Author: Shaun Williams, Executive Director Engagement and Advancement
UEB this week met in person for the first time since March last year, with a few members and report authors joining in hybrid mode on Teams. It was an important – indeed happy – moment as we prepare for the start of the new academic year, and look forward to welcoming our students and more staff back to our campuses. We will now move to alternating in person and all-TEAMS meetings for future UEB meetings, recognising that the ability for some members and report authors to join an in-person meeting seamlessly through Teams is very much part of how we will be working ahead, longer-term.
The Vice-Chancellor started the meeting by announcing that Professor Alex Neill, our Vice-President (Education) has informed him of his intention to stand down next April after nearly 10 years in the role. The Vice-Chancellor expressed on behalf of UEB his huge gratitude to Alex for his passion for and pride in our teaching, education and student experience, and for steering us with great skill through the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic.
Operating in Gold Command mode, UEB discussed several operational and campus issues:
- There was a further update on planning for the start of the new academic year, and the testing capacity that will be in place for our returning students, as well as staff. Last week the Chief Operating Officer provided an update to staff and we also launched a new video to our community to highlight some of the ways we can show respect for each other as we move into our new academic year. UEB also noted the widely-reported comments made by the Secretary of State for Education at last week’s Universities UK conference, when he said that students should expect to be taught “in-person and alongside other students.”
- The latest student and staff COVID cases dashboard was reviewed. Incidences in our own community remain low. As mentioned last week, the return of schools and universities is expected to lead to a significant rise in COVID case numbers, and we are fully ready to respond to any cases and to support any students and staff affected. We remain in very regular contact with our local Directors of Public Health.
The meeting then reverted to normal UEB mode to discuss a number of other issues:
- The Vice-Chancellor expressed his and UEB’s thanks to all those staff and students who helped make last weekend’s in-person on campus Open Days a great success. UEB heard there were 6,000 people on campus both days and the feedback received afterwards was extremely positive. The Open Days were buoyed by the fantastic news on Saturday that Southampton has risen six places to 17th in the Guardian University Guide, which the Vice-Chancellor described as a very encouraging indicator in our ongoing journey to continuously improve all elements of our education, research and enterprise activities, and a strong foundation from which to launch our new University Strategy in early 2022. The next open day is on Saturday 9 October.
- The Chief Operating Officer advised UEB that Dame Judith Macgregor, Vice-Chair of our Governing Council, had this week visited a number of areas of the University in her role as a Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire, and as part of a county-wide programme of thanking the un-sung heroes of the pandemic. She reported back afterwards that she had been very struck by the professionalism and pride of all those she met, and the great sense of team-work she found. UEB also heard that the Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire last week visited the University-owned Science Park.
- UEB strongly welcomed a paper from ODAR outlining a new Alumni and Supporter Engagement Strategic Plan, underlining the importance of alumni and supporters as core enablers of the University strategy. We now have more than 250,000 alumni in over 180 countries, representing by far the institution’s largest external stakeholder audience, all connected by a shared Southampton experience. Interesting facts: international alumni represent 25% of our community, nearly 50% of our UK alumni live within 50 miles of campus, as well as making up 30% of our staff. The value of the alumni community is increasingly recognised throughout the University – as brand, international and civic ambassadors, as volunteers, as donors, and – as was pointed out at the meeting – as a catalyst for our industrial engagement. Their contributions directly support Recruitment, Employability, Widening Participation & Social Mobility, Enterprise, our Civic Agenda, Brand & Reputation and Research Funding.
- UEB endorsed a paper en route to our Finance Committee detailing a review of the University’s Gift Acceptance and Naming Committee (GANC) procedures, to ensure the University has appropriate governance and independence of decision-making around the acceptance of philanthropy. The review, which included research into peer institutions’ processes, provided confidence that the University’s process for accepting gifts is robust and any conflicts of interest are managed appropriately. To further strengthen the process, it provided a number of recommendations for improvements.
- UEB discussed and approved the terms of reference for a stock-take review of our China partnerships and activities. China is a key partner for the University of Southampton for education, research and enterprise, with activities spanning all five Faculties, ranging from formal strategic partnerships with institutions to collaborations with individual academics. The Ministry of Education currently limits the number of JEI/JEPs any foreign University may hold to six – we currently have five, so any further joint education programmes will need very careful consideration. Undertaking a stock-take and review of our current partnerships and wider activities is therefore timely.
- There was an update on latest developments regarding the USS pension scheme, and UEB noted that the first in the latest series of pensions briefings we have arranged was taking place that same day. There was a discussion around the learnings from the Voluntary Severance Scheme offered by the University last year, and the regular review of the University Risk Register.