Author: Shaun Williams, Executive Director Engagement and Advancement
As always, a range of strategic and operational issues on the UEB agenda today, this week chaired by the Senior Vice-President (Academic) in the Vice-Chancellor’s absence on University business.
- The meeting opened with a warm welcome to Professor Tamar Pincus, who joins us this week from Royal Holloway as our new Dean of the Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences (FELS). Huge thanks was given to Professor Jon Bull for acting as interim Dean of FELS over many months and for his contributions to UEB.
- UEB gave its congratulations to Professor Saul Faust, a professor of Paediatric Immunology and Infectious Diseases, who was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Jubilee Honours at the weekend, for playing a leading role in the national COVID-19 vaccination programme, as one of the Southampton researchers and medics who led and supported multiple studies that helped to determine the safety and effectiveness of vaccines for use in adults and children across the world.
- UEB noted the outcome of the hotly-contested bids for City of Culture 2025, which saw Southampton pipped at the post by Bradford. UEB heard there is a real determination across the city to build on the enthusiasm, relationships and ambitions that have built up during the course of the bid, and not lose momentum. Our University has already committed to continue investing in the Southampton 2025 Trust to deliver against an agreed programme putting culture at its heart.
- UEB discussed a paper summarising our Estates Strategic Plan 2022-2027, drawn up in a remarkably short period following agreement of our new University Strategy, and which has been agreed by our governing Council. This sets out the over-arching approach we will take over the coming years to ensure appropriate investment in new buildings and in maintaining and modernising existing buildings, to ensure our facilities remain attractive to students and staff, and ensure the capacity for our planned growth in student numbers. This now allows us to move to a planning and implementation phase on a project-by-project basis, and wider engagement with our University and city communities.
- There was a discussion about a pre-concept project proposal to create a strategic major project to address Research and Enterprise Governance and Compliance Improvement. The project’s aims would be to enhance the University’s compliance management systems and processes; ensure that research and enterprise governance and compliance expectations, policies and information are communicated to staff and students in a concise, effective and timely manner; and produce assurance reports to University leadership which provide a clear and accurate assessment of the health of research and enterprise governance and compliance. UEB approved moving to the next stage of a more formal concept and business case.
- UEB noted a letter to higher education institutions from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Skills, thanking them for their support in stamping out the use of essay mills, which have been criminalised in the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill which became law on 28 April.
- Finally, UEB had its regular discussion of the University Risk Register.