All entries for Wednesday 18 December 2019

December 18, 2019

Provost's Update for Academic Heads #22 (December 2019)

Admissions Update

We are getting close to the end of the main UCAS cycle (deadline for applications being mid-January) and, of course, this year puts us at the lowest point in terms of the demographic dip. For future cycles we should see demand recovering. In terms of headlines, applications nationally are down 5.2%, our competitor set is up by 1.2% and we are down by 0.3%. (But bear in mind that our competitor set has changed slightly from last year and so comparison with last year’s performance relative to competitor set may be a little misleading). Nationally, offers made are down by 12.8%, and for our competitors, offers made are down by 5% and we are down by 5%. Anecdotally feedback suggests that this reflects some weakness in the applicant pool. As we might have anticipated, the experience by department and faculty is rather variable. There is greatest pressure in the Faculty of Arts, but there are also some marked drops in areas of Science and Social Science. The team in SROAS are working hard to process applications in line with departmental requirements and in a timely fashion, but we will clearly have to look carefully at conversion activity over the coming months.

TAS Returns

Thanks for all your help with these – and I hope the new format is making this process a bit easier. Current response rates stand at 85% which is great news. Some initial analysis of the returns suggests that time allocated to teaching is a bit lower than we might have expected based on previous years’ data. This may simply be an artefact of the new approach (we no longer survey staff on teaching focused contracts because we assume that their time is fully focused on teaching and teaching related activity), but could I ask you to remind colleagues of the importance of ensuring that all teaching activity is fully recorded in their TAS returns.

Anti-casualisation and STP

Further operational details on proposed new processes will be available in the new year. I’m conscious that many of you are concerned that the more structured recruitment process that employment contracts require will be overly burdensome. Can I just reassure you that we will be working to keep this process as light touch as possible and in so doing, we’ll be learning from models that have been implemented elsewhere in the sector. In particular, we have reviewed the Essex model which is recognised as an example of good practice, but there are also a series of Russell Group Universities that have made the move to employment contracts and from whom we can learn (including Exeter, Edinburgh, Sheffield and Glasgow).

Reporting Placements to Student Opportunity

One of the items discussed at a recent meeting of the Rankings Task Force was the QS Employability Ranking Analysis, essentially a league table component that measures the employability of graduates by University. The University’s report for the Employability Rankings includes details of any student placements and to ensure that we are reporting everything that we should be (and taking our rightful place in the table), can I make a plea for all academic Departments to report all placements to Student Opportunity (careers@warwick.ac.uk) using the template found here, once per term please.

Future Funding of HE

It’s probably too early to know exactly what the current Governments plans with respect the HE funding will be but obviously Augar is still on the table and of course the Pearce Report on TEF is still to be laid before Parliament. There is likely to be pressure on support for the so-called “low value” degree programmes and I suspect that we can be reasonably confident that, as a minimum, fee levels will not be adjusted for inflation in the foreseeable future. And the possibility of a fee cut remains. Hopefully we’ll get a bit more clarity in the coming months and of course the Russell Group will continue to advocate for a funding regime that is consistent with the needs of research intensive institutions.

Probation Policy – Progress Update

The draft policy on probation (to formally bring probation requirements into line with the framework for academic progression and promotion) has now been to ASC and there are some minor revisions required. We will then need to have some brief consultation with UCU and hopefully can implement the new policy early in the new year. The new policy will include details of transitional arrangements for colleagues already in the promotion process with the intention of minimising any disruption or additional work.

Quarter 1 Accounts

UEB reviewed the first quarter accounts and forecasts earlier this week. Within ARC, income is up overall because tuition fee income is expected to be around £4m over budget. Research income is projected to be slightly over £150m reflecting some substantial new grants into WMG. However, costs are also forecast to be over budget, largely because there is additional spend needed where there has been significant over-recruitment. Overall, the University is slightly ahead of target in terms of forecast surplus.

Execblog Resource : 18 Dec 2019 17:29 | Comments (0) | Close comments | Report a problem