Court news

At its December meeting, the Court discussed the impact of the spending plans of the Scottish Government and considered the University's financial statements for 2006/7.

Finance
The Principal explained the impact of the spending plans of the Scottish Government on the Higher Education sector in Scotland. Taking out the effects of inflation, the proposed plans would mean growth rates in University funding for the three years from 2008/09 of -0.2%, +1.4% and +1.7%. The University had based its own forecasting on an average real growth rate of +1.5%. The expected negative impact of the settlement on the University's income as compared to plan would be in the region of £1.3m in 2008/09 and £1.4m in 2009/10. At Dundee, while the University was on course to meet the £6.8m target set in the sustainability review for savings and income generation, the University still needed to tackle the additional shortfall of £4m, identified in 2006/7, as well as accommodating the impact of the Scottish Government's plans. 2008 would see two rises under the 2006 national pay settlement. In May there would be a 3% rise, already included in the 2007/8 budget, and in October there would be a rise of the greater of 2.5% or RPI. Currently RPI was running at around 4% and this could therefore add to the University's cost pressures in 2008/9. The University had to find a way of addressing these pressures, although the Principal did not propose doing this by means of a second, University-wide sustainability review. The Senior Management Team and the Senatus would be dedicating meetings to this issue early in 2008.

The Director of Finance presented the final audited accounts for 2006/7, which had previously been considered and recommended for approval by both the Finance & Policy Committee and the Audit Committee. The statements showed an operating deficit of £5.9m. This was mitigated by a £7m gain on disposals (mainly of former residences), and the result was an overall surplus of £0.5m.

The Convener of the Audit Committee presented the Committee's annual report to the Court. The Committee had been pleased, he said, by the tremendous improvements in financial reporting over the past twelve months, and he praised the industry of the Finance Office in this achievement.

Voluntary Severance
The Director of Human Resources reported on the operation and success of the Voluntary Severance Scheme to date. The University had received 256 applications, of which 101 had been approved with 42 left to be considered. These were being actively monitored. Savings from the 101 approved applications amounted to £3.5m (£1.3m from academic posts and £2.2m from support posts). The Court advised the University to pay particular attention to the motivation of staff who had been rejected under the scheme, as well as to ensure appropriate cover in areas where there had been a number of successful applications under the scheme. The Court thanked the Director of Human Resources and the Pensions Officer for their hard work throughout the operation of the voluntary severance scheme.

Ninewells
The Court heard a presentation from the Dean of the School of Medicine, Professor Pippard, on proposals to provide new teaching and library accommodation at Ninewells. The main drivers for the proposals were the poor condition of the existing accommodation; changes to the medical curriculum, which focussed on teaching in small groups, for which the School was ill equipped; and increases in student numbers coupled with the inclusion on the Ninewells Campus of aspects of the teaching of 1st year medical students, which had previously taken place on the City Campus. The aim of the proposals was to create a new Teaching and Learning Centre at the heart of the Ninewells campus, with strong partnership with the NHS. A detailed proposal would be brought to the next Finance & Policy Committee meeting, before being considered by the Court early in 2008.

Miscellaneous
In other business, the Court received a report from the Director of Strategic Planning on the University's performance against the aims and objectives of the Strategic Framework approved by the Court in June 2007.

The Court approved a revised constitution for the Students' Association. The revision had been occasioned by recommendations from the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and was designed to reduce the complexity of the document.

The Court also approved changes to Ordinance 20 - Graduates' Council (subject to concurrence by Senate and to ratification at a subsequent meeting) as well as to the Graduates' Council Regulations. The changes related to the proposed introduction of e-voting for Assessors on Court and to a mechanism for appointing Assessors in the event of a casual vacancy or a failure to elect an Assessor.

In considering the report from the Senatus Academicus, the Court noted the University's response to the Scottish Funding Council's consultation exercise into the Joint Quality Review Group's report on Quality Assurance arrangements. Additionally, the Court noted the debate on a new name for the New Teaching Block, itself however preferring the name 'Patrick Geddes' over 'Dalhousie', which had been the preference of the Senate. The Court decided to defer a decision on a change of name to a later date.

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