TU 27.01.17
Item 3.1.2
TEESSIDE UNIVERSITY
BOARD OF GOVERNORS
A meeting of the Board of Governors was held on 18 November 2016.
Present: Mr A MacColl (Chair) Mr R Bloom
Mr P Booth Professor P Croney
Mr C Fleetwood Mr J Hogg
Mr A Howe Mr J G Irwin
Ms J Morgan Mr E Kunonga
Mrs H Page Mr D Russell
Ms B Silva Mrs B Simpson Mrs A Skelton Mr S R Tonks
Mr A Waite Mr G Worsdale
Apologies: Dr J Atkinson Mr R Cuffe
Professor P Jones Ms S Khan
Ms S Kiddle Ms S McArdle
Mr I Wardle
Officers: Dr D Bell Mr M Page
Professor M Simpson Professor J Turner Mrs S Thompson (Asst Secretary)
Apologies: Professor S Hodgson
TU 3188 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST
It was NOTED:
1. That, no declarations of interest were made regarding matters on the agenda.
TU 3189 MEMBERSHIP – REPORT FROM NOMINATIONS & GOVERNANCE COMMITTEE (4 November 2016)
It was NOTED:
1. That, prior to the January meeting of the Board, the following External Members will complete their current terms of office:
Dr Jane Atkinson
Mr John Hogg
Mr John Irwin
Ms Sue Kiddle
Mrs Amanda Skelton
Mr Steve Tonks
Mr Alastair Waite
2. That, Mr Irwin, Mrs Skelton, and Mr Waite, were not seeking appointment for another term.
3. That, Mrs Simpson, the non-academic staff member, will leave the University in December, therefore relinquishing her membership on the Board; and that the vacancy created by
Mrs Simpson’s departure will be filled in April, at the conclusion of an election process.
4. That, at a meeting on 4 November 2016, the Nominations & Governance Committee considered further applications as a result of a recruitment process held in March 2016; and that the Committee had also considered a number of nominations submitted directly to the Chair or via other Members of the Board.
5. That the Committee had decided to recommend the re-appointment of four Governors, and to propose the appointment of two individuals whose curriculum vitae has been subsequently circulated to Members of the Board; and that the Nominations & Governance Committee’s recommendation had been approved at a meeting of the Appointments Committee* on 18 November 2016.
*Mr A MacColl (Chair), Mr R Bloom, Mr P Booth, Mr C Fleetwood,
Mr J G Irwin, Mr E Kunonga, Mr A Waite, Mrs A Skelton, Mr S R Tonks
It was AGREED:
6. To re-appoint Dr J Atkinson, Mr J Hogg, Ms S Kiddle, and
Mr S Tonks, until the AGM in November 2019.
7. To appoint as Co-opted Members, from January 2017, until the AGM in November 2019, Ms A Burns (in the place vacated by
Mrs A Skelton), and Mr J Cross (in the place vacated by
Mr J Irwin).
8. To transfer the membership of Ms S McArdle, Mr D Russell, and Mr G Worsdale to the constituency of Independent Members, with effect from January 2017.
9. To convey the grateful thanks of the Board, and senior managers of the University, to Mr J Irwin, Mrs A Skelton,
Mr A Waite and Mrs B Simpson.
TU 3190 VICE-CHANCELLOR’S REPORT
It was NOTED:
1. That the Higher Education and Research Bill Committee concluded its deliberations in October, and that the Bill will now move onto the Report stage, and a third reading in the House of Commons, subsequently progressing to the House of Lords.
2. That, apart from a few technical and drafting amendments, it is reported that very little has changed in the text of the Bill.
3. That, as well as the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), details are also starting to emerge around the Office for Students (OFS), and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
4. That, following the recent TEF consultation, the implementation is as follows:
4.1 TEF Year 1 (2016/17) is automatically awarded to all providers with a successful QA review. The award will be for 1 year and allows institutions to apply a full inflationary uplift to their fees.
4.2 TEF Year 2 (2017/18) will see the introduction of the full assessment process at provider level. Assessment will be undertaken by a panel of experts and based on metrics (data provided by HEFCE) and narrative (provider submission) in the following areas:
· Teaching quality
· Learning environment
· Student outcomes and learning gain
4.3 From Year 2 onwards, there will be three levels of award:
Bronze - provision is of satisfactory quality
Silver - provision is of high quality, and significantly and consistently exceeds the base quality threshold.
Gold - provision is consistently outstanding and
the highest quality found in the UK HE
System
Year 2 will be associated with differentiated fees
5. That, the Teesside University position for Year 1, is confirmed as ‘meets expectations’, enabling it to apply the full inflationary uplift to its fees for 2017/18.
6. That a Group has been established to consider the metrics and to draft the provider submission based on the following timeline:
21st November 2016 - confirm intention to apply
26th January 2017 - deadline for submission
May 2017 - assessment outcomes published
7. That the outcome of the referendum on 23rd June caused immediate uncertainty for different areas of the sector – including future fee status of students from the EU, future immigration and employment status of University staff from other EU countries, and future accessibility of research funding.
8. That the University will continue to monitor potential emerging risks relating to Brexit.
9. That, in line with the TEF commentary (TU 3190.5 refers), the University intends to apply an inflationary increase to fees from 2017/18 (new intake only), resulting in a full-time UG fee of £9250 (or £6150 for sub-degree levels including Foundation Degrees, Cert HE, and Dip HE).
10. That the University has successfully secured Catalyst Funding support of £50,000 from HEFCE for a project entitled ‘Enhancing employability outcomes through an immersive learning environment’.
11. That the PVC (International) and the Vice-Chancellor have recently visited Myanmar to review the potential of TNE.
12. That the University has held two Open Days during October, attracting a strong attendance of more than 2,000 prospective students, along with their families, to the campus, and that a further Open Day will be held on 19 November.
13. That Members received a copy of the presentation slides used by the Vice-Chancellor in his recent open meetings with all staff.
14. That the Vice-Chancellor has recently attended the Remembrance Sunday Service held in Middlesbrough and laid a wreath on behalf of the University.
TU 3191 MINUTES
It was AGREED:
1. To approve, as an accurate record, the minutes of the meeting held on 16 September 2016.
TU 3192 HONORARY DEGREES COMMITTEE
It was NOTED:
1. That the Chairman is reviewing the membership of Governors on the Honorary Degrees Committee, and invited expressions of interest from Members to be made directly to him or the Assistant Secretary.
TU 3193 STUDENT RECRUITMENT 2016/17
It was NOTED:
1. That the 2016/17 student recruitment cycle is forecast to exceed target, delivering significant growth for the second year in succession.
2. That, intensive recruitment activity was delivered throughout the final stages of the full-time recruitment cycle, with positive progress made towards the 2016/17 targets.
3. That positive progress has been made to increase full-time postgraduate numbers above the set target, with students now supported by the Government-backed fee loan, resulting in a significant success for the University.
4. That, recruitment to Health contract courses continues to be positive and, in addition, to the contracted numbers, the University has also secured a number of fee-paying students, paving the way for funding changes in the 2017/18 recruitment cycle.
5. That part-time recruitment activity will continue throughout the academic year, with a significant focus on Higher and Degree Apprenticeships.
6. That there continues to be significant challenges with International recruitment, given the de-risking activities undertaken and the on-going work to refresh the University approach to this market.
7. That intensive activity will continue to support 2016/17 Semester 2, and part-time enrolments.
8. That the recruitment cycle for 2017/18 is now underway for September 2017 starts.
It was AGREED:
9. To convey the thanks of the Governors and the Vice-Chancellor to staff across the University, and, in particular, to the Recruitment Team within the Department of External Relations, for their hard work and commitment in exceeding the set target.
TU 3194 NATIONAL STUDENT SURVEY – PRESENTATION
It was NOTED:
1. That the response rate for the Taught population at Teesside for NSS 2016 is 65% (1,619 responses from a population of 2,495).
2. That Teesside University has scored 87% for ‘Overall Satisfaction’ (up from 86%) in 2015, and that across the sector the average is 85%.
3. That Teesside has achieved improved scores in 2 of the 6 Question sections with ‘Learning Resources’ and ‘Personal Development’ – both up from 2015.
4. That ‘Organisation & Management showed a decline from 2015.
5. That the percentage of students who would recommend Teesside University to others has fallen to 88% (from 89% in 2015.
6. That the Students’ Union continues to score highly at 85% and remains well above the national HEI and University average of 69%.
7. That Teesside ranked 47th out of the 130 universities included – compare to 61st in 2015.
8. That Teesside’s highest ranked sections when compared to the 130 universities were satisfaction with the Students’ Union (6th) and Personal Development (7th).
9. That, in contrast, Teesside’s lowest ranked section is ‘Organisation and Management’ – ranking 104th in 2016 (compared to 93rd in 2015).
10. That the School of Computing, the School of Science and Engineering, and the School of Social Sciences, Business and Law all improved their overall satisfaction score when compared to 2015.
11. That the School of Design, Culture & the Arts (formerly the School of Arts & Media), and the School of Health and Social Care declined when compare to 2015.
12. That scores for the School of Design, Culture and the Arts, the School of Computing, and the School of Science & Engineering all remain below the University average in 2016.
13. That 16 of the subjects at Teesside score on, or above the sector average of 86%
14. That Teesside ranked equal 5th out of the 18 University Alliances institutions in 2016 (compared to 7th in 2015)
15. Teesside ranked 1st in the University Alliance for satisfaction with its Students’ Union, alongside Nottingham Trent.
16. That Teesside ranked 3rd of the 5 North East institutions behind Newcastle (1st) and Durham (2nd), having moved above Northumbria in 2016.
It was AGREED:
17. To put appropriate measures in place to roll out good practice across the Institution and to address ‘Organisation and Management’, and to identify other low areas in order to improve the institutional score.
TU 3195 A NEW APPROACH TO EMPLOYABILITY
It was NOTED:
1. That the University currently lacks a fully coherent employability strategy and that, as a result, it is lagging behind regional and national universities.
2. That the employability of graduates is captured via an external assessment – ‘The Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education’ survey (DLHE) – a statistical survey which aims to contact UK domiciled graduates from higher education programmes six months after qualifying from their course to determine if they are in work (and the status of that work) or further study.
3. That, as a result of the current position, a number of measures have been put in place to improve process and results.
4. That the University is currently tendering for a professional recruitment company to support it in the employability of its students, and will work alongside the careers service to ensure a much more student facing, engaging and impactful employability service.
5. That a ‘Head of Student Futures’ will be in post from March 2017, playing a strategic role in delivering the Student Futures Strategy.
6. That, from January 2017, the Business School will be launching the Business Clinic which is aimed, in the first instance, at second year undergraduate Business Studies students. The Clinic will act as consultants with a wide range of organisations and will provide students with valuable research-rich experiential learning.
TU 3196 REVENUE BUDGET MONITORING UPDATE NO 1 - 2016/17
It was NOTED:
1. That Members have been provided with the first report of the new financial year.
2. That the report updates the 2016/17 estimates to reflect the latest 2016 student recruitment cycle and its impact on tuition fees and other significant financial variations.
3. That, based on the latest student data and the financial management information to 31 October 2016, the University is on course to generate an operating surplus, excluding FRS 102, of £7.0m (cash surplus £13.4m) in 2016-2017, representing an increase of £0.2m on the original budget.
4. That the University remains on track to deliver all of its financial KPIs.
5. That the report has been considered and endorsed by the Resources Committee.
TU 3197 CAPITAL AND ESTATES PROGRAMME MONITORING UPDATE NO 1 – 2016/17
It was NOTED:
1. That Members have been provided with the first report of the new financial year.
2. That, following an extensive consultation process across the University, the Estates Strategy and Masterplan is expected to receive detailed consideration at the meeting of the Board in January 2017.
3. That, due to the proposed implementation of the Estates Strategy and Masterplan, the strategic focus of the current programme is centred on the following projects:
4.1 Significant investment in key strategic initiatives
(Masterplan and National Horizons Centre);
4.2 Focusing major investment on enhancing the student experience, including the acceleration of phases 3 and 4 of the Library across one year in the summer of 2017;
4.3 Increasing generic academic and student experience investment.
It was AGREED:
4. To approve, on the recommendation of the Resources Committee, the acceleration of Library refurbishment phases 3 and 4.
TU 3198 ESTATES STRATEGY AND MASTERPLAN UPDATE
It was NOTED:
1. That Members have been provided with a progress update on the development of the new Estates Strategy and Masterplan.
2. That detailed consideration of the emerging Draft Estates Strategy and Masterplan will take place in January 2017.
3. That the Estates Strategy and Masterplan will enable the University to continue to raise its profile and demonstrate its aspirations in the Higher Education Sector.
4. That the overarching aim of the Estates Strategy is to ensure a fit for purpose, right sized, efficient estate that meets the needs of its users and stakeholders.