Summary notes of the Executive Committee held on 2 June 2004
- Apointment of the Director of the Oakfield Campus
The Vice-Chancellor announced that Dr Faith Butt had
been appointed to the new post of Director of the Oakfield Campus.
This would be in addition to Dr Butt's role as Director of Lifelong
Learning.
- Director of Human Resources
The Vice-Chancellor also announced that Mr Peter Hill,
Director of Human Resources, would be taking early retirement in November
2004, after 20 years' service with the University. Mr Hill had made
an enormous contribution to the University during this period.
- Undergraduate and Postgraduate Admission Statistics for April 2004
Undergraduate Admissions
Drawing firm conclusions from the statistics
for this period was difficult because the deadline for replies from
most H/EU applicants was not until 15 May. More conclusive information,
including comparative data extracted from SAMIS, would be available
in the May report.
Total applications (covering degree programmes,
the Foundation Year and HNDs) were up by 1 percent. This disguised
considerable variation between a 3 percent fall in H/EU applications
(with growth evident in Humanities and Social Sciences and Engineering
and Design and falls for Science and Management) and a 15 percent
increase in OS applications.
Postgraduate Admissions
In overall terms, the numbers of offers accepted had
increased for both H/EU and OS applicants. A decline in the number
of PGR offers and accepts for H/EU was, however, giving cause for
concern.
The Dean of Science commented that the Department
of Computer Science was conducting an experiment in which a monthly
newsletter about the department was sent to all postgraduate applicants
who had accepted the offer of a place. The aim was to maintain and
increase interest in the department, thereby improving conversion
rates.
Agreed: That the conversion
rate of students holding offers, particularly from overseas and for
postgraduate entry, could be increased by improving the level of contacts
with applicants. The Registrar would take action to improve institutional
contacts at undergraduate level and Deans would do likewise at postgraduate
level by liaising with their Heads of Department and Admission Tutors.
Institutional and faculty/departmental communications would, of course,
be co-ordinated.
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- Enhanced International Student Recuitment
The Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) introduced
a paper outlining the key issues that would have to be faced in order
to increase recruitment of overseas students. The imperative to do
this was clear: boosting overseas recruitment was one of the few avenues
of generating unearmarked funding that could be used for strategic
investment within the University. Preliminary work had already taken
place on the demand side of the equation. The key objective appeared
to be the development of a 'relationships' marketing approach (to
include alumni), with a broader range of source countries. The real
issues appeared to be on the supply side - the capacity and willingness
of the University, both academic and support departments, to recruit
and support an increased number of overseas students.
The following points were made in the ensuing discussion:
- The numbers of overseas students in the UK had increased
by 10 percent in 2000/01 and a further 20 percent in 2001/02. By 2020,
it was projected that there would be a total of 400,000 overseas students
in the UK HE sector. This would change the landscape in which many HEIs
had to operate.
- Demand could also be expected to increase as the result
of the accession to the EU of 10 new states and demographic trends in
current H/EU markets.
- Some Russell Group HEIs were already recruiting up to
20 percent of overseas students for some of their full-time UG programmes,
and therefore were well ahead in expanding this particular non-HEFCE
funding stream.
- Careful and thorough analysis was required of the differing
characteristics of overseas student markets. The institutional strategy
resulting from this analysis would guide the work of the International
Office.
- A relationships marketing approach, with personal contacts
cultivated at senior management level with schools, colleges, HEIs and
official bodies overseas, would necessitate a change of culture within
departments and Faculties and across the University.
- Marketing should also seek to capitalise more on the
World Heritage status of the City of Bath.
- The Foundation Year, based in an expanded network of
FECS (now including the City of Bristol College and Wiltshire College,
in addition to the City of Bath College), provided a structure to prepare
for admission to the University academically able students from overseas
whose English, and other educational attributes, needed some attention.
This would require pro-active engagement by academic departments with
students during the course of the Foundation Year, to include 'taster
days', and some modification of curricula where necessary and justified.
- Distance learning programmes provided an alternate way
of increasing overseas recruitment, without being subject to the resource
constraints of full-time programmes. The School for Health was currently
revamping its suite of programmes, in time for a reinvigorated marketing
effort next year.
The Vice-Chancellor emphasized that it was vital for
the admissions process within all parts of the University to be able
to capitalise on these emerging market conditions, and for it to be
generally 'fit for purpose'.
Agreed:
(i) That the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Learning and Teaching) would initiate
a review of the admissions process, to assess the efficient allocation
of tasks between those which required the exercise of academic judgement
and those which were largely administrative in nature.
(ii) That the Strategy Planning Group should set clear departmental
targets for the recruitment of overseas students in 2005 and beyond,
specifying the scale and speed of growth in recruitment.
(iii) That Deans, in consultation with the Registrar, should consider
how the incentives and inducements offered by the University to overseas
students could be enhanced.
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- RAE Dry Run
The Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) summarised work
undertaken to date:
- Returns had been received from all departments.
- These were now in the process of being reviewed, at
departmental rather than unit of assessment level, by panels consisting
in the main of at least one member of the Research Committee, and chaired
by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research).
- Reviews of eight departments had been completed thus
far; all outstanding reviews would be completed by the end of the next
week.
- Feedback to Heads of Departments and the chair of the
departmental research committee (where applicable) would be given after
all the reviews had been concluded.
- Reviews were intended to be a developmental process.
- The next stage would be to liaise with nominating bodies
about recruitment to RAE panels.
External benchmarking would take place at a suitable
point in the exercise. It was suggested that the choice of the unit
of assessments under submissions should be considered as part of the
exercise.
- Analysis of Ranking in The Times Good University
Guide 2004
The Committee noted the fall in overall ranking from
5th place in 2003 to 11th place this year. Although some of the data
underlying the table was now quite old, the significant falls in some
of the specific rankings were not unexpected: student:staff ratios had
declined because an increase in the number of undergraduates between
2000 and 2001 had not been matched by increased recruitment of staff;
the fall in library/IT spending could be explained by the gradual diminution
of special funding in these areas, averaged over the period for which
data had been collected and exacerbated by the increase in student numbers;
the decline in the score for graduate destinations was thought to be
attributable to the use of data from 2002, when a particularly high
proportion of leavers chose to delay employment after graduation.
A small group was monitoring the source data used
in league tables, with a view to maximising the representation of the
University's position.
- Estimates for 2004/05
Projected estimates for 2004/05 indicated a deficit after
investment income of £4.4M, compared to a deficit of £1.1M
in 2003/04. The main factors contributing to the increase in the deficit
were are follows:
- Academic department expenditure increasing by 8.6 percent.
- Non-academic department expenditure increasing by between
12.6 and 25.8 percent (although some from a position of an underspend).
- Provision for a pay award of 3 percent and an increase
in LGPS employer's contribution rates by 3 percent.
- Increases in overheads on research grants and contracts
amounting to 2.4 percent.
- Provision of £1.6M and £101K respectively
for shortfalls in tuition fees and overhead recovery.
- The removal of an exceptional item of VAT recovery in
2003/04 amounting to £1.6M.
These factors had to be seen against a background
of a 4.2 percent increase in the HEFCE grant, reduced to 2.9 percent
if Rewarding and Developing Staff funds were discounted.
Using the University's reserves of some £5M
to cover the deficit would exhaust that resource and fail to address
the underlying problem of recurrent costs still being in excess of recurrent
income. The only options were either to increase income or reduce expenditure.
Applying an across-the-board reduction in both pay and non-pay budgets
of 4-4.5 percent would cover the projected 2004/05 deficit, but would
need to applied year-on-year thereafter until the structural imbalance
had been corrected.
It was suggested that a distinction should be made
between the urgent measures required to resolve the immediate problem
in 2004/05 and the measures required to ensure financial sustainability
over the medium to long-term. The immediate problem required an approach
that could yield a rapid and dramatic improvement in the financial situation.
It was now evident that the reviews of income and expenditure undertaken
by departments in the budget setting process over the last two years
had not achieved this aim. In the longer term a change in culture was
required to boost earned income as much as possible, to encourage the
development of new income streams through innovation, to obtain efficiency
gains by 'sweating assets' and by further cost reductions.
The Committee considered a number of proposals
that might increase income and reduce expenditure in the short-term.
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- Finance System Review Project
The Committee received a report making a case for
the replacement of the Lawson Finance System. In view of the discontinuation
of technical support for the system (with effect from 31 May 2004),
and the recommendation by the Finance Office and BUCS that the University
should not procure the next version of the same software, it was proposed:
(i) that an open procurement process for a new finance system should
commence; (ii) the existing Lawson support contract should be brought
to an end, to be replaced by a rolling support contract until end 2007;
(iii) the savings thereby accrued should be used to release Finance
Office staff to develop a full specification for a new system; and (iv)
contingency plans be put in place in the eventuality of major loss of
Lawson functionality. Costs were estimated at £1.472M over the
five-year period from 2004/05 to 2010/11, with the greater part of the
expenditure incurred between 2005/06 and 2007/08.
Agreed: That provision of
an efficient and fully supported finance computer system was crucial
for the operation of the University, and therefore approval could be
given to the proposals for the replacement of the Lawson Finance System.
- Risk Assessment and Management
As agreed at the previous meeting of the Committee,
the Director of Finance presented a draft corporate risk register.
This had been constructed to focus tightly on a series of risks associated
with the attainment of key institutional strategic objectives, including
the provision of key underlying resources. A description of each area
of risk was given, along with the key controls or processes that could
be put in place to mitigate the risk, an assessment of the likelihood
of each risk and the net risk, improvement actions, timescale for
improvement, and senior managerial responsibility. In parallel to
the preparation of the register, pro formas of departmental risk registers
had been distributed to departments. These were now being completed
and returned, in time for review at the Heads of Department meeting
on 21 June.
Agreed: That Committee members
would review the completeness and appropriateness of draft corporate
risk register, sending comments to the Director of Finance.
- Race Equality Action Plan
The completed HEFCE Good Practice Checklist was presented
to the Committee as evidence of progress made in implementing the
Race Equality Action Plan, as previously approved by Council and submitted
to the HEFCE. The Checklist, together with Action Plan, would now
reviewed at next meeting of Council.
- Diversity in Employment Action Plan
The Registrar introduced an action and implementation
plan arising from the recommendations of the Diversity in Employment
Survey. Most of the elements of the plan, and all of the associated
costs, had already been subsumed within the Human Resources Strategy,
as recently approved and submitted to the HEFCE.
Agreed: That the Diversity
in Employment Action Plan could be approved.
- Sick Leave Record Keeping for Academic Staff
The Committee considered a recommendation made in Internal
Audit Report 11 /2003-04, and subsequently endorsed by the Audit Committee,
that academic staff should be encouraged to record their sick leave
in the same way as other employees.
Agreed: That all staff, without
exception, should be required to record absence through sickness,
in accordance with the terms of employment contracts and with Personnel
Policies and Procedures. The Director of Human Resources would write
to Heads of Department to stress the need for full compliance with
this regulation.
The following items were noted without comment:
University submission to the Wiltshire and Swindon Structural
Plan
University submission to the Research Councils UK Academic
Fellowships scheme
Notes of the Faculty of Science Executive: 20 April 2004
Notes of the 5WL1 Management Committee: 27 April 2004
Notes of the SENDA Project Management Group: 21 April
2004
Notes of the Sustainability and Low Carbon Advisory Group:
28 January 2004
Notes of the Institute for Integrated Industrial Innovation
(I4) Group
(a) 1 April
(b) 30 April
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