Author: Philip Greenish, Chair of Council
The University’s governing body, Council, meets every two months. Minutes are posted on the University website, but only after approval at the subsequent meeting, so Council has decided to include a note alongside the UEB blog that follows our meeting. This will give the University community a timely view of the issues Council is addressing.
Council met on 15 May and welcomed a new lay member and Southampton alumnus, Stephen Young, as well as the incoming President of SUSU, Emily Harrison, as an observer for this meeting. We said farewell to Steve Gore, acting President of the Students’ Union and thanked him for his outstanding contributions during the year. The meeting was preceded by a tour of the Hartley Library where we were (re)introduced to the facility, its services and plans for the future. The building was full and the energy within it extraordinary as students approach this important time in the academic year.
As is usual, the meeting started with a comprehensive report from the Interim President and Vice-Chancellor, followed by the Students’ Union report from Steve Gore. Sector-wide issues discussed included the first year of the Office for Students (OfS), international students, student mental health and wellbeing, pension costs and the controversy surrounding unconditional offers. Closer to home, we discussed alumni relations and fundraising, and progress with staff engagement – Council will receive a full report of progress since the last staff survey at our meeting in July. Steve’s report included updates from each of the SUSU Sabbatical Officers.
We then had a lengthy discussion on OfS’s new approach to Access and Participation. We strongly supported the principles behind this significant change, as has the University Executive. OfS requires governing bodies to both ’own’ the plan and to place ’appropriate scrutiny’ on this aspect of the institution’s work. Its importance cannot be overstated, both for individual students from underrepresented parts of society and for the University itself. A detailed and comprehensive Access and Participation Plan has been prepared by the University team, which Council approved for submission to OfS. It will remain a live document. Our discussion also focused on the delivery of the plan and on how progress will be monitored.
We will be considering our International Strategy in July so our discussion on progress at the University of Southampton Malaysia (UoSM) was relatively short. We were pleased to see positive national, regional and UoSM developments highlighted in a UoSM video.
We had a thorough discussion on the action plan which has been prepared following the recently conducted student survey on sexual harassment – the plan will be launched later this month. We welcomed the effective joint working of the University and Students’ Union to tackle this important topic, which affects our University community and society as a whole.
At this time of increased challenge and scrutiny of universities, Council has been considering how to ensure that we are sufficiently informed to discharge our responsibilities and that we make most effective use of our time. We agreed to trial some changes, which will include making Council and our deliberations more visible to the University community.
Each year, Council receives a report from the President and Vice-Chancellor on Health and Safety in parallel with a report from the independent, Council-appointed, Health and Safety Audit and Assurance Committee (HSAAC). We approved both reports and their recommendations and were pleased to note the HSAAC conclusion that the University is complying with statutory and other requirements at an acceptable level. Both reports are clear that further important changes are required which need to be resourced.
The meeting concluded after shorter discussions on a number of issues, including progress with the USS pension scheme valuation and some restricted HR items.
I hope readers find this short summary interesting and helpful.
Philip Greenish
Chair of Council