Author: Shaun Williams, Executive Director, Engagement and Advancement
As always, a range of issues were discussed at this week’s UEB meeting.
- There was a general update on preparations for the new academic year, during which UEB expressed its gratitude and appreciation to everyone who has been involved in preparing our campuses, facilities, residences and teaching over recent weeks. Last weekend saw a very successful and buoyant Welcome Weekend, as we started to welcome the first of more than 11,800 new students who will be joining us this year. Developing a sense of belonging right from the start is a key ambition for the University and SUSU, more achievable this year than for the previous two when COVID restrictions were in place, limiting activities.
- UEB were also updated on other preparations for the coming academic year. We are of course very conscious that COVID has not gone away, along with other seasonal viruses such as ‘flu. We will be reinforcing our messaging about community responsibility for not coming to campus if feeling unwell, and maintaining hygiene measures to limit infections. We have protocols ready for any increase in COVID cases, and the support we may need to provide, and we are finalising plans to provide our own free ‘flu jabs to those who are not eligible for them through the NHS.
- We are also very aware that cost of living pressures may be the cause of concern to many in our student and staff community, and we have a working group looking at a range of initiatives which can provide support, advice, and practical benefits to those who may require them. In addition, we are looking at how we would address planned or unplanned power outages over the winter, in the hopefully unlikely event they take place.
- UEB were also updated on flood damage to electrics and heating in Building 54, the Maths Tower. Further meetings were due to take place this week to determine the impact on our timetabling and teaching, as the building is a heavily timetabled space. Fortunately, this year we do have additional teaching capacity if ever required at our newly-acquired Sir James Matthews building in the Guildhall Square. It also reinforces one of the key drivers of our new over-arching Estates Strategic Plan: a number of our campus buildings are at the end of their natural life and need fundamental refurbishment – or replacement – to ensure they are fit for purpose in a world-class University, are fully accessible, and support our Sustainability Strategic Plan and targets.
- UEB were very pleased to note that Southampton has again cemented its place in the Top 20 of UK universities, rising one place to 16th in the Guardian University Guide published last weekend, with 13 subject areas in the top 10. This further recognition follows recent news that Southampton rose two places to 13th in the Complete University Guide 2023, and retained 16th place for the second year in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2023. UEB thanked everyone across our University community who has contributed to this success.
- Next, UEB approved proposals for a revised Academic Promotion and Moving Pathways process to be introduced this academic year. Changes include removing the interview stage for Level 6 and 7 applications, harmonised timelines for all levels of application, and revisions to the way Enterprise pathway cases will be considered. Applications are also planned to move online this year. The 2022/23 Academic Promotions and Pathway Movement process will commence on Monday 31 October 2022 with a launch Q&A event and the deadline for Promotion and Pathway Movement applications will be early in the 2023 calendar year for all applicants. Detailed information and an updated Promotion SharePoint site will be available soon.
- UEB then discussed a comprehensive ‘lessons learned’ review following this year’s Super Graduations. These were held in July at St Mary’s Stadium, an event of unprecedented scale, ambition and challenges, delivering in person ceremonies for the University’s 2020, 2021 and 2022 Graduates after COVID forced the cancellation of previous ceremonies. Overall, this was considered to have been highly successful, and enjoyed by most attendees, but a number of concerns and observations were raised during, and subsequent to, the events. Some led to immediate changes to how the graduation ceremonies were run, other feedback will help inform our planning for this year’s Winter Graduations and next year’s Summer Graduations, recognising that we are unlikely ever to need to organise an event of such scale in the future. The key reflections in the feedback received were the importance to students that the tradition and formality of graduations are retained, including individual names being read out, a hand-shake, and PhD titles being read in full, as well as the ability to celebrate outside the official ceremony with close cohorts, ideally in a campus setting. UEB thanked those who had conducted such a thorough and reflective report.
- UEB noted the University’s response to the Access and Participation Plan monitoring outcome for the 2020/21 academic year from the Office for Students, and a paper which set out the measures in place and development to address the persistent gaps highlighted in the monitoring outcome letter. It’s an issue UEB takes very seriously indeed. Schools need to understand where they each stand, and that those with more significant issues have plans to address them.
- UEB received an update on our staff engagement surveys – the results from the April 2022 University-wide Pulse Survey have been shared with staff across the University. Managers and Leaders have been developing action plans to improve areas of concern, as well as sharing areas of good practise. A further survey with identical questions will take place in November, and from 2023 we will move into an annual cycle. Following feedback, consideration is now being given to how we can re-introduce the opportunity to submit verbatim comments as well as answers to individual questions.
- The meeting ended with the regular review of the University Risk Register, which included a discussion about how to reflect the potential impact for the University of current exchange rate volatility and inflation.