President's weekly update
23 March 2023
A focus on Humanities with the Board of Governors
The informal session of the Board focussed on the Faculty of Humanities. After an introduction by Professor Keith Brown, Vice-President and Dean of Humanities, and some fascinating discussions with undergraduate and research students, Board members joined break-out groups on internationalisation and global influence, business engagement and the cultural and social impact of humanities.
At the main Board meeting, in addition to standard reporting we had more detailed discussions on progress with our People and OD strategy, innovation - noting some major successes - and a map of our stakeholders, the breadth of which was surprising to many Board members.
Excellent turnout for SU Exec Officer elections and retained No 1 spot for graduate employers
At the meeting of senior colleagues and I with officers of the Students’ Union, we heard that the turnout in the election of officers for next year, which was over 10,000, was one of the highest ever. You can view details of the new Exec Officer team online. Our students also voted very strongly to remain affiliated with the National Union of Students. We also discussed the delivery of further cost of living funds to students that was announced recently, and implementation of our harm reduction policy.
It was great news to see that we are yet again the university targeted by the largest number of the UK’s top 100 graduate employers! The report also noted a 14.5% increase in graduate employment with an average starting salary of £33,500.
Evidence to House of Lords Select Committee
I gave evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Office for Students (OfS). I fully supported the need for a regulatory body such as OfS which aims primarily to support our students, to ensure that they have a high-quality higher education experience and receive value for money, though the latter is hard to quantify. They also have to assure the taxpayer, who funds a significant part of undergraduate degrees of value for money.
However, I and others who gave evidence, questioned how the current demands of OfS on universities meet their stipulated proportionate, effective and ‘risk-based’ approach. I described the time and cost of responses to OfS. We spend at least £1m a year (in addition to the fees of almost £200k pa that we pay directly to OfS) on their reporting requirements, the level of detail of which often far exceeds any other reporting. I also responded to the comments from some previous witnesses who had suggested that some universities are not transparent in how the student fee is spent – we publish a detailed breakdown each year and, like many other witnesses, noted the real decline in value of the student fee. I said I did not support an increase in the student fee given the current hardships students are facing, but rather argued for an increase in the teaching grant.
Positive news across regional activities
The projects funded through the government’s Innovation Accelerator scheme (which split £100m equally between Greater Manchester (GM), the West Midlands and Glasgow region have now been announced. We have several major projects which are funded which is excellent news.
I hosted a visit from the GM Vice-Chancellors and took them on a tour of our amazing, refurbished and extended Museum. We then discussed the Innovation Accelerator awards, the investment zones and research and innovation areas announced last week by the , partnership on creative activities and our collaboration with Further Education colleges.
External meetings
It was a great pleasure to attend an event of the Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology (CST) to mark the end of Professor Sir Patrick Vallance’s term as the government Chief Scientific . I co-chaired CST with Patrick for a number of years and he has done an amazing job, particularly during COVID. I was asked for my advice on effective working with government and civil servants. I said clarity, honesty (including when we don’t know the answers) and recognising the harsh reality that delivering policy sometimes trumps scientific evidence.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor