Court – Wednesday 18 April 2012 Principal’s Report Items A: For Discussion 1. Restructuring Review – action plan At the last meeting, Court heard from Professor Nolan that the project team had started work on the seven main commitments arising from the review of restructuring. The full report and action plan is at Annex 1. Professor Nolan will brief Court. 2. Scottish Funding Council Grant, 2012/13 On 30 March, the SFC issued the University's grant letter for 2012/13. Much of the information was already provided to us in December 2011 in the Indicative Grant Letter. However, a number of items have been changed and others clarified. There are a significant number of grant lines that will come under review over the next 1-3 years. The main points to note are: Teaching 1. SFC have re-confirmed the full restoration of the 2010/11 Teaching Units of Resource and Funded places and then added a 2.6% uplift to the Teaching Units of Resource. However, the additional allocation for strategically important high cost areas is now £3.6M compared to £4.1M in the Indicative Grant Letter. 2. Our overall Teaching Funding for 2012/13 is £83.6M compared to the December 2011 forecast of £83.7M (reduction of £118k). 3. Of the additional 300 funded places in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) allocated in 2012/13, Glasgow has received 50 of these places. By 2015/16 this will rise to 200 additional STEM places for Glasgow. 4. An additional 15 Funded places have been made available for the Dumfries Campus in 2012/13. 5. Confirmation of the new 6 Subject Price Bands being used instead of the 23 Funding Subject Groups. Validation of the new bands will be carried out during 2012/13. 6. All Teaching Funding is conditional upon an “Outcome Agreement” being agreed with the SFC covering the following metrics: retention, articulation from college, accelerated degrees, access to university for people from all backgrounds, international competitiveness in research, University/research collaboration and exploitation of research, the pattern of spread and provision, efficiency and the entrepreneurial and employability skills of graduates. Research 1. Our Research Excellence Grant (REG) for 2012/13 is £43.4M as had been forecast in December 2011; this is a 2.7% increase on last year. 2. Knowledge Transfer funding for Glasgow University is £2.9M compared to £2.4M in our forecast. 1 3. 2* research has been removed from the quality profile and the differential in quality weighting applied to 4* and 3* research increased, moving it in line with elsewhere in the UK. 4. The REG allocation method will be reviewed and the new method implemented in 2015/16. Until 2015/16 there will be no change in the algorithm for allocation. 5. REG is forecast to increase by 2.5% per annum in 2013/14 and 2014/15. 6. A review of the method of distribution of Research Postgraduate Grant (RPG), for which we will receive £6.3M in 2012/13 (a 12.3% increase on last year) will take place before 2014. SFC anticipate increasing RPG by 2.5% in both 2013/14 and 2014/15. Strategic Funding (previously Horizons Funding and Invest to Save fund) The SFC Budget has been set at £124.5M (previously advised as £123M in Dec 2011). This total also includes the restoration of the £3m funding for Pooling. During 2012/13 a review of this funding will be undertaken with a view to targeting funding in future on initiatives that are larger scale projects which lead to sustainable structural changes in the sector and that demonstrably support economic growth in Scotland. Items B: For Information 3. Key activities Below is a summary of some of the main activities I have been involved in since the last meeting of Court (15 February). I have divided the report into 4 themes: Academic Development and Strategy; Internationalisation activities; Lobbying/Policy Influencing and Promoting the University; Internal activities and Communications. 3.1 Academic Development and Strategy Since my last report to Court, we have continued to pursue our strategy for investing in key academic appointments. These have included interviews for Professorship/Reader in the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, the Leadership Professor in Applied Mathematics, the Regius Chair in Law, the Halcrow Chair in Engineering, Professor in Clinical Trials and Biostatistics, Professor of Medical Oncology, the Marshall Chair of French, the Gardiner Chair in Biochemistry, the Regius Chair in Surgery, and a Leadership Professor in Geography. We have, with Senate approval, also established a finding committee to take forward the selection and appointment of a new Clerk of Senate. Since the last meeting of Court, I have chaired three meetings of the Higher and Further Education work stream, which is one of six workstreams under the Glasgow Economic Leadership (GEL) initiative. GEL was established in 2011 to provide independent leadership and direction to economic development activity in Glasgow and to champion the implementation of the recommendations made by the Glasgow Economic Commission. On 21 February I attended the official launch of Irvine Royal Academy as a University of Glasgow ‘Partner School’. The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, Michael Russell MSP performed the opening which was also attended by North Ayrshire Councillor John Bell. This initiative builds on the highly successful and pioneering pilot scheme currently operating in Glasgow, and which Glasgow City Council have so helpfully supported and encouraged. The scheme enables student teachers and academics to be based full-time within a school and as well as studying and teaching, they take part in 'learning rounds', similar to the long-established practice of teaching hospitals. The programme aims to create an innovative, integrated and rounded approach to the theory and practice of teaching, breaking with the current tradition of classroom study within the university, followed by blocks of time on secondment at different schools. We are delighted that Irvine Royal Academy will now be a partner school and that we can develop this new model still further together and in liaison with its ‘cluster’ of primary schools. 2 We continue to have NHS/GU joint strategy Group meetings and held our latest on 21 March. Good progress is being made on the development of joint plans for the Learning and Teaching Base to support the clinical medical curriculum, and the Clinical Research Facility. Formal plans for these will come through the Court Committees in the next two months. On the 16 April there will be a meeting of the Business School Strategic Advisory Board. 3.2 International Activities The major international activity over the last two months has been the University’s flagship event in Singapore followed by a trip to Kuala Lumpur. I was accompanied in Singapore by Senior Vice Principal Professor Andrea Nolan, Vice Principals Frank Coton and John Chapman and ten senior academic and leading research colleagues from the College of Science & Engineering, the Director of RIO and representatives from Corporate Communications and Events. On Monday 25 March, we visited Ngee Ann Polytechnic, which houses our University of Glasgow Singapore (UGS) base. UGS teaches its Mechatronics and Mechanical Design Engineering courses as part of the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) collaboration on the Ngee Ann campus. We had the opportunity to meet senior staff from the institution before we hosted an event for current and prospective students for the existing courses, and the new courses which will be taught on the Singapore Polytechnic campus (see below). The same afternoon a group of us went on to the Ministry of Education and a meeting with Mr Lawrence Wong, Minister of State, Mr William Lim, Deputy Director (Higher Education) and were joined by Professor Tan Chin Tiong President of the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and Mr Jonathan Lim, Director Partnership & Corporate Planning SIT. This meeting allowed us to explore possible future developments in the UGS-SIT collaboration. This was followed by a visit to SIT to discuss future, medium and long term developments including the launch of undergraduate programmes other than engineering, the development of post-graduate programmes, and possible industrial research collaborations through the establishment of a Technology Innovation Centre in Singapore. Our partners and the Singapore government noted how impressed they had been with Glasgow University’s commitment, and the rapid growth of our transnational education in Singapore. In the evening we hosted a reception at Raffles for a range of stakeholders, alumni, donors and supporters, and we were joined by the Deputy High Commissioner. I was able to give a presentation on Glasgow focusing on recent achievements and our strategy, particularly our international strategy, which was followed by a presentation from Professor John Chapman on the College of Science & Engineering, which underlined, in concrete terms, some of the innovative research the University undertakes, and the positive impact which our new academic structures have had in the College’s academic delivery. The following day (Tuesday 27 March) our academic colleagues were involved in a range of activities focused on their respective academic partners in Singapore and included for example a workshop on Photonic Technology which involved a range of presentations from experts from local institutions as well as from Glasgow. Meanwhile a group of us attended an official signing ceremony with SIT and Singapore Polytechnic to launch two additional programmes, one in Aeronautical Engineering the other in Aerospace systems. The signing ceremony involved the Presidents of SIT and Singapore Polytechnic. On the Tuesday evening we hosted a dinner with guests from the Singapore government, British Council representatives and leading Singapore researchers and again I was given the opportunity to say a few words on Glasgow’s ambition and vision for the future.