Court news

The main focus of the June meeting of Court was the approval of the budget for 2008/9. In early September, the Court held its annual retreat at which the Court heard presentations from a number of University officers on a range of issues.

Sports Union
The Court received a presentation from the Sports Union President outlining the achievements and activities of the Union over the past twelve months. Links between the Union, the Students' Association and the Institute for Sport & Exercise (ISE) continued to grow, aided to a large degree by the move of the Sports Union office into the ISE and the introduction of a Sports Development Officer. The introduction of a generic sports kit, highlighted in the Union' s previous annual report, had proven to be a great success, helping to build a strong sense of identity for the various sports clubs at Dundee.

Achievements
In his report, the Principal congratulated Professor Sir Philip Cohen on his election to the US National Academy of Sciences and Professor Dario Alessi on his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society. He also congratulated the winners of the Honorary Graduates' Award for Innovative Teaching (Sheila Henderson, School of Education, Social Work & Community Education; Andrew Cobley, School of Computing and Drs Alistair Geddes and Edward Hall, School of Social & Environmental Sciences) and the winner of the Senate Award for Excellence in Teaching (Dr Linda Morris, School of Life Sciences Learning & Teaching).

Finance
The Court approved the budget for 2008/9 for the Colleges and the Student & Academic Support Services, in particular commending the early participation of the Schools as well as the bottom-up approach to the budget build. The Court also approved financial projections for submission to the Funding Council as well as the University's programme of capital works, which was in line with the Estate Strategy developed earlier in the year. The Principal highlighted that the University's financial position was now more stable, but that there was no room for complacency. A number of significant factors for the University's financial position would become clear over the next few months: the RPI figure for the October pay rise; student recruitment, particularly at postgraduate taught level; and the sustainability of the University's current levels of research overhead income.

SASS survey
The University Secretary reported that a survey had recently been carried out among academic staff of their overall satisfaction with the Student & Academic Support Services. The survey had returned an overall rating of 86% satisfaction, and the narrative comments supplied by respondents had been extremely helpful and constructive. He also indicated that a benchmarking exercise was to be undertaken to compare the relative staffing levels and grades of the support services at Dundee with other institutions.

Court Membership
Court said goodbye in June to three members. Court paid tribute to the stalwart work of the outgoing President of the Students' Association, Mr Milan Bogunovic, who had made a major contribution to a number of the University's senior committees. Court wished Professor Ann Burchell well in her retirement. Professor Burchell had, over a number of years, provided Court and Senate with the benefit of her long experience at the University. Court also thanked Ms Carolyn Bain for her contribution to the work of Court. As a member of the Human Resources Committee, she had played an invaluable role in representing the non-academic staff of the University.

Court Retreat
The Court held its annual retreat in early September at the West Park Centre. The retreat provides an opportunity for Court members to hear presentations and discuss issues for which there is often little opportunity at normal Court meetings. This year, the Court heard presentations on the quality of the student experience and on issues in employability and how the University was addressing them. The Heads of the Colleges of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing and Life Sciences gave presentations on research management models from other institutions, drawing out lessons to be learnt for Dundee's research strategy. In the afternoon, the Court learnt about changes in the research funding environment and their impact on the University and also heard about the University's work on developing its approach to internationalisation. Members found the day stimulating and thought provoking, and the discussions following the presentations proved to be lively and informative, generating a number of points for further discussion.