President's weekly update
15 December 2023
Wonderful Winter Degree ceremonies
We are back in the midst of degree ceremonies, which are my favourite events as it’s when we celebrate our students’ achievements with their family and friends and our staff who helped them to succeed. I hope that many of you are/were able to take part in one of the 29 ceremonies which celebrate the achievements of over 4,000 students. Thank you to everyone who made it all possible.
Joint meeting of our Board of Governors and Senate
Following on from last year’s joint session, the main purpose of the meeting was to consider the academic assurance for teaching and research which had already been approved by Senate and the Board.
We also discussed student mental health, research support (where several new processes have been put in place), new research opportunities that require additional processes, student staff ratios, student satisfaction - including student voice and assessment and feedback, the value of student hubs and ethics approvals.
Tata collaboration
I was pleased to speak at an event in the Royce Institute to mark a major research collaboration with Tata Materials, including £10 million research funding. I met with Tata leaders in Mumbai a while ago and again when they visited Manchester so it is good to see this partnership finalised.
London meetings
I attended the UK Investment Council which seeks to enhance foreign investment into the UK and heard about some recent successes. I also took part in the board meeting of UK Biobank which will soon move to Manchester in a new building on the science park. It is already building deeper collaboration with us ahead of the move.
Welcoming Chinese alumni to Manchester
When I was in Shanghai last year, one of our very active alumni, Jimmy Tso told me that a number of them would be visiting Manchester in December. Well, 30 of them travelled all the way here! It was great to welcome them in AMBS and to talk with them about the importance of our Chinese students and alumni and how they can help us as ambassadors of the University; they are incredibly loyal and keen to help. Most of them were wearing university gowns and caps and, of course, took lots of photos of the occasion. They also had campus tours and arranged their own sightseeing across the city, including Manchester City football club.
THE awards event
I attended the annual event, held in Liverpool, the first time ever outside London. There were about 1,000 attendees for the dinner and award ceremony, hosted by John Gill, editor of the THE and Sandi Toksvig. I was delighted to be presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award.
Christmas and New Year
Next week we will break up for the holidays, so I won’t send a message until the New Year when we are all back.
As you know, a significant number of our staff will be working over the holidays in a variety of roles, keeping vital services open, and not least looking after the students who stay with us over the holidays. That support is hugely appreciated.
Finally, a huge thank you to every one of you for all for all your efforts and contributions over a year of some challenge and much achievement. I hope that you all manage to take a well-deserved break ahead of 2024 – our 200th year.
Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor