Happy new year to everyone, and I hope that you were able to relax over the extended University closure period. I certainly found the break restorative, and I trust you did too.
With the resumption of Parliament this week, I would like to focus much of this blog on the early possibilities and dilemmas that might accompany a Conservative majority government. The health warning here is that none of us has a crystal ball, and I am certainly not going to make predictions - just consider the policy landscape. We do need to think about what all this means in relation to how we take our recently published University Strategy forward.
A focus on ‘place’
A spending review and budget in March is likely to promise as much as £100bn investment in national infrastructure. We know from the Prime Minister’s own pronouncements that he hopes to concentrate these funds in the ‘red wall’ areas that supported him, and some of these areas are in the East Midlands generally and Nottinghamshire specifically.
This could mean that the East Midlands Development Corporation plans may have a serious chance of being taken forward under the current government. The Midlands Engine is likely to take on new energy, particularly if Robert Jenrick, MP for Newark, remains Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. Our ‘Universities for Nottingham’ project with Nottingham Trent University has significant potential to capitalise on this in support of our region and act as a trailblazer for a new approach to the way universities collectively engage with their local stakeholders.
Research policy
A second major plank to the Conservative manifesto, which will have consequences for all universities, is the creation of a United States ‘DARPA’ style agency in the UK. It interests me that the rhetoric of a UK ‘ARPA’ - importantly, including the loss of the ‘D’ - is about supporting fundamental and experimental research, perhaps mimicking the characteristics of a Silicon Valley Tech company, rather than a traditional research council. There is also the prospect here of a proliferation of Catapult-style institutes in the ‘red wall’ regions of the UK. It will be interesting to see what transpires and who makes decisions about the promised additional research funding, but because this is a manifesto commitment, it will happen in some form or another.
There are upsides to this new focus on breakthrough research. I would never question the emphasis on research impact that has been a high priority of research funders in recent years, but it is clear that one of the consequences of this focus is a turning away from support for fundamental research. If the balance of the research ecosystem can somehow shift slightly back towards ‘blue skies’, discovery and investigator-led work, that would not be a bad thing to counter the overwhelming focus on impact in recent years. However, we shall need to wait and see.
One other research-related issue underlying the ARPA debate is that our research funding system has become too bureaucratic. I am sure many of us would agree with that for a variety of reasons. UKRI has been under pressure from government, even before the general election, to look at ways of reducing bureaucracy, and I will be interested to see how the next Research Excellence Framework (if there is one) is designed. While we should be pleased that de-layering bureaucracy in research funding is being contemplated, an unintended consequence may of course be greater government interference. And I do have qualms that the ‘picking winners’ mentality is going to take us back to a world in which ED&I is neither a reality nor an aspiration.
Fees and funding
Another straw in the wind is, of course, what will happen with the Augar review. Although barely mentioned in the manifesto, the government has more than once referred to a ‘sustainable model that supports high quality provision’. The latest speculation, which may or may not come to pass, is that fees will be capped at their current rate for most programmes; high cost programmes perceived to be high value will continue to get additional, and perhaps even enhanced, subsidy; and the Office for Students will be asked to identify programmes that should receive no state funding at all via the Student Loans Company. There is a potential here for a massively complex new way of micro-managing higher education funding. We shall see, but whatever happens, the anti-bureaucratic trend that is emerging in research appears to be going the opposite way when it comes to student fees, or other issues which might be targets for intervention such as freedom of speech or concerns about unexplained grade inflation.
Brexit
Brexit is the most proximate outcome of the new Conservative majority government. It appears inevitable that the UK will ‘leave’ the European Union on Friday 31 January. What happens afterwards in terms of trade agreements is anyone’s guess, but I am absolutely determined that the University of Nottingham will continue to be a globally-focused university on all of its campuses, not least because it won’t be long before government will need institutions like ours to help reshape the UK’s global positioning.
As I have written before, I am personally concerned for all our EU staff and students, and many others in our community who will feel anxious, angry or betrayed. Our University is devoted to global education and scholarship, and we will ensure that everyone continues to be welcomed, supported and valued.
Our Brexit management team continues to make plans to support staff and students and minimise any potential negative impact on our teaching and research, not least in terms of responding to how the new government addresses the question of the UK’s future participation in Horizon Europe and Erasmus+. I hope we will be able to announce new measures shortly that will help to protect student recruitment and research partnerships and ensure that the University continues to thrive.
Pensions and industrial action
The second report of the Joint Expert Panel on the USS pension scheme was published on the Friday preceding the break, proposing significant (and much-needed) reforms to the USS pension valuation method, governance and contributions. My hope is that this offers the scheme’s Trustee, UUK and UCU improved grounds for national discussion and agreement on maintaining the scheme’s excellent benefits over the long term.
I am pleased to note that details have been confirmed of talks between USS, UUK and UCU, facilitated by the chair of the Joint Expert Panel (JEP), Joanne Segars. Meanwhile, the University will progress local actions this term that are intended to address some of the grievances expressed in the industrial action with separate task groups examining issues around workload, consistent and equitable pay for teaching affiliate staff, negative behaviours and bullying, and further action on our gender and ethnic pay gaps.
VC Surgeries
In closing, I am pleased to confirm new VC Surgery dates for staff across our UK campuses. These one-to-one confidential sessions are available to all members of staff at the University and are an opportunity to raise and discuss any issues, ideas or thoughts you may have on working at the University. I also intend to support another cohort this year in the VC Mentoring Scheme that offers shadowing opportunities and mentoring conversations to academic and professional services staff who are under-represented at senior leadership levels.
Whatever the new year and the new term has in store for all of us individually and as a University, I wish you all success, good health and happiness in 2020, and extend my thanks as always for your hard work and commitment to Nottingham and our students.
Professor Shearer West
Vice-Chancellor
8 January 2020