General Meeting – Wednesday 19 November
Welcome to my fourth General Meeting at Warwick, and thank you all for coming.
The format of today’s event will be similar to the last ones in that I will speak for 20-30
minutes and then open the meeting up for general discussion.
I’d like to start this afternoon by talking about five key issues that affect us all. Namely,
the recent management restructure, the University’s HR strategy, the merger with
Horticulture Research International, the move to National Grid House and changes to
tuition fees and admissions.
The management restructure is a bit of reorganisation that we’ve been talking about for
some time, we started talking about the HR strategy two years ago, the HRI merger
date is getting very close and only requires a bit of finalisation and we’re officially
acquiring National Grid House tomorrow. I intend to spend most of my time talking
about the HE Strategy Bill and last year’s White Paper.
Management Restructure
We’ve been talking about making some changes to the University’s management
structure for a while now.
After twenty-one years at the University, and just over 4 years in post as Registrar,
Jonathan Nicholls has tendered his resignation to take up a similar position at the
University of Birmingham. We are both keen to stress that this decision has nothing to
do with the University and is a reflection of Jonathan's need for different experiences
after a long time within one institution.
We are taking this opportunity to make some modest changes to help reorganise what
has become an increasingly impossible job. We have decided to make some changes
meaning that we are in line with other universities that have moved away from a unitary
administration.
The reason that we wanted to make these changes is to do several things:
1. Strengthen the representation of academics in the University by changing reporting
lines so that those administrative areas that directly support learning and research
report in to myself or the Deputy Vice-Chancellor rather than the Registrar.
Research Support Services will report in to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor because
they need to focus on acquisition, which is largely an academic concern.
The Director of the Arts Centre, who is the only other senior member of staff not
illustrated on the chart who currently reports to the Registrar, will report to the
Director of Student Services in view of that post’s responsibility for ‘campus life’
issues.
The Director of Commercial Services will have responsibility for Hospitality and
Retail Services, Jobs.ac.uk and Ads Fab.
The Director of IT should continue to report to the Registrar given the substantive
responsibility the post has for delivering IT infrastructure and Management
Information Systems as well as academic and e-Learning IT support.
The Pro Vice-Chancellors play a major role in strengthening the academic reporting
structure. Michael Whitby has recently become the Pro Vice-Chancellor in charge
of Teaching, Learning and Quality. The Chairs of the relevant committees will
report in to him and he will be supported by the Academic Registrar, the Director of
IT, the University Librarian and the Director of Personnel.
John Jones has become the Pro Vice-Chancellor is charge of Research,
Accommodation and the Region (Economic) and Robert Dyson has responsibility
for Admissions, Recruitment, Widening Access and the Region (Community).
2. Modify the role of Registrar to make the post less demanding
3. Change the finance reporting line as an exercise in good practice. In 60-70% of UK
universities the Director of Finance reports directly in to the VC. This makes sense
because the Vice-Chancellor is now financially accountable for the institution.
The Registrar used to be the Chief Accounting Officer, however the Funding Council
made Vice-Chancellors the Chief Accounting Officers, effectively the CEO, at about
the time I arrived at Warwick.
The relationship between the Director of Finance and the Registrar will continue to
operate as it has in the past.
4. Implementing regular meetings with Chairs of academic departments and Heads of
administrative departments. We implemented the first of these meetings last spring
and now hold one every term. The meeting format is half a day on generic issues,
which allow Chairs and Heads of Department to have a communication path back in
to the centre of the University.
HR Strategy
Human Resources is one of the most important functions in the administration. It is a
function that has been neglected for a long time in the whole of the higher education
sector. Things have recently started to look up but Warwick is still behind the curve in
paying it sufficient attention.
Government has recently generated money to be funnelled through the funding
councils with the aim of facilitating attention to Human Resources.
We are making these changes to University strategy for three reasons:
 We need to make these changes to the University employment structure in order to
become more flexible, allow increased diversity and maintain and increase the
excellence of our workforce
 Government is facilitating these changes by providing funding
 Government requires us to make these changes
Merit Pay and Single Job Evaluation Scheme
The Trade Unions and UCEA are moving away from multiple pay spines and the
classification of jobs to a single system meaning that people’s jobs can change with
them and we can move away from keeping people in graded silos. This will offer better
opportunities for progression
The government funding for HR is contingent on us introducing merit pay. The system
that we are proposing is similar to that which regulates professors’ pay.
