President's weekly update
9 February 2023
Disaster in Turkey and Syria
We have all been shocked by the tragic scenes in Turkey and Syria following the huge earthquake that has affected so many people and our thoughts are with them all. We recognise that many across our University community may have also been affected through friends or family, or simply touched by the human loss of life. We have written to all our Turkish and Syrian staff and students to offer them our support during this very difficult time and have reminded all staff and students of the wider support we offer. A team from UK-MED, based at the University, are already in Turkey offering their support and have launched an appeal. Sources of support and information are available on our conflict and humanitarian disaster website.
Starting 2023 school visits
Senior colleagues and I have begun our annual visits to our nine Schools, which includes open meetings with staff and students and with the School leadership team. The first was to the School of Biological Sciences where staff raised issues about workloads and staff vacancies (which are slowly improving), and the need to find time to upskill and deal with new ways of teaching. Students praised their staff and asked about our support for student wellbeing and mental health, timetabling and international fees.
Listening to staff concerns and what’s positive
At one of my regular meetings with a small group of staff from across the University, they raised concerns about staff shortages, particularly in Professional Services, which is increasing workloads (though this is improving) and our systems and processes in which we are investing heavily. Quite a number spoke about how proud they are to work at the University and in Manchester, and many shared a real commitment to and passion for the region. We also talked about the importance of social responsibility, the opportunities from expanding philanthropy and business engagement and concerns about the cost of living on our students – all are areas where we are taking action.
The importance of researcher development
I spoke at an event on this with over 50 postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers about my career and uncertainty about next steps, the highs and lows of research, the importance of thinking differently, of serendipity and about sometimes needing to take a different direction. I used a quote from Professor Sir Andre Geim: ‘if you follow the trodden path, you may find that all the grass has been eaten’.
Regional economic development
At an event with several of our experts in this field and leaders from our city region, we discussed how the University can further contribute to economic development.
Innovation Greater Manchester held a session with external experts to consider its future priorities and areas of focus. We considered our key role was in enabling innovation.
Russell Group discussions
The Board meeting was switched online because of rail strikes. We spent time discussing the current impact of inflation on staff and students, ongoing industrial action and its impact on students. We also considered the current picture on Horizon Europe research funding (which still remains very uncertain) and ongoing new legislation.
As Chair of the Russell Group, I also met Baroness Barran, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education with responsibility for student finance. We discussed the sustainability of higher education funding as funding for teaching has remained almost unchanged for ten years, therefore declining significantly in real terms. We spent much of the time on the serious impact of inflation on students from England since the maintenance loan that they can apply for has increased by only 2.8% which effectively means they lose £1,500 a year with current inflation. We are urging the government to reconsider this increase.
IntoUniversity Centre, Salford
I spoke at the launch of the centre which we are supporting, and aims to help young people with their education and to gain places at university.
Next week
There will be no message next week as I will be in Hong Kong, meeting our alumni, supporters and partners, but look forward to reporting back on that shortly.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor