Sir Alan Langlands, presided over his first meeting of the Senate and welcomed Professor Sheila Hunt, Dean of Nursing & Midwifery, to her first meeting, writes academic secretary Dr Ian Francis. The Principal thanked members of the Senatus for their warm welcome during the first few weeks of his period of office. He had been attracted to the University by its strength, its potential and the quality of its people. He noted that while this was a difficult time for higher education there were opportunities for change and development and that the next nine months or so were crucial for repositioning the University to take advantage of those opportunities. On behalf of the Senatus he congratulated Dr Dario Alessi on receiving the Eppendorf Award, Professor Colin Watts for the Tenovus Scotland Award and Professor Brian Lipworth for the British Pharmacological Society Award. Concerns were again raised about the lack of progress following the report on IT Services. It was felt that the whole strategy for improvement was in disarray primarily because various units in the University were unable to fund payments for the provision of services. On the report of the planning and resources committee, the Principal drew members' attention to three particular issues: Northern College, strategic planning and the academic budget model (ABM). On Northern College it was reported that discussions during the summer had focused on the issue of reducing the cost of the merger. The original objective of disposing of the Gardyne Road campus, because of its distance from the main campus and its maintenance problems, was still paramount. There had been indications of interest in the site and it might be possible to convert it into a capital asset to help fund either a new building at Heathfield or the conversion of an existing building close to the main campus. With the Court's principle of no financial detriment to the University in mind, considerable attention had also been given to the income and expenditure projections which, it was reported, were moving in the right direction. The Vice-Principal indicated that he was still hopeful of a successful outcome and that, following further tripartite discussions with SHEFC, an interim report might be made to the next scheduled meetings of Court and Senate. On strategic planning, it was reported that the financial sustainability group had been involved in a systematic analysis of the University's strengths and weaknesses in the context of both the financial position and changes in the external environment. A list of issues to be tackled had been produced and the intention was to develop a consultation process with faculty planning groups and with the wider University community to take these issues forward over the next six to eight months. The promise from government of a more substantial increase in base-line funding for the universities in 2001/2 provided an opportunity for the University to refocus its activities in teaching and learning, research and enterprise/commercialisation before funding reached another plateau in 2002 and thereafter. On the ABM, it was reported that the budgetary position for 2000/01 was now largely settled except for a small number of residual issues in institute of education and lifelong learning and the centre for applied language studies where units were carrying the cost of University strategic initiatives without compensating income streams. The Senate accepted recommendations from the honorary degrees committee to confer the Degree of LLD, honoris causa, in July 2001 upon six people - to be publicly announced. The Senatus received a copy of the formal document from the Privy Council approving the amendments to Statute 10 along with a copy of the related Ordinance 18. It also received a timetable for the reconstitution of Senate to be achieved by 1 January 2001. Ordinance 18 had been framed on the assumption that the merger with Northern College would be agreed by August 2000 and it was acknowledged that the non-existence of the proposed Faculty of Education and Social Work caused some difficulties particularly in relation to representation of departments from the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. However, it was felt that this issue, along with others, could be satisfactorily dealt with by revisiting the Ordinance after the revised Senate was constituted. The report of the advisory group on student appeals, discipline and complaints procedures contained amendments to Ordinance 40 (Student Discipline), a revised policy for dealing with applicants with convictions and a new student complaints procedure as required by the QAAHE - all of which were approved. The Senatus noted that the term of office of the present Rector would expire in February 2001 and, that under Statute 4(5)(a) and (b), the election of a Rector for the next three years was due to be held in February 2001. The last item of business arose from members' concern about the potentially negative impact of the recent student recruitment campaign upon the wider reputation of the University primarily in terms of the perceived values it displayed. In addition, a member of the department of psychology had undertaken a survey of undergraduate students from which it appeared that the majority felt the campaign to be ineffective. In response it was noted that this particular advertising campaign was only an initial part of a marketing strategy which included amongst other things a high quality CD Rom, the prospectus and a magazine. The early results of the campaign appeared positive with significant increases over last year in Open Day attendance, prospectus enquiries and invitations to visit schools.
Senate 
Next Page
Return to December/January 2000/1 Contact
