UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
CNL/14/128
COUNCIL
A meeting of the Council was held on Thursday 18 December 2014 at 2.00pm in the Council Chamber,
Northcote House.
PRESENT:
Pro-Chancellor, Miss S J Turvill (Chair)
Mr C J Allwood
Provost, Professor J M Kay
Mr G Brown
Dr S Buck
Mr N Bull
Ms A Conroy
Professor K E Evans
Ms R Gillies
Ms J Hargadon
Mr P J M Hodges
Mr R M P Hughes
Mr P Lacey
Professor D A Myhill
Mr C C Pomfret
Ms B Rigg
Dr A M Shaw
Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, Professor Sir Steve Smith
Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor N J Talbot
Professor S Tomlinson
Ms S Wilcox
IN ATTENDANCE:
Director of Strategic Planning, Mr S A Chadwick (for discussions under minute
14.116)
Director of Communication and Corporate Affairs, Mrs J Chafer
Chief Financial Officer, Mr A Connolly
Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor M Goodwin
Sustainability Manager, Ms K Gallagher (for discussions under minute 14.115)
Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor N Kaye
Assistant Director of HR (Safety, Health and Wellbeing), Ms K Lindsell (for
discussions under minute 14.114)
Director of Human Resources, Ms J A Marshall
Chief Operating Officer, Mr R G Pringle
Director of Academic Services and Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Ms M I
Shoebridge
Executive Officer, Mrs J Williams
APOLOGIES:
Ms T Costello, Mr R Davies, Sir Robin Nicholson
14.107 Chair’s Opening Remarks
The Chair welcomed Phil Attwell, Director of Campus Services and Rachael Cameron, Executive
PA to the Chief Operating Officer, as observers to the meeting.
14.108 Declarations of Interest
Members NOTED the register of members’ interests in relation to the business of the agenda
including standing declarations of interest.
14.109 Minutes
The minutes of the meeting held on 16 October 2014 were CONFIRMED (CNL/14/98).
Page 1 of 8
14.110 Matters Arising from the Minutes
UPP Refinancing (minute 14.95)
Council RECEIVED a verbal update from the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Andrew Connolly, on
the UPP re-financing.
At the last meeting of Council it was reported that negotiations on the UPP re-financing were
nearing conclusion and authority was delegated to the Chair, Pro-Chancellor (Finance) and CFO
to complete the negotiation.
These negotiations had now been finalised and the bond had been completed in the market. A
‘modified spens’ clause had been achieved and the University would receive an up-front fee of
£3m. Chrysten Cole, from the University’s Legal Services team, had also negotiated a number of
other material improvements to the contract.
The President of the Students’ Guild asked that consideration be given to using part of the fee for
student accommodation bursaries. The Chief Operating Officer AGREED to investigate this.
14.111 Vice-Chancellor’s Report
(a) Council RECEIVED a report from the Vice-Chancellor (CNL/14/106), which covered the
following topics:
(i)
Announcements
• Appointment of Chief Operating Officer – the Vice-Chancellor was delighted to report
formally that Geoff Pringle had been appointed Chief Operating Officer on a
permanent basis. As Council was aware, Geoff had been acting in the role since
February, having previously held the role of Director of Campus Services at the
University since 2009. Council joined the Vice-Chancellor in warmly congratulating
Geoff on his appointment.
• Margaret Lorenz – the Vice-Chancellor was saddened to report that Margaret Lorenz,
previously a lay member of the University’s Council in 1983, Pro-Chancellor in 1987
and Chair of Council in 1994, had passed away. Margaret retired from Council in
1999, and received an Honorary Degree from the University in 2000. Margaret was
Chair of the Council’s Working Party on Management and Governance, established
on her initiative in 1997. She led a debate at the University that resulted in
fundamental changes to the University’s Charter and Statutes, most notably
designating Council the supreme governing body. She also oversaw a significant
reduction in the number of members, from 47 to 33. She had a keen interest in all
matters to do with students and their welfare.
• Met Office Supercomputer - The Met Office had announced that its £97m
supercomputer would be located at the Exeter Science Park. It would be one of the
most powerful supercomputers in the world and had the potential to revolutionise
climate prediction and weather forecasting.
• GW4 Launch at House of Commons and GW4 Welsh Government Launch, Cardiff The GW4 Alliance had held its official launch at the House of Commons on 29
October and Welsh Government Launch at the Wales Millennium Centre on 26
November.
• Naomi Berrie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Diabetes Research – the ViceChancellor was delighted to report that Professor Andrew Hattersley from the Medical
School was this year’s joint recipient of the Naomi Berrie Award for Outstanding
Achievement in Diabetes Research, together with Professor Mark McCarthy, of
Oxford University. The Russell Berrie Foundation established the annual award in
2000 to foster high-quality diabetes research by rewarding outstanding achievement
and to simultaneously increase collaboration and scientific exchange among major
academic medical schools. The award was presented annually by Columbia
University’s Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center at its Frontiers in Diabetes Conference.
• HEFCE STEM Teaching Capital Fund Bid Outcome – the Vice-Chancellor was
delighted to report that the University’s bid to the HEFCE STEM Teaching Capital
Fund for £5 million to create new world-class science facilities had been successful.
The grant would fund a number of capital infrastructure projects designed to create
Page 2 of 8
additional facilities for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)
subjects on the Streatham and Penryn Campuses.
(ii)
International Activity
India
In November, the Vice-Chancellor visited India as part of a delegation led by Greg Clark
MP, Minister for Universities and Science, to attend the India-UK Science Innovation
Council meeting and the UK-India Bilateral Education Forum. The Vice-Chancellor
delivered the keynote speech to open the second day of the global FICCI Higher
Education Summit 2014 on 14 November and hosted an alumni and supporters
reception in New Delhi. In addition, he visited the University of Calcutta to sign a
Memorandum of Understanding. Despite the recent downturn in the number of Indians
studying in the UK, current Indian enrolments at Exeter were up 53% this year for
Masters programmes and up 58% for undergraduate programmes.
Japan
Between 6-13 December the Vice-Chancellor led a University delegation to Japan where
he gave a keynote speech, jointly with leading analyst Dr Jonathan Adams, at a British
Council symposium on the theme of international research collaboration. The ViceChancellor also visited Chiba University, where he spoke to their senior management
team about global trends in higher education and Exeter’s leadership journey over the
past decade.
(iii) UCU Marking Boycott - On 20 November, the UCU and UUK confirmed a suspension of
UCU’s marking boycott, which had begun on 6 November in response to UUK’s
proposed changes to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). The University of
Exeter was one of 69 universities affected by this on-going dispute. The marking boycott
was suspended until 15 January to allow time for further joint discussions between UCU
and UUK to take place.
To ensure the pension scheme remained both sustainable and affordable in the future,
UCU and UUK were working to jointly agree a way forward and to present this to the
Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) on 15 January 2015. At this time it would be decided
whether the marking boycott would be resumed. All students had been informed and
had been assured that January exams would go ahead as scheduled.
(iv) Chancellor’s Autumn Statement - The Chancellor delivered the Autumn Statement 2014
on Wednesday 3 December 2014. The two major points relating to higher education
were:
1. Announcement of a postgraduate loan scheme starting in 2016–17, preceded by a
bursary scheme in 2015–16.
2. Announcements regarding how government would invest the £5.9 billion committed to
science and research capital between 2016 and 2021.
Regarding the postgraduate loan scheme, it was announced that income contingent
loans for those under 30 years old wishing to undertake a postgraduate taught masters
in any subject would be offered from 2016-17. These loans, of up to £10,000, would be
repaid concurrently with undergraduate loans.
Regarding science and research capital, a number of announcements were made
regarding how government would invest the £5.9 billion committed to science and
research capital between 2016 and 2021. These would be outlined in more detail in the
Capital roadmap that would be included in the government’s Science and Innovation
Strategy document.
(v) Russell Group Quality Assurance Advisory Group – the Vice-Chancellor had been asked
to Chair the Russell Group’s Quality Assurance (QA) Advisory Group, which was looking
at developing Russell Group policy on QA in response to the announcement by HEFCE
in October that it would be seeking views on future approaches to the assessment of
quality in higher education
(vi) Election of President of Universities UK - Universities UK had announced that Professor
Dame Julia Goodfellow, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kent, would be the next
president of Universities UK. Professor Goodfellow was elected following a ballot of
Page 3 of 8
Universities UK members. She would succeed the current President, Professor Sir
Christopher Snowden, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Surrey, on 1 August 2015 and
would hold the post for two years until July 2017.
(vii) Immigration Issues - The Office for National Statistics (ONS) had released its latest net
migration statistics and the Home Office had published its quarterly student visa
statistics. Overall, net migration to the UK was 260,000 in the year to June 2014, up from
182,000 in the previous 12 months, with non-EU student immigration estimated to have
decreased year-on-year from 132,000 to 121,000. Around 51,000 former non-EU
students were estimated to have left the UK in the year to June 2014. Most importantly
for higher education, the number of university-sponsored student visa applicants
increased by 2.3% in the year to September 2014, to 171,081. Within this, the number of
applicants from China increased by 0.6%; applicants from India decreased by 7.3%.
Universities now accounted for 81% of student visa applications made.
(viii) The Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill - On 26 November 2014, the Counter-Terrorism
and Security Bill was presented to Parliament, introducing a new UK-wide statutory duty
for universities and a range of other public bodies including schools, prisons, hospitals
and local authorities to ‘have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn
into terrorism’.
Universities would be required to comply with statutory guidance that accompanied the
Bill. This would set out the steps institutions would need to take to meet this requirement
and would build upon good practice which already existed across the sector.
(ix) The Competition and Markets Authority’s work on higher education - The Competition
and Markets Authority (CMA) was currently following up on the recommendations of the
report into the sector by its predecessor body, the Office of Fair Trading. There were two
strands of work ongoing:
a) Regulation and competition, which was examining the impact of the current HE
regulatory framework on providers’ choice, competition and ability to innovate.
Recommendations would follow in 2015.
b) Consumer compliance, which was intended to clarify HE providers’ responsibilities to
students under consumer legislation. This work was UK-wide in its coverage, and a
consultation was now open.
The CMA had worked on three areas where clarification of consumer law had been
thought to be helpful for HE providers. They were: Information provision for decisionmaking; Terms and conditions; Complaints and redress. It had drafted some advice,
which took as its focus undergraduate provision, but was likely to be of benefit for all
levels of provision. The advice was aimed at all HE providers, whether publicly funded
HE institutions, further education colleges offering HE or other providers with specific
course designation. A brief consultation on the draft advice was now underway and
would end on Thursday 18 December 2014. CMA then planned to issue the advice early
in 2015.
Lastly, the CMA was also producing a guide for potential undergraduate students,
suggesting questions that they should ask before making their choice of provider. The
CMA had been working with the National Union of Students and Which? on this aspect of
their work.
(b) In addition to the written report, the Vice-Chancellor drew attention to the following:
(i)
College Manager Social Sciences and International Studies (SSIS) – the Vice-Chancellor
reported that Simon Wright, College Manager for SSIS, was sadly leaving the University
to accept a promotion to the position of Academic Registrar at Cardiff University.
(ii)
BIS Announcement: Degree Apprenticeship Scheme – the government had announced a
range of courses allowing young people to complete a full honours degree while working,
without having to pay fees – so-called ‘degree apprenticeships. The first of these would
start in September 2015, and would be co-designed by a range of employers and
universities. Exeter was one of the universities, also including UCL, which had confirmed
participation. Twelve industrial partners had signed up so far.
Page 4 of 8
(iii) CUC Guidance – the new CUC Guide for Members of Governing Bodies (now called the
Higher Education Code of Governance) had been published and members were
provided with hard copies of this new document.
(iv) Wolfson Gift – the University had received the fantastic news that The Wolfson
Foundation had awarded Exeter a £2million gift to support the Living Systems Institute.
The gift was the largest made by The Wolfson Foundation in 2014.
(v) Debra Myhill – The Vice-Chancellor, on behalf of members, thanked Debra Myhill for her
three years’ service to Council. It was noted that Debra had made a huge contribution
and would be sorely missed as a member of the governing body.
(vi)
Donation – the Vice-Chancellor read out the following statement to Council regarding a
recent donation to the University:
On 12 December 2014 the University wrote to the Chair of the Funding Council (in
accordance with Annex E of the Memorandum of Assurance and Accountability) to
inform them of a potentially serious incident concerning a donation to the institution of
approximately £400,000.
The University’s due diligence procedures did not reveal issues with the source of the
donation, but it was clear that staff in a particular discipline who were responsible for
sourcing the donation did not follow established processes.
As a result the University made a report to the National Crime Agency, as it was obliged
to do. The Agency confirmed that it did not wish to take any action and that the
University was free to retain the donation, which it had decided to do. The University
was currently in the process of investigating why the staff concerned did not follow
correct procedure.
The Chair of Council was kept informed at all stages and the University had taken legal
advice through its internal and external solicitors.
(vii) Philip Booth – the Vice-Chancellor reported that Philip Booth had left the University a
legacy estimated to be between £1million and £1.5million. Philip was an amateur
mycologist and former Treasurer of the British Mycological Society. He had visited the
University on a number of occasions through his friendship with Professor John Webster.
Philip was very keen on science and his legacy was to be used in the Sciences in
whatever way the University saw fit.
(viii) UK Visa and immigration issues – two weeks ago the Vice-Chancellor had learned from
the Russell Group that Home Office Ministers wished to make an announcement before
Christmas that they intended to clamp down further on abuse in the student visa system.
Colleagues had seen a draft proposal and were given two days to respond. The ViceChancellor shared with members the consequences that some of these proposals would
have given rise to. Following lobbying of UUK, the Russell Group, the UK Council for
International Student Affairs and other public bodies, the Home Office and UKVI
postponed the announcement. UKVI now wished to find a compromise measure.
(ix) Government’s Science and Innovation Strategy – the government had published its
Science and Innovation Strategy. It announced a “£6bn package for science and
innovation.” The government had also announced a Review of the Research Councils,
to be led by Sir Paul Nurse – shortly after the publication of a triennial review of the
research councils in April. The main points of the Strategy were:
• £3bn to go via the main higher education funding and research councils to “support
individual capital projects and institutional capital to maintain the excellence of
laboratories at universities and research institutes”, as well as £2.9billion towards
large capital projects to support scientific “Grand Challenges”.
• “Up to £235million” for a Sir Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials based in
Manchester.
•
£95million funding for European Space Agency programmes including taking the lead
in the next European Rover mission to Mars.
•
Postgraduate loans.
Page 5 of 8
(x) The REF results – Council had received a briefing earlier in the day on the University’s
results from the REF. Members recorded their congratulations to all those involved with
the REF submission; it had been a fantastic team effort.
There was now an opportunity to use the results from the REF to develop industrial
partnerships in areas of research strength, both as an individual institution and as part of
GW4. Members were keen to discuss this in more detail at a future Council meeting or
briefing session.
Members were also keen to consider what could collectively be done ahead of the next
exercise in 2020 to improve support and ensure appropriate infrastructure for impact
activity.
14.112 First Financial Forecast 2014/15 (COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE)
14.113 University Investment Policy (COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE)
14.114 Annual Report: Health and Safety (CONFIDENTIAL AND LEGALLY PRIVILEGED)
Kate Lindsell in attendance
14.115 Annual Report: Environmental Sustainability
Karen Gallagher in attendance
Council CONSIDERED the annual report on Environmental Sustainability (CNL/14/110).
Karen Gallagher, Environmental Sustainability Manager, introduced the report and noted the
following highlights from it:
•
A great deal of progress had been made during 2013/14 across all sustainability themes both
at the University and within the City.
•
The People and Planet Green League had radically changed their content, scoring and
timeframes for the Green league submission which had resulted in the University’s change in
th
th
ranking from 14 to 36 , despite the University improving its environmental performance in
numerous areas. The future of the league was now uncertain as a significant proportion of
higher education institutions had boycotted the league as a result of these changes.
•
The University’s carbon dioxide emissions had increased by 1.03% from 2012/13 to 2013/14
in absolute terms, but had seen a continual reduction in emissions when normalised for the
increase in FTE student numbers and floor area over the same period. Colleagues were
working to develop a new long term carbon management plan to meet the 2020 and 2050
carbon reduction targets.
•
Following the introduction of a suite of sustainable travel initiatives in 2013/14 and ongoing
communication and engagement activities, there had been significant uptake of sustainable
modes of travel. There had been a 113% increase in the number of parked cycles recorded
since 2009 across the Exeter campuses and the popularity of the University subsidised D bus
service had continued to grow with a 29% increase in patronage since 2009. The University
had also been long listed for the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Travel.
•
Waste and recycling performance had continued to improve at the University. The recycling
target had almost been met (45% by 2015) but a 20% reduction in waste arising since the
2010 baseline year had also been demonstrated.
•
A new training course, Green Consultants, had been introduced for students interested in
pursuing a career with an environmental or sustainability focus. During the pilot phase 28
students participated in the scheme, with 12 entering full time employment in the
environmental / sustainability sector upon completion. The scheme would be widened in
2014/15.
