staff wellbeing and workload, longer term financial challenges and the forthcoming UCU ballot for industrial action. The ballot is over pensions, pay and working conditions including contracts and pay gaps. We have previously published articles on pensions and pay, and have now published a further article on conditions of employment.
At a meeting with Heads of Schools we also discussed pensions and staff wellbeing. Many Schools are facing a significant increase in student numbers, due largely to the uplift in A-level grades this summer. We have put significant extra resource into teaching and teaching support staff. Having the wonderful resources of MECD now open is very helpful. Also offices and teaching space on our North campus will remain available for this academic year. We have also provided extra study space for our students in Prospect House in the centre of the campus thanks to the tremendous efforts of the Library, Estates and IT teams.
We discussed the issues raised by the forthcoming UCU ballot on industrial action. Only UCU members (about 2,100) can vote, yet we have well over 6,000 members of USS pension and all staff are affected by pay and conditions.
IT connectivity issues are a major concern. This was due to a failure of a small number of our many thousands of boxes that supply Wi-Fi. It was not related to the surge in use as students and staff returned to campus and indeed our network capacity exceeds use. IT staff and suppliers worked through nights and weekends and we now think and hope that the problem is resolved, though there are some local issues still, not related to this problem. This does highlight why we have to invest so much in IT systems.
I had a great discussion with the new intake of President’s Doctoral Scholars about the programme and the support they will receive. I stressed that they will contribute a great deal to our overall research, as all PhD students do, and as such they and their contribution are extremely valued.
At a small meeting with academic and PS staff, I heard from them about many issues but particularly too much bureaucracy ie too many forms to fill in, often with no obvious value. Some of these are essential under our compliance and risk but some could be minimised. Suggestions welcome!
The importance of philanthropic support
I attended an amazing event for a major donor who is supporting Dr Adam Greenstein’s research on vascular dementia. Professor Stuart Allan, head of neuroscience, and I talked about how gifts, whether transformative or even modest have major direct impact.
Philanthropy is the main remit of our Global Leadership Board, which met this week for a general update on activities in the University. They also had a dinner with our Board where they discussed the potential campaign to run up to and over our 200th anniversary in 2024. This is also our 20th anniversary since the ‘merger’ of UMIST and the Victoria University of Manchester in 2004.
Biology and art
The Royal Society of Biology (RSB) has run a competition called the Nancy Rothwell Biology and Art competition, since I ended my term as the founding president of the RSB. They knew I had a real passion for art. I took A-level art at school along with maths, physics and chemistry. This year we exhibited the competition finalists in our Whitworth Art Gallery. Alistair Hudson, Director of the Whitworth, interviewed me in front of the incredible drawings and paintings. The talent was amazing and made me realise that my decision not to pursue a career in art was right.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor