All entries for March 2017

Provost's Update No. 3 (March 2017)

National Student Survey

As of last week the national average response rate for NSS (all start dates) was 53.3%. The average for all week 5 starters (like Warwick) was 49.5% and the University is not far behind with 43.3%. We are expected to meet the 50% publication threshold and will probably do so by the end of term. We are behind our response rate from previous years with considerable variability across departments. The position with our competitor institutions, is mixed, some are ahead of their position in previous years – others are ahead.

Budget Steering Group Meeting - Q2 Figures

Budget Steering Group met last week to review the Q2 financial position. The forecast surplus has been revised slightly upwards to just over £26m, although this does include the release of the safety factor of around £5m. Fee income is expected to be around £6m over budget but costs are also being forecast at £3m over budget and research income is forecast to be £6m below budget. The view from finance is that there may be some conservatism in the forecasting of costs and that the projected surplus may increase in the second half of the year.

Capital Projects

There are a number of major capital projects in progress as well as plans for a significant update to the University’s campus masterplan. Updates on the current projects include:

· The design competition for the new Humanities building, which will re-unite all Arts Faculty departments under one roof, has been won by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios. The current financial plan assumes that construction activity will start at the end of 2018 at an estimated cost of around £50m. Work on the Humanities Building will overlap with work on the Arts Centre and so there will be some disruption to manage.

· The Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building (Gibbet Hill Phase 1) is now in the design phase. Estates are continuing to support the School of Engineering following the IET(Institute of Engineering & Technology) report that indicated the failings in the current facilities.

· Mathematical Sciences – the principal Contractor (Morgan Sindall) has been approved and commencement on site was in February 2017.

· Work on the Sports Hub is expected to start in April.

· Arts Centre 2020 – the project is a complex one and is still in the design phase as the project team address issues associated with completing the work while still allowing the Arts centre to operate. Plans are well advanced for the construction of temporary theatre facilities to operate for a significant period of time while the refurbishment takes place.

Warwick in California

We recently hosted a visit to Warwick from our partners, UDF, and representatives of the local community in Placer and Folsom counties. This was a great opportunity to showcase the work we do here and highlight some of the development opportunities in California. The delegation were able to meet a range of staff and students and were hugely enthused by their visit. This was also an opportunity to make progress on the operational side of the project, particularly so as we move towards appointment of the Trustees of Warwick in California and finalise the paperwork for regulatory approval.

Three research collaboration visits are imminent involving colleagues from WBS (healthcare improvement), WMG (Cybersecurity) and CEDAR. Future visits are expected to involved colleagues from Global History and the Centre for Fusion Space and Astrophysics.

Higher Education and Research Bill

The House of Lords continues to propose amendments to the Higher Education Research Bill. These include an amendment that proposes breaking the link between TEF and fees, an amendment that has been described as a “demolition job” on the current TEF model and an amendment that requires a more robust process of checks and balances in relation to the entry of new providers. The vote on Amendment 150 on preventing international students from being counted as long-term migrants was a notable government defeat.

Teaching Excellence Framework

The Government has said that it is listening to concerns expressed by the sector and has indicated that it intends delay implementation of a subject-level TEF to allow longer for piloting. There are also indications that there may be a willingness to make much greater use of absolute performance scores in TEF assessments rather than just scores relative to a benchmark.

Accelerated degrees

The government has announced that HE Providers will be allowed to offer intensive 2 year degrees with teaching taking place throughout the full year (holidays then being significantly shorter) and students being charged the same total tuition fee but incurring lower living costs

Adam Waddingham : 14 Mar 2017 17:08 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem