Provost's Update No. 2 (January 2017)

Recruitment and Admissions

Now that the UCAS 15^th Jan deadline has passed we have some preliminary figures which may be of interest. There will be further detail to follow. The UoW position on applications at 19 Jan (assuming all 15 Jan applications have now come through from UCAS) is as follows:

• Home 24778 (+4%)
• Overseas 8327 (+2%)
• Total 33111 (+2%)

This is encouraging given that early reports from UCAS suggest that the sector as a whole has experienced a reduction in applications which has been reported to be 5% for home students and over 7% for EU students. Our figures suggest that applications from EU students to Warwick are down by about 1%. Final figures will be confirmed in a few weeks.

The sector decline is consistent with the acknowledged demographic issue (identified by Census data) that means there are fewer 16-18 year olds in the U.K. than in previous years. This demographic downturn will remain a challenge for recruitment until the situation starts to improve in 2020, although it is expected to be closer 2025 before the population of 16-18 year olds returns to the level of recent years.

PGT applications look strong – 10% ahead of last year for home students and 19% ahead of last year for overseas studentss.

Accommodation developments

Both University Estates Committee and FGPC have been looking at our accommodation strategy. For the September 2017 intake we will have around 1000 additional bed spaces (on and off campus). Looking ahead we are planning to have approximately 1000 new rooms available for students. The first phase would comprise of c.400 rooms at Cryfield (target date Dec 2018), with the second phase for 500+ rooms planned for either Westwood or Sherbourne. The final decision on the location of Phase 2 will be made following more detailed master planning.

Higher Education and Research Bill

The Higher Education and Research Bill continues to make its way through the Lords. There has been considerable opposition and robust challenge to the Bill. A key element of the challenge has been around institutional autonomy and academic freedom. Government currently refuses to consider any of the opposition amendments, although it’s being suggested that some compromise amendments will emerge at the report stage.

The other related development is the announcement that the Home Office will start a consultation early in the year in relation to their intentions to exercise tighter controls on international student numbers. It’s still unclear as to whether this will involve tougher compliance requirements, and how these will be linked to judgement of university ‘quality’.

Review of governing instruments

You may recall that in November 2016 the Council had approved the establishment of a sub-group to undertake the review of the governing instruments of the University. This work is progressing and consultations are currently taking place with the campus Trade Unions. A significant component of this work focuses on Statute 24 which outlines the principle of academic freedom and details a number of employment policies specifically - redundancy, grievance, disciplinary and dismissal on medical grounds. The University is committed to retaining the protections in Statutes relating to academic freedom, but we are looking at re-working the provisions relating to employment policies, which would then allow us to create a single policy framework which applies to all staff (as opposed to the current situation where there are different policies for different staff groups). All proposed changes will come forward for further consultation with Senate, the campus Trades Unions and relevant committees, with the ambition of producing proposals for Council in May 2017.

Warwick in California

The Warwick in California project continues to progress. During a workshop on 11 January 2017, members of the Senate explored the proposed governance arrangements and discussed the relationship between UoW and UWiC. Discussion took place around the topics of Board and standing committee composition, academic standards and quality and ways in which engagement between the two institutions could create and maintain a mutually beneficial relationship.

In light of graduate school building timelines, the California Joint Project Board agreed that utilisation of the building should be phased. The refurbished graduate school building should be ready for UWiC occupancy by Autumn 2018, at which point the graduate school will provide a California base for research activities alongside a full programme of education and community activities. However, it was agreed that delivery of the initial two degrees should start in Autumn 2019 because of the risks associated with starting a recruitment process while our premises are being refurbished.

The submission for regulatory approval in California should be made shortly; funding requirements (to be provided via our partners) have been approved by Council and an experienced US higher education fundraiser has been appointed by our partners to lead the major fundraising campaign to finance the long-term project objectives. Senior representatives from UDF are expected to visit campus at the end of February.

TEF

The University’s TEF submission has been completed. Results are due in May. We’re aware that Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Open University have declined to participate in the TEF. Several other Scottish Universities have confirmed their participation. HEFCE is reporting 299 submissions to TEF of which 134 are higher education providers.

Meanwhile, its interesting to note that, during the debate on the Higher Education Bill, there was explicit acknowledgement of the limitations of NSS in relation to TEF including the statement that “NSS scores can be inversely correlated with stretch and rigour”. It was also observed that TEF outcomes should be driven as much by provider submissions as by metrics.

Warwick in London

You may already be aware from insite, but the Warwick in London team will be running a series of town hall meetings and drop-in Q&A sessions for staff throughout the Spring Term. They will also be visiting Faculties directly to discuss options for departments to get involved with WiL whether through contributions to the various summer school events, outreach activity, or contributing to a range of planned short courses and workshops.

We are establishing an informal “London Steering Group” to try to ensure that our various activities in London – WBS (The Shard), Alan Turing Institute and WiL are co-ordinated and consistent to help strengthen the overall London presence that Warwick is developing.

Best wishes,

Adam Waddingham : 06 Feb 2017 10:29 |  Comments (2) |  Report a problem