Author: Shaun Williams, Executive Director Engagement and Advancement
Operating initially in Gold Command mode, and this week chaired by the Senior Vice-President (Academic), UEB discussed several operational and campus issues:
- COVID case numbers in our University community and our local area continue to be monitored closely, with case numbers seeing some fluctuations in recent days. Overall case numbers in all age groups in Southampton are currently seeing a welcome decline.
- UEB heard that the Government is expected next week to publish its strategy for living with COVID in England, which could see the lifting off all legally-enshrined domestic COVID regulations. As we have done throughout the pandemic, we will need to consider not only the general Government guidance, but also the sector specific guidance from the Department for Education, and the views of our local Health Protection Board with whom we regularly discuss our planning. We have also benefited greatly from regular UEB attendance by a number of our own academic and medical experts on various pandemic-related issues.
- There will clearly be a number of issues we need to understand for our University community, including any new guidelines around self-isolation, asymptomatic testing, and other measures including the wearing of face coverings, as well as contingency plans which may need to be in place in case of local outbreaks or a new variant. We will of course need to be mindful of the varying concerns and aspirations of our community, hear from our campus trades unions, and understand the specific concerns of those who remain vulnerable, as we enter this new phase of the pandemic. Further information will be provided once there is greater clarity around the new approach, and its implications for us.
The meeting then reverted to normal UEB mode to discuss a number of other issues:
- Much of the meeting was taken up with the regular quarterly review of our Strategic Major Projects portfolio. This included a headline status update of all current projects, their lifecycle and current RAG status, with a more detailed update on our Education Programme, and on our IT Programme and Estates Programme, for which work is now underway to develop an over-arching estates and infrastructure masterplan. Those who have been on campus recently will have seen considerable progress in preparatory work through building demolition in the North East Quadrant and next to the Jubilee Sports Centre.
- UEB reviewed a formal Closure Report on the three-year OneWeb digital transformation programme, which has won a number of external awards for its user-centric approach. Although the formal programme has ended, on time and on budget, this is of course only the end of the beginning, not the end. There is a huge package of ongoing work planned for delivery over the coming months as we continue to investigate, redesign and transform the University’s digital services. The point of these closure reports is to establish whether projects have delivered on the benefits originally envisaged, and to consider any learnings and recommendations which may be of direct benefit to other strategic major projects and the wider university. UEB expressed its deep thanks to all those in the team who have worked so hard on the project over such a long period.
- There was a further update on ongoing discussions at national level between Universities UK (UUK), the University and College Union (UCU) and the USS Trustee concerning the USS pension scheme and the 2020 valuation. This included discussion of a late-tabled alternative proposal from UCU, which will also be discussed by our governing Council’s Pensions Committee before determining our formal response. Finally, there was the regular review of the University Risk Register.