Author: Philip Greenish, Chair of Council
Please note: information in this blog was accurate at the time of the meeting – 24 November 2021 – and may now have been superseded.
Council met on 24 November for our second in-person meeting of the academic year. We had also met via Teams on 14 October to discuss three important subjects. Firstly, we discussed and provided advice to the executive on a proposed set of KPIs, which will be used to measure the success of the University Strategy. We then considered an opportunity for the University to operate a new trans-national education (TNE) activity – we raised a number of issues to be addressed in the business case, which will come to Council for approval. Finally, we considered a report on the progress of the Modernising the Governance project. The meeting demonstrated again the value of holding periodic, shorter, topic-specific meetings online, which release time during our in-person meetings.
On the evening of 23 November, Council met for a dinner discussion attended by Russell Group CEO, Dr Tim Bradshaw, who gave us a comprehensive description of the issues the Russell Group is dealing with. On the morning of 24 November, we were taken on a campus orientation visit which was valuable both for new members of Council and for those longer-serving members who have not spent much time on campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We walked through the western side of Highfield campus, then to Avenue campus where we toured the Parkes building before walking to Boldrewood and back through the eastern side of Highfield.
After the usual Council meeting preliminaries, the Vice-Chancellor presented his report in which he covered: the Broadlands archives case which had been in the courts last week; progress with the potential TNE opportunity in Dubai; the UCU ballot on pay, pensions and working conditions; student recruitment outcomes this year and indicators for 2022/23 (both positive); implications of the government spending review and the budget; senior staff recruitment; and his reflections on the term so far, including the ongoing impacts of COVID. Ben Dolbear, President of the University of Southampton Students’ Union (SUSU), then spoke to his comprehensive written report. Student safety and wellbeing featured prominently, and we were pleased to see that night club owners are signing up to a Student Safety Charter. As so often, we were pleased to see much excellent work led by SUSU.
At this time of the year, Council is required to approve the annual Financial Statements for the prior financial year. This follows the external audit and a full, detailed review by the Audit Committee. It is to the great credit of all the staff involved in the preparation of this year’s statements that the audit committee was able to provide full assurance across all areas assessed under risk management, control and governance; economy, efficiency and effectiveness; and management and quality assurance of data. Council approved the 2020/21 Financial Statements.
The Treasurer, Stephen Young, led a discussion on the business analysis of last year’s financial performance and then Chair of the Audit Committee, Graeme Hobbs, introduced the annual assurance report of the Audit Committee. The committee’s onerous work provides essential assurance to Council and we asked Graeme to pass our appreciation on to his committee’s members. We then discussed and approved the final budget for 2021/22 and noted the management accounts for the year to date.
Following extensive consultation, the University Strategy was presented to Council for approval of its text. We have been part of its preparation through this year and were pleased to approve it, subject to some final, relatively minor modification.
We expect to make some significant progress on estates matters this academic year. At this Council meeting, we considered the proposal to acquire a long lease on land adjacent to the Winchester School of Art. The City Council had just approved the first stage of the acquisition process and, while there are some local voices opposed, the City Council itself strongly supports the proposition. On our part, we endorsed the process for agreeing the Heads of Terms, noting that there is much to be done to provide the necessary information by the spring.
We next considered a report covering the Office for Students (OfS) Conditions of Registration, the Access and Participation Plan, the Annual Academic Assurance Report and a formal review of Academic Year 2020/21 Semester Teaching and Assessment. After discussion, we were content to approve that adequate assurance is in place at the University and it is meeting its ongoing conditions of registration with OfS.
The remaining items on the agenda included the annual report on PREVENT, which we approved, the draft Researcher Development Concordat Action Plan, which we noted, and some confidential HR matters. We took short reports from the chairs of the seven sub-committees that report to Council and we concluded the meeting on time after a very full agenda.