Author: Shaun Williams, Executive Director Engagement and Advancement
The Vice-Chancellor opened the last meeting of UEB for 2021 by announcing the appointment of Professor Tamar Pincus, currently Head of the School of Life Sciences and the Environment at Royal Holloway, as the new Dean of our Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences (FELS). She joins us in June 2022, and the Vice-Chancellor thanked Professor Jon Bull for his continuing role as interim Dean for the next six months.
Operating in Gold Command mode, UEB discussed several operational and campus issues:
- There was an update on the latest fast-moving developments with the Omicron COVID variant. In common with other universities, and the wider population, we have seen spikes in COVID case numbers amongst our student population over the last two weeks, and some increase in staff case numbers in line with increasing rates in our local community. We have in place well-rehearsed procedures for providing support to any affected students, including those who will be staying with us over the seasonal break.
- Huge uncertainty and speculation surround the likely imposition of further restrictions, and the picture is likely to have changed considerably by the time the University re-opens in January. As the Vice-President (Operations) indicated last week we are not expecting to receive detailed guidance for universities from the Department for Education about the January term until very late in December, or early January. To ensure colleagues enjoy a well-deserved and uninterrupted break, we are not intending to provide updates during the University closure period unless it is of a critical nature. A number of key meetings will take place on Tuesday 4 January, after which we will provide whatever update we can. It may well be, judging from last year, that further Government interventions are announced during the course of that week. As of this week, the Government is clearly indicating its intention for educational institutions to remain open for in-person teaching in January, but we are obviously preparing for all scenarios.
- UEB were also advised that the first phase of the data centre closure has now started as planned this week. This is a hugely important piece of work that has been scheduled for the winter break to minimise the impact of reduced functionality and access to systems by our students and staff.
The meeting then reverted to normal UEB mode to discuss a number of other issues:
- UEB approved a paper building on discussions with our governing Council in May and September to agree principles underpinning a strategic dashboard, and its design, to monitor the ongoing delivery of the new University Strategy, which we hope to launch early in 2022.
- UEB reviewed and approved the draft University response to the Office for Students consultation on its Strategy 2022-2025; and carried out its regular review of the University Risk Register.
- The next scheduled meeting of UEB will be on Tuesday 11 January 2022. However, a number of UEB-level meetings will be taking place immediately the University re-opens from Tuesday 4 January, to assess the implications of any revised COVID-19 guidelines, and UEB will also be meeting that week, as it has done regularly throughout the pandemic, with a number of our colleagues who are directly advising Government and SAGE.
- Finally, the Vice-Chancellor ended the last UEB meeting of the year with a reflection of the many successes of the year for the University, and what we have all achieved together despite COVID. He expressed his huge pride in and gratitude towards all members of staff, and wished everyone a very happy, peaceful and healthy Christmas and New Year.