In order to have this system of merit pay we need to have a good understanding of
where each job would sit within the single pay spine.
(For more information on the Single Job Evaluation Scheme see the Personnel Office
website - http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/personnel/changes_jobeval_warwick/
For more information on Merit Pay see the Personnel Office website http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/personnel/salaryscales/merit/ )
Ulterior Motive
We have no negative ulterior motives for introducing merit pay and a single job
evaluation scheme. We will admit though that keeping University employees happy will
lead to increased productivity.
There will be individual winners and individual losers but this will be a side effect of
making the system fairer for the majority of people.
If anyone’s salary does get graded down there will be a pay freeze for that individual to
give everyone else a chance to catch up.
(For more information on the Single Job Evaluation Scheme see the Personnel Office
website - http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/personnel/changes_jobeval_warwick/
For more information on Merit Pay see the Personnel Office website http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/personnel/salaryscales/merit/ )
New HR System
We are putting in place a new IT system for HR. The system will help us to be more
responsive.
The prizes for us are access to greater management information than in the past and
more information available on individuals’ desktops delivered through a self-service
system. As a Windows-based product the system should be reasonably
straightforward to use.
An added bonus for Principal Investigators and Chairs and Heads of departments is
that the system will allow proper commitment accounting!
Horticulture Research International (HRI) Merger
HRI has been an associate of the University for a number of years. It’s primary master
until the transfer date of 1 April 2004 is Defra, the Department for the Environment and
Regional Affairs.
The Government wants to deaccession HRI to the private sector and the University has
been negotiating with Defra for some time.
Merging with HRI will broaden the University’s research base and increase our
research quality and income.
HRI will become a devolved department of the University within the Faculty of Science.
Its budget will be ring-fenced, we need to be able to track it and check that it’s
successful. In this way even if things don’t work out well we’ll have a clear
understanding of the finances.
The University will suffer no financial shortfall as a result of the acquisition of HRI.
Ring-fencing the budget in this way protects both the University and HRI.
Transfer Process
The transfer process was initiated by Jonathan Nicholls and, and during my illness
Jonathan has carried it forward. The process is now being managed by the Warwick
HRI Transfer Board (WHTB) chaired by Stuart Palmer, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor,
and attended by representatives of the University and HRI.
We are seconding a Senior Administrator for Horticulture Research International to
work closely with existing colleagues in HRI.
Ms Susan Baines is currently the Academic Administrator in the Department of
Mathematics. Susan will be taking up her new post on 1 January 2004 and has already
started to attend Warwick HRI Transfer Board meetings.
Meanwhile, the search for a new Director for HRI has started. At the end of October
Donald Beaton and Robert Freedman, Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences,
both heavily involved in the transfer process, met with a group of HRI scientists to
discuss what they would want from the new Director of HRI. The meeting was helpful
in informing the recruitment process and assisting the search committee, chaired by the
Deputy Vice-Chancellor.
The new Director of HRI, when appointed will report directly to me. Susan, the Senior
Administrator, will report in to the Director of HRI with a dotted reporting line to the
Registrar.
The Future
With HRI as a part of the University we aim to promote research in horticultural science
in the UK we plan to:
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enable a wide range of collaborations between scientific disciplines
foster a culture of enterprise that serves the international horticulture industry
broaden the research and business income generated by HRI
provide constitutional and financial stability for HRI
As a part of the University HRI will be able to collaborate with lots of other departments
in interdisciplinary research. The immediate, and most obvious, partner is the
Department of Biological Sciences, but other areas of joint research could conceivably
include obesity and nutrition with the Medical School and outreach work with
Economics and the Business School.
Multi-Campus Site
The merger with HRI now firmly cements us a multi-campus university, as of 1 April
2004 we will have sites in Walsgrave Hospital, HRI Wellesbourne, HRI Kirton and here.
National Grid House
This is a very topical subject, as we’ll be formally acquiring National Grid House
tomorrow.
We will be holding our first function there on Monday; I will be meeting with academics
on a strategy away day.
Who’s Moving In
We start to move in to National Grid in a serious way next Easter. Two sets of people
will be moving in - everybody from Senate House and the rest of the University’s
administration that we’ve crammed in to other parts of the University due to lack of
space.
The staff moving in are:
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all of Senate House
Student Support Services (including the Senior Tutor’s Office, the Students’ Union
Advice and Welfare Office and the Careers Service)
Warwick Ventures
Mercia Institute
Centre for Academic Practice
The only exception is the Estates Office staff, who are currently at Gibbet Hill,
unfortunately there is just not enough room for them in the National Grid Building.
We have made a deal with Coventry City Council that we will tear down the current
Estates Office building on the Gibbet Hill campus by 2005. So we will be
accommodating the Estates Office elsewhere on campus shortly.
Student Resource Centre
One of the parts of the building that I am most excited about is the Student Resource
Centre. Roughly a third of the building will be dedicated to Student Services and the
Resource Centre.
We’ll be turning a bland corporate headquarters into a lively vibrant focus for the
University.
The Resource Centre will be open 24 hours a day 7 days a week with a few exceptions
such as Christmas Day. In this way students will use the facilities when they need
them rather than when we think they need them.
The Resource Centre will be largely dedicated to group work, multimedia work and IT
based student activity. It is intended to be a relaxed learning environment.
The Students’ Union Welfare and Advice staff will also be moving over, in fact the
whole building should be a one-stop-shop for students’ needs.
Campus Development
A side-benefit, and in some respects the primary reason, of acquiring National Grid
House, is that it joins up Westwood with the rest of campus and prevents Westwood
from feeling isolated. The focus of campus will gradually move westward. We are also
identifying new sites for building, for example along the Gibbet Hill Road.
The Government Plan
I’m now going to spend a bit of time talking about the HE Bill outgrowth of the
Government’s White Paper which will be mentioned in the Queen’s Speech on
Wednesday 26 November.
Shortfall in HE Funding
The most contentious item is how to tackle the annual shortfall in HE funding.
Independent surveys have shown that the shortfall is either 3-4 billion or 8-9 billion per
annum, and most parties agree that it is at least 3 billion.
If we take a conservative estimate and take the figure to be 4 billion and divide that by 1
million students then that’s still four thousand per student per annum.
The Government has proposed a maximum of £3K in differential fees which sounds like
it ought to generate 3 billion pounds, however that £3K fee includes the current fees of
£1200.
The Government expects us to spend one third of the money on ensuring that we admit
students that are intellectually wealthy regardless of whether they are financially
wealthy.
12 million pounds per annum would represent a 10% increase in general funds in 2010.
The proposed change would go in at the next general election and would ramp up from
then on; it’s neither possible, practical or desirable to charge retrospectively.
Admissions Criteria
We need to look at our admissions criteria. It’s always been thought that A’Levels
results are the best indicator for university admissions.
We have now got to the point where almost all applicants to some departments have
three As at A’Level. A’Levels are no longer a reliable differentiating factor.
We need to try and find a means, independent of the social agenda, of admitting
students that will leave university with the highest level of achievement rather than
those who obtained the highest grades at school. These two things are related but
different.
Three Approaches to Solving the Funding Gap
The Liberal Democrats say that we must first raise taxes. Now, if that’s what the public
wants then that’s fine by me, but looking at it realistically for each billion pounds needed
taxes would have to go up by the best part of 1p on the base rate. Therefore in order to
raise 3 billion pounds per annum we would need to put an extra 3p on the base rate.
The Tories have a realistic policy, albeit one to which I am fundamentally opposed.
They want to leave the amount of funding as it is and decrease the amount of people
who can benefit by a factor of two.
This is government planning of the worst kind. Useful productive citizens must be
trained vocationally if nothing else. Good vocational training is almost as expensive as
university education – where are the funds going to come from?
So, the issue is something has to be done, the debate is should it be variable or flat
rate fees.
Flat-rate fees would solve the problem of competition, however it means that the
market cannot respond to consumer demand from potential students and business –
which leads us down the route of bigger inspections.
We will hear more on Wednesday in the Queen’s Speech. I think the Government will
produce the HE Bill before Christmas. Whether it will get through is another matter.
Staff Seasonal Celebration
We are holding a staff party on Thursday 18 December in the Bar in the Rootes Social
Building. I’ll be giving a talk at 18:00 and you can come along and have a free glass of
mulled wine and a mince pie.
If you want to stay for the dinner, dancing and casino afterwards then you can buy a
ticket.
They’ll be more details up on insite and around the campus soon.
I’d like to wrap up by moving back onto changes in personnel…
You will be aware that Jonathan Nicholls, the University’s Registrar, is leaving the
University to become the Registrar and Secretary at the University of Birmingham. He
will be taking up this post at the start of 2004.
