Author: Shaun Williams, Executive Director Engagement and Advancement
The Vice-Chancellor opened today’s meeting by announcing that following a global recruitment process, Professor Michael Butler has been appointed as the new Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences. He will assume the new role on 1 January. The Vice-Chancellor congratulated Professor Butler and said he was looking forward to welcoming him to UEB, and expressed his huge thanks to Professor Phil Nelson who has been acting as the interim Dean since March.
Once again, today’s UEB was split between operational campus issues discussed with the meeting in Gold Command business continuity mode, with other agenda items considered under normal UEB status.
In Gold Command mode:
- UEB was updated on the detail and implications of the Government’s guidelines on ensuring the safe return home of students for the winter break, requiring all teaching to be moved online from 9 December, and the provision of COVID testing to all students.
- UEB also considered a letter from the UCU Southampton branch requesting, amongst other things, that face-to-face teaching should end by 16 November. UEB agreed there is no case for ending face-to-face teaching earlier than has been identified by the Department for Education, moreover it is very important that the University adheres to the national guidelines to ensure a consistent approach, and that we follow the advice of our local public health bodies, who are co-ordinating the approach of other local universities. A mechanism for individual members of staff to raise with their line managers any concerns they may have about their personal circumstances is already well-established.
- UEB agreed that following the meeting information would be sent to staff, students and PGRs setting out the University’s approach. There will be no in-person on-campus teaching sessions after 8 December until the start of next term, we expect students not to travel home from Southampton and Winchester before 3 December, and we will encourage students who are not already part of our COVID-19 saliva testing programme to register – they will be advised to take two tests: one 10- 11 days, the other 2-3 days, before they intend to travel. The University will continue to support all students during the winter break, regardless of whether they have left Southampton or Winchester or if they remain here with us.
- University teaching will resume on 4 January – the precise blend of online and face-to-face will depend on the prevailing national and local restrictions in place at that time.
- UEB then reviewed the latest number of confirmed active COVID cases amongst our students and staff, which has seen a slight upturn reflecting local community transmission rates. However, infection rates still remain comparatively very low in the University community. Based on an assessment of the local context and after discussions with local public health bodies, UEB confirmed that the University will remain at Tier 1 in terms of the Department for Education response levels.
Reverting to normal UEB mode for the rest of the agenda:
- The Vice-Chancellor highlighted the fact this week is Anti-Bullying Week and drew attention to that morning’s SUSSED post, the first of a week-long series of related communications, which UEB welcomed given the importance it attaches to ensuring the University creates the right environment in which everybody can flourish.
- The Vice-Chancellor updated UEB on a new Universities UK (UUK) project, launched that same day, to develop a charter for enhancing portfolio review processes, with a focus on supporting the sector in strengthening processes in delivering high-value and high-quality sustainable courses. The Vice-Chancellor has agreed to join an advisory group of UUK members, which will start to meet over the next couple of weeks.
- UEB were asked to note a retrospective report on our 2019/20 KPI performance which will be presented to our governing Council in November as part of our annual reporting cycle. This will be the last review of this particular KPI set. In early 2020 the University agreed to undergo a strategy re-articulation process, made even more imperative by the COVID-19 outbreak. The University now has Bridging Strategy KPIs which are monitored in-year, with update reports going to every Council meeting. A set of longer term KPIs will be developed during 2021/22 in line with the long term strategy re-articulation.
- Next, UEB agreed to a proposal to re-name the Brunei House hall of residence as Hillside House. This follows a decision earlier this year, prompted by a student petition, to re-name Brunei House following worldwide condemnation of Brunei last year as a result of the introduction of a new penal code incorporating Shariah law which many observers felt violated a range of human rights.
- Finally, UEB discussed a paper outlining the process for delivering the 2021/22 Business Planning There are no significant changes to the timeline or components to previous years, and given the uncertainties posed by the current pandemic situation a planning horizon of not much beyond two years has been agreed. UEB also reviewed an update paper on the recent Voluntary Severance scheme which will be considered by our Council later this month. The meeting ended with the regular review of the University Risk Register.