Author: Shaun Williams, Executive Director, Engagement and Advancement
Operating in Gold Command mode, UEB discussed several operational and campus issues:
- There was a very detailed discussion about the current COVID situation. Case numbers nationally are rising steadily and there is speculation the Government may introduce Plan B measures over the coming weeks if that trend continues, although it is believed these will be framed to ensure that education can continue unaffected. Our own case numbers remain relatively low and are being monitored very closely.
- Our decisions and actions are guided not only by the prevailing Government guidelines, but also by our direct dialogue with our local health protection board and NHS partners, and our regular discussions with our campus trades unions. Our local NHS services are also seeing a significant increase in other seasonal respiratory illness, particularly amongst our students, which can be spread in the same way as COVID. For all these reasons, our local health protection board has asked our community to remain vigilant, and to be cautious.
- In response, it was agreed we need to strengthen the measures we currently have in place and move from a message of strongly encouraging the wearing of face coverings to an explicit requirement that face coverings must be worn by all students in all taught and practical sessions, and by all staff and students when moving around inside our campus buildings, unless a medical exemption applies. (This change was subsequently communicated on Wednesday.)
- We are of course fully ready to respond, if required, to any future changes in the Government’s overall COVID guidelines.
The meeting then reverted to normal UEB mode to discuss a number of other issues:
- UEB discussed and approved the Researcher Development Concordat Action Plan. As signatories to the Researcher Development Concordat in November 2020, the University is required to conduct a gap analysis and publish a Council approved Action Plan which describes our planned activities to meet the Concordat principles. The Action Plan describes a series of five projects with five working groups each led by a Concordat Champion in partnership with a professional service or CHEP lead and sponsored by an Associate Vice-President. The projects are: researcher development and communication; reducing the use of fixed-term contracts for research staff; developing career support; wellbeing and family policy; and researcher manager development.
- UEB noted that the Office for Students (OfS) has published the arrangements for the National Student Survey (NSS) for 2022, setting out requirements for higher education institutions. The NSS will launch on 6 January 2022, with fieldwork taking place between 6 January and 30 April 2022, run by Ipsos MORI. Results will be published on the OfS website in June or July 2022.
- UEB noted that a member consultation into proposed changes to the USS pension scheme will start on Monday 1 November and last for 60 days, using a dedicated USS portal, details of which will be emailed to members by USS.
- UEB congratulated the Enactus team who made it through to the final four of the Enactus World Cup, after winning the national UK competition. Winners of the Enactus World Cup in 2015, the Southampton team is a SUSU-affiliated student-run social enterprise which aims to provide students with business experience, and help individuals and communities in need.
- UEB warmly welcomed the return on Monday 1 November of in-person lunchtime concerts staged by the Department of Music at Turner Sims. These concerts, which have been paused since the start of the pandemic, are free, but tickets need to be booked through the Turner Sims website.
- The meeting ended with the regular review of the University Risk Register.
The next meeting of UEB will be held in two weeks’ time, on 9 November.