Minutes of the Meeting of Cardiff University Council Held on Monday 5 November 2012 At

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MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF CARDIFF UNIVERSITY COUNCIL HELD ON MONDAY 5 NOVEMBER 2012 AT THE COUNCIL AWAYDAY HELD IN THE MARRIOTT HOTEL, CARDIFF AT 9.30AM.

Present:Mr John Jeans (Chair), Vice-Chancellor, Mr Raj Aggarwal,
Ms Elizabeth Button, Mr Ricardo Calil, Mr Guy Clarke, Professor Roy Evans, Professor Walter Gear, Mr Simon Gibson Dr Grahame Guilford, Mrs Philippa Herbert, Mr Daniel Hodgson, Professor Karen Holford, Mr Harry Newman, Mrs Fiona Peel, Reverend Gareth Powell, Mr Robert Preece, Professor Patricia Price, Professor Hywel Thomas, Professor Elizabeth Treasure, Dr Gabe Treharne, Professor James Whitley and Mrs Glenys Williams.

In Attendance: Professor George Boyne, Mr Mike Davies, Ms Jayne Dowden, Dr Sue Hybart, Professor Dylan Jones, Mr Hugh Jones, Mrs Sharon Orton, Mr Rhys Thomas and Dr Chris Turner.

Apologies for absence were received from: Mrs Maria Battle and Mrs Susan Gwyer-Roberts.

854APPOINTMENT OF LAY MEMBERS OF COUNCIL

Received and considered papers 12/370, ‘Constitution and Membership: Council, session 2012-13’ and 12/372B, ‘Appointment of Lay Members of Council’.

NOTED

854.1that, following the departure of David Francis at the end of last session it had been necessary to appoint a replacement who met the NHS condition specified in Statute;

854.2that, following a number of discussions, the Chair of Council had recommended to Council, by correspondence, that Mrs Maria Battle, successor to Mr Francis as Chair of Cardiff and Vale UHB, be appointed as a co-opted member of Council with immediate effect until 31 July 2015;

854.3that, in addition, there remained two further vacancies for co-opted lay members of Council and, in accordance with Council approval, an external advert had been placed in the Western Mail and nominations were sought from other sources;

854.4that a total of 15 applications were received and two candidates were interviewed on Monday 29 October by a small panel from Governance Committee, comprising:

Mr John Jeans [Chair]
Mr Guy Clarke
Professor Elizabeth Treasure.

RESOLVED

854.5to confirm the appointment of Maria Battle as a co-opted member of Council with immediate effect until 31 July 2015;

854.6to approve the appointment of Mr Robert Preece as a co-opted member of Council with immediate effect until 31 July 2015.

FURTHER NOTED that Mr Preece joined the meeting of Council after confirmation of this resolution.

855PRELIMINARIES

855.1Welcome

NOTED that all Council members were welcomed to this meeting of Council and to the Council Awayday.

855.2Congratulations

NOTED, with pleasure, the following honours/achievements:

.1Professor Srikant Sarangi, ENCAP. Appointed an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences

.2Jason Searle, 3rd year student OPTOM, named Student of the year by the Association of Optometrists

.3Professors Mike Owen and Mick O’Donovan, MEDIC, awarded the Leiber Prize for Schizophrenia Research

.4Professor Jim Murray, BIOSI, awarded a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award

.5Mr Raj Aggarwal, member of Council, appointed as the first Honorary Consul for India in Wales

.6Professor Steve Omerod, BIOSI, elected as Chairman of the RSPB

.7Dr Alyson Rees, SOCSI, appointed as a member of the Care Council for Wales

.8Professor Nick Pidgeon, PSYCH, elected an Honorary Fellow of the British Science Association.

855.3Deaths

NOTED, with sadness, the following death:

.1Professor Leonid Grishchuk, former Distinguished Research Professor in PHYSX 1995-2008, died 13 September 2012.

A moments silence was observed as a mark of respect.

856MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of Council held on 17 September 2012 (12/332) were agreed and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

857MATTERS ARISING

857.1Council Induction [Minute 843.2]

NOTED that the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education would be running an induction event for governors on 7 November and that there would be an internal induction event on 20 November. Details of the latter event were due to be sent out shortly to all Council members.

858ITEMS FROM THE CHAIR

858.1Ordinance 7: Schools and Heads of Schools

Received and considered tabled paper 12/382, ‘Ordinance 7: Schools and Heads of Schools’.

NOTED

.1that, at its meeting on 9 July 2012 Council approved a number of changes to Ordinance consequent upon the decision to create a College system with effect from 1 September 2012,;

.2that Minute 827.18, in respect of Ordinance 7, stated:

‘that the duties of Heads of School set out in Ordinance 7 be suspended, the duties being assigned to the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Head of Colleges, with such changes as may be necessary for sense in the new structure’;

.3that it had been queried whether it had been the intention of Council to suspend Ordinance 7 in its entirety or whether only the section relating to the duties of Heads of School was subject to suspension;

.4that the introduction of Colleges affected the whole Ordinance and not simply the section on the duties of Heads of School and so the Ordinance could not practically be put into effect within a College structure;

.5the view that there a need to clarify the respective roles of the Heads of School and the College Heads in the new structure and how the College Registrars factored into the structure;

.6that urgent transitional issues should be dealt with as they arise.

RESOLVED

.7to confirm that Ordinance 7 is suspended in its entirety in Session 2012/13;

.8to confirm that the appointment of Heads of School in 2012/13 should be made in a fair and transparent way and in line with the principles, but not the individual provisions, laid down in Ordinance 7 (suspended).

859ITEMS FROM THE VICE-CHANCELLOR

859.1Heads of Schools Appointments

RESOLVED

.1to approve the appointment of Professor Phil Bowen as Head of Cardiff School of Engineering for a five year period with effect from 1 October 2012 until 31 July 2017;

.2to approve the appointment of Professor Sheila Hunt as Acting Head of School of Healthcare Studies for one year with effect from 1 October 2012 until 31 July 2013. Professor Hunt would remain in her substantive position as Head of the School of Nursing and Midwifery;

.3to approve the appointment of Professor Martin Kitchener as Head of Cardiff Business School for a three year period with effect from 1 October 2012 until 31 July 2015.

859.2Visit by HEFCW Council

NOTED that HEFCW Council would be visiting the University on 6 December 2012 and that one of the sessions planned was a meeting with lay members of Council.

860REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE STUDENTS’ UNION

Received an oral report from the President of the Students’ Union.

NOTED inter alia

860.1that the officers of the Students’ Union were building relationships with the new members of the University’s executive team and the Vice-Chancellor had attended three student events in recent weeks;

860.2that the President had also attended the Vice-Chancellor’s awayday for senior staff and had found this to be a most valuable experience;

860.3that Cardiff Students’ Union would be taking part in the NUS national demonstration to take place on 21 November;

860.4that the Graduate Centre on the Heath Park site had opened and, although it was a relatively small space, there was the possibility for future expansion if there was sufficient demand;

860.5that student representatives would attend four meetings of University Executive Board every year and that this development was welcomed;

860.6that the Chief Operating Officer was now a member of the SUON Varsity Board;

860.7that the Union had contributed to the Personal Tutor Handbook this session;

860.8that the Academic Affairs Officer would be attending and speaking at the 7 November Leadership Foundation event for new governors in Cardiff;

860.9that UCU had raised concerns over the planned ‘rate my lecturer survey’ to be run by the Union and that its impact would be closely monitored by Union officers;

860.10that returns from the survey would be discussed with Professor Price, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Student Experience and Academic Standards;

860.11that the Vice-Chancellor had asked the Students’ Union to identify their priorities for capital projects/spending and that this would be presented at a meeting of University executive Board in December;

860.12the welcome news that the Students’ Union Chief Executive had recovered from a recent illness and had returned to work.

861INSTITUTIONAL PERFORMANCE: PROGRESS REPORT

Received and considered paper 12/104B, ‘Institutional Performance 2011/12: Progress Report’.

