All 1 entries tagged 2017

Provost's Update No. 7 (October 2017)

Welcome Week and Registration

Arrivals weekend and registration have run smoothly this year and the system which staggers the arrival of new students over the welcome weekend has been a great success. Students are still registering, so we don’t yet know final numbers. However, given the latest information, we look to be several hundred up on undergraduate numbers and about 90 below target on international undergraduates. Postgraduate Taught (PGT) numbers are looking to be slightly above target and international PGT significantly above target. Postgraduate Research numbers are currently below target for both and international but given a variety of start dates, these numbers will change quite a bit.

ARC Planning 2017-18

Academic Resourcing Committee (ARC) has had an initial discussion of possible changes to the planning process. Further work will start to look at more specific details of how a revised process might work. All HoDs will have seen a copy of the relevant ARC paper and feedback is welcome, whether directly to me or via Chairs of Faculty.

Fees debate

You have probably all heard the news about the Governments proposed cap on tuition fees and the raising of the repayment threshold. The on-off proposal to review the funding of higher education appears to be back on again (but watch this space), and there’s lots that’s uncertain here. Like most other Universities, we have been planning on fee increases in line with inflation as part of our medium-term projections. With this now ruled out, there will be an impact on the five-year plan. We’ve done a little bit of modelling and while there will be a drop in income to the University, our student mix could mitigate some of the impact. An initial analysis suggests that we might expect an annual reduction in income from UG fees that is just over £6.5m net by 2020/21. The reduction in fee income will, however, have a negative impact on Widening Participation (WP) spending, reducing that figure by a little over £2.5m. While both of these changes represent a significant unfavourable movement, our planning process does include a contingency so we believe that we well placed to manage the impact of the UG fees cap, provided our future recruitment outcomes are in line with plan.

Head of Department Induction Programme

The development programme for new HoDs is continuing with recent events including a 2-day session on leadership delivered by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education and a morning session on academic processes.

Summer refurbishments

There have been a range of refurbishments taking place over the summer. The Westwood Café has been substantially improved – capacity has doubled and there is now enhanced provision of student study space. The Avon Drama Studio is also currently being refurbished although its taking a bit longer than planned because of some significant remediation. There have also been improvements to some of the teaching spaces on Westwood. On central campus there are new student study areas in the Science concourse and in the Humanities building. A number of rooms in Milburn House, Ramphal and on Gibbet Hill have be redecorated and improved and there are also new social learning spaces on Gibbet Hill. And of course the new temporary theatre by the Arts Centre is now in place.

Academic Processes Review Group

This group has started its work to review promotion/probation criteria. This review builds on the changes introduced recently with respect to process and documentation. We’ll update as this work progresses and we will be looking to consult more widely later in the year when some proposals have been developed. The intention is to ensure that criteria are much clearer and that we fully recognise the contribution that individuals make across all areas of academic activity.

Adam Waddingham : 06 Oct 2017 14:28 |  Tags: 2017 October |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem