Author: Shaun Williams, Executive Director of Engagement and Advancement
A slightly shorter than usual agenda today as much of this week’s focus is on the annual Council Awayday.
A number of issues were discussed under the Vice-Chancellor’s Business section at the start of this week’s meeting:
- The Vice-Chancellor reported on a meeting that he and the Executive Director of Human Resources had held with the University and College Union (UCU) Southampton branch last week. A number of issues relating to the current pay and pensions dispute were discussed during what all parties later described as a ‘positive and constructive discussion’, including casualisation, annualised hours, workload, and the second report of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) Joint Expert Panel (JEP). Concerns about a number of issues raised will now be explored further. The Vice-Chancellor also updated UEB on developments at national level concerning the industrial dispute.
- There was a final review of the agenda and purpose of this week’s annual Council Awayday. As reported last month, this will include a strategic review by the Vice-Chancellor including his reflections after three months at Southampton, and agreement on the priorities and direction ahead; a detailed look at the external environment we are operating in and how we are performing against our direct competitor set; a major update on our future Estates Strategy; and a review of the effectiveness of the University’s current key performance indicators (KPIs).
On the main agenda today:
- The Vice-Chancellor advised UEB on the timeline for a proposed consultation open to all our staff, students, alumni and other stakeholders, in relation to our University’s Strategy. The core of our current strategy is as relevant today as when it was first launched nearly four years ago. However, given the significant political, economic and societal changes that have taken place since its publication, it is timely now to review it to see if any elements need changing, and to ensure we are articulating a compelling vision, passion and values for our University which are fully embraced by all our staff, students, alumni and other stakeholders. An initial consultation will start next week and will continue over the coming months including a number of open meetings. Further details will be provided next week.
- There was a regular update from the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine on our progress in delivering our Athena SWAN action plans; UEB noted the regular monthly financial reporting update, with the latest details on student applications and offers, including an acknowledgment that some areas were showing a weakening of applications and where we therefore need to do everything we can around offers and conversion, whereas in other areas there was significant over-demand which also needs careful managing; UEB also noted our financial in-year performance which is currently running positively against budget; and finally, proposed University Hall of Residence fees for 2020-2021 were approved.