NOTED

861.1 that the focus of the return to HEFCW was performance against HEFCW targets rather than the University’s own aspirations;

861.2 that the spider diagram indicated a mixed level of performance against HEFCW targets, with performance in the National Student Survey being a strong point while the number of spin-out companies was below the level expected;

861.3 that the University had witnessed a slight fall in position in the QS World League/Times World rankings;

861.4 that there had also been a small fall in the number of international students recruited, partly attributable to bad press in India regarding UK immigration rules;

861.5 that the School of Medicine had improved its return in the National student Survey but still needed further work and improvement;

861.6 that further work on contextual admissions was required in order to assist with widening participation aims;

861.7 that the number of Welsh medium students was affected by the national fall in the number of students taking Welsh at A and AS levels;

861.8 that further improvement on research awards and income was required and that while student employment was very good there was always scope to improve;

861.9 that the collaboration with Bangor University ensured that the University was well placed to deliver its role in the all-Wales medical structure to recruit and train doctors across Wales;

861.10 that the University would be starting to prepare for reassessment under the Investors in People scheme;

861.11 that a number of University targets were not included in the report to HEFCW, including:

• REF performance
• League table performance
• Citations metrics;

861.12that postgraduate research student numbers would not be finalised by December because of the pattern of enrolment/attendance in this student category;

861.13 REF

NOTED

.1that the University’s target for REF performance was to be in the top 10, based on grade point average;

.2that in order to achieve this the University would need to be very selective over its return of staff and research papers and that this tension between quality and quantity was a challenging issue;

.3that one mock exercise had been held and other exercises would be held in December;

.4that lay members of Council had been invited to participate in the mock exercises

.5that in the previous Research Assessment Exercise the University had returned 70% of its staff but it was unlikely that the return would be as high in the REF;

.6that if too low a return was made, this would impact on the reputation of the University since it would not be viewed as viable as a research intensive in terms of volume and capacity;

.7that all Russell group universities would be likely to make a more selective return this time round;

.8that the definition and effect of ‘impact’ was a critical factor in REF.

RESOLVED

861.14to approve the submission of paper 12/104B to HEFCW.

862GIFTS, AWARDS AND ENDOWMENTS: ANNUAL REPORT

Received and considered paper 12/273, ‘Gifts, Awards and Donations Report 01/08/2011 to 31/07/2012’, together with a briefing from Mr John Robertson, Director of Development and Alumni Division.

NOTED

862.1that the paper reported on the University’s performance in fundraising over the previous Session;

862.2that the University had achieved its targets under HEFCWs matched funding scheme;

862.3that the HEFCW scheme had run over a three year period and mirrored that of HEFCE, though with lower sums available;

862.4that money from the Wolfson Foundation had been secured in advance thus enabling the University to include it in the matched funding scheme;

862.5that the number of donors had remained constant but the amount raised had increased, which indicated that the University’s effort was becoming more effective;

862.6that the quality and accuracy of data on potential donors and alumni was critical to success in this area of activity;

862.7that the number recorded on the database had increased from 60,000 in 2010 to over 100,000 to date but could be further increased;

862.8that the legacy giving programme had been re-launched, involving an analysis of all existing legators, a review of engagement strategies and a series of meetings with local solicitors to promote awareness of this option and the status of the University as a charity;

862.9that donations from telethons was average for the sector, though a better than average return was achieved from mailing shots;

862.10that the division was seeking to develop further its use of social and digital media;

862.11discussion of options and strategies to secure large donations and the benefit of offering a ‘menu’ of specific programmes or issues that can be supported;

862.12that alumni often do not have a loyalty to the University but rather to parts of the institution, such as athletics or social clubs and their home School;

862.13the view that the attitude of the leadership of the University [University Executive Board and Council members] was critical and that if they were seen to be supporting the fundraising activity through personal contribution this would be of benefit;

862.14that challenging fundraising targets would be set for the next few years.

863REPORT OF CHAIR’S ACTION

Received and noted paper 12/371, ‘Report of Chair’s Action – Council, 5 November 2012’.

863.1Protection of Teaching Units of Resource from University Reserves

NOTED that the Chair of Council, on the recommendation of University Management Board, had approved proposals for an additional M£1.2 funding to be allocated to Schools from reserves to protect units of teaching resource per student.

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863.2Redundancy Committee

NOTED that the following Council members had served on Redundancy Committee as indicated below:

863.3Investigation Panel: Academic Research Misconduct Procedure

NOTED that the Chair of Council had agreed the composition of a formal Investigation Panel under the University’s Academic Misconduct in Research Procedure to consider allegations involving the School of Medicine.

864DATE OF NEXT MEETING

NOTED that the next meeting of Council would be on Monday 17 December 2012 at 5.00pm.

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