Author: Shaun Williams, Executive Director Engagement and Advancement
- UEB heard that last week’s Southampton Science and Engineering Festival (SOTSEF) had gone extremely well with more than 5,000 people attending Saturday’s Science and Engineering Day 2024. UEB thanked all those involved in organising and volunteering for the event, and for making it a success in which we should all take great pride.
- UEB discussed an Office for Students consultation on a proposal for Solent University to change its name to ‘Southampton Solent University’. In a previous response to Solent University we had pointed out that both universities had agreed a number of years ago that having two similarly-named universities in Southampton had the potential to create confusion with stakeholder groups including prospective students, and reduce distinctiveness, but we understood the need for universities to do what they considered best for them.
- UEB noted an update from the Office for Students on Jisc’s Data Futures programme, thanking institutions for their submission of high quality student data during autumn 2023 that underpins the OfS’s regulatory work, and that can be used for this year’s Graduate Outcomes and National Student Surveys. The update recognises that many institutions will now be turning their attention to preparations for the 2023-24 Student Record Returns, and commits to ensuring the issues experienced this year are not repeated, in what remains a complex project with numerous dependencies and multiple actors.
- UEB discussed a further story in last weekend’s Sunday Times about universities’ recruitment of international students through agencies, although Southampton was not mentioned. It is a theme this newspaper in particular has returned to several times in recent weeks, and although the stories have contained major misunderstandings and inaccuracies, some of which are the subject of a formal sector complaint to the press regulator, there is no doubt the cumulative effect of the stories is undermining of the sector. There is a recognition of the need for the sector as a whole to be more on the front foot in rebutting inaccuracies and re-framing universities as a major UK success story.
- UEB considered an update paper on PGR fee-waivers for EU-Horizon students, which included a review of the effectiveness of the marketing of the scheme to date, and a revised scheme based on residency.
- Finally, there was a discussion about the future development of and our involvement in the regions replacement for local enterprise partnerships (LEPs); the Vice-Chancellor reported on his first meeting as the new Chair of AdvanceHE; and there was the regular review of the University Risk Register.