In Jonathan’s 21 years here he has seen Warwick grow from being what was then the
newest university in the Midlands to become one of the top ten research universities in
the UK. That growth has been in no small part due to the energy and talent of skilled
key staff such as Jonathan. We thank him for all he has done at Warwick and wish him
well for the future.
Paul Greatrix will become Acting Registrar from 1 December until a new Registrar is
recruited. He will work alongside Jonathan before his departure at the end of the year.
At Christmas we also say goodbye to Jim Rushton, the Deputy Registrar, who has
been here for over 30 years. Jim won’t be moving far as he starts his new role heading
up NAGTY (National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth).
Another change we have made over the last few months is the introduction of a new
PVC following the end of Professor Susan Bassnett’s term of office. Professor Michael
Whitby from the Department of Classics and Ancient History has taken up this position.
The three PVCs roles are loosely divided into: Lifelong Learning and Widening
Participation(Prof Robert Dyson), Teaching, Learning and Quality, (Prof Michael
Whitby) and Research and Accommodation (Prof John Jones).
I think I’m going stop there and open the meeting up to Q&A.
Questions
Will the thinking on HR involve redesignation and regrading of some of the most
important people in the University – secretaries who are now departmental
administrators?
Yes.
What resources will go into National Grid for students?
My hope is that new computers will go in along with books that undergraduate students
need on a day-to-day basis, their course reading.
My apologies to Anne Bell, the University’s Librarian, for speaking out of turn but I
believe that we will have provision for somewhere in the order of 10,000 books.
Will the books be taken from the central library or will they be new?
Those books taken from the library will be key texts of which we already have a
multiplicity of copies.
When will the merit pay schedule be in place, is there nothing in place at the
moment?
The situation really affects people at the top of their scale. On the current incremental
scale if you don’t get promoted other than inflation and discretionary points you don’t
get a raise.
At the moment there is no proper process, discretionary points are quite rare and when
they are awarded it’s usually down to the tenacity of an individual’s manager.
I have done a study on the salary progression of individuals within the University.
During a five-year period 15% of staff were at the top of their scale and other than
inflation didn’t get an increase. So the system of added increments was leaving large
gaps.
Under the new system everybody gets a look every year. There will be small increases
every year to about half of the staff. However it has been difficult to discuss this with
the Unions, they want to ensure that we have the best intentions.
It hurts me see 15% of our academic, clerical and technical staff standing still. Twothirds or three-quarters of the University’s employees are probably at the top of their
grade.
Regarding the restructure have you taken transparency and accountability into
account?
The finance office can now do all of the budgeting from transparent accounts. The
issue is how the neutral data gets used.
Some UK universities have looked at each department on a case by case basis. We
think though that we are more than the sum of our parts – some departments don’t
even break even but are worth subsidising.
We will be informed by the transparent accounting but not driven by it.
The exceptions are Warwick Business School, Warwick Medical School and HRI. WBS
operates in a diversified market with a devolved budget. The University takes a small
cut of income to help less fortunate departments. The Medical School has it’s own
devolved budget too as medical schools can be giant elephants, but at least we know
where the money is. HRI will also have a devolved budget for reasons that I’ve already
gone in to.
The next step is to be very open on the discussions on financing and support for
service organisations.
Regarding governance, the leaders of the University need to make decisions, however
these decisions need to be informed by communications. This is an evolving process
and we want everybody’s input as we go forward.
Can UCAS handle Warwick’s vision for changing admissions criteria?
My hope is that UCAS will evolve. I don’t think that UCAS rules and regulations will
survive as students and parents begin to pay for study.
If we don’t move towards post-qualification admissions (PQA) then we end up with the
following situation:
An A’Level student gets predicted BBC and chooses universities accordingly on the
advice of his parents and teachers. However he gets his grades and he has achieved
AAA. He is honour-bound by the UCAS system to stick to the offer that he has
accepted.
Now, I would advise that student to call clearing and go for the university that offers him
the best deal. Why should he sacrifice his future because regulation has imposed a
choice upon him?
At the moment part-time degree fees are pro-rata to full-time fees – what happens
when we start to charge 3K?
At the moment we get a 5-10% premium from the Government for each part-time
student. There isn’t really a case for minor moderation.
There is a case for looking at financial support and bursaries for students in need. We
won’t adjust the fees we’ll adjust the financial support.