•
The Sustainability Plan for 2014/15 was published on 21 October 2014. This built on existing
initiatives that had been developed in 2013/14, as well as setting out a framework for the year
ahead. Key priorities included reviewing and revising the 5-year sustainability strategy and
thematic strategies alongside the University’s Exeter 2050 work, and continuing to provide
operational improvements and make savings.
Page 6 of 8
•
Work would also be done to look at how the University benchmarked against peers to ensure
that performance was monitored. This was particularly important given the uncertainty around
the People and Planet Green League.
Peter Lacey, Dual Assurance Lay Lead for Environmental Sustainability thanked Karen for the
report and noted that under her leadership the University had taken massive steps forward in
terms of environmental sustainability. The work on sustainable travel in particular had been
excellent and a real example had been set for the rest of the city and region. Staff and students
had been brought together in this process and it could now be genuinely said that environmental
sustainability was part of the institution’s DNA.
Carbon emission reduction remained one significant area of concern. Meeting the target for 2020
was not only a HEFCE requirement but was also important with regards to the University’s
reputation and unique research themes. However, the cost of achieving the targets that had been
set was considerable and whilst there were alternative funding models they were unlikely to
achieve what was required.
A paper would need to be brought to Council in the New Year to explain what the issues were and
what needed to be done to achieve the targets. Carbon reduction was a problem that needed to
be considered in a holistic and informed way
In discussion with members the following comments were noted:
•
Colleagues in the environmental sustainability team undertook wider consultation with the
academic community, students and external companies to look at best practice. This included
working with the One Planet MBA and the links the programme had with businesses.
•
Environmental sustainability was only one element of the wider definition of ‘sustainability’ and
the two must not be used as similes.
•
Whilst internally and for HEFCE reporting purposes the absolute target for 2020 needed to be
reported. However, reporting to external stakeholders on a normalised basis should be
considered as the University had achieved some excellent results and these should not be
played down.
•
The Grand Challenges initiative was being reviewed in order that modifications and
improvements could be made. Whilst there was a considerable number of students that
participated in Grand Challenges, further work was still needed to grow it. This included
making it credit bearing. The feedback from students who took part in Grand Challenges was
very positive.
•
ESI had been shortlisted for the 2015 BREEAM excellence awards.
The Chair thanked Karen and congratulated her and her team on the excellent progress that had
been made.
14.116 Risk Report (COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE)
Steve Chadwick in attendance
14.117 Penryn Sports Centre (COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE)
14.118 Review of Exeter Retirement Benefits Scheme (ERBS) (STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL)
14.119 Council Away Day: November 2014 (COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE)
14.120 Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 July 2014
It was REPORTED that Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 July 2014 (CNL/14/99CNL/14/105) had been APPROVED.
14.121 Audit Committee
(a) It was REPORTED that the Annual Report for 2013/14 had been APPROVED (CNL/14/104).
(b) Council RECEIVED the Annual Audit Return to HEFCE (CNL/14/102).
Page 7 of 8
(c) Council RECEIVED the draft minutes of the meeting held on 4 November (CNL/14/103).
14.122 Senate
Council RECEIVED a report from the meeting of Senate held on 5 November 2014 and
APPROVED (CNL/114/116):
a) The amendments to Ordinance 7.1 (Degrees awarded after programmes of Undergraduate
Study) to include ‘Masters of Arabic (MArabic).
b) The amendments to the Statutes and Ordinances relating to the appointment of Senior
Officers of the University: Statutes Sections 5, 6 & 7 and Ordinances 17, 23 & 28.
14.123 Council Nominations Committee (STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL)
14.124 Academic Promotions (STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL)
Council RECEIVED a report of promotions agreed between 13 June 2014 and 8 December 2014
(CNL/14/118).
14.125 Joint Committee for Consultation and Negotiation
Council RECEIVED the draft minutes from the meeting of the Joint Committee for Consultation
and Negotiation held on 6 November 2014 (CNL/14/119).
14.126 Budget Scrutiny Group
Council RECEIVED the minutes from the meeting of the Budget Scrutiny Group held on 25
November 2014 (CNL/14/120).
14.127 Infrastructure
Council RECEIVED:
(a) A summary of infrastructure reports (CNL/14/121).
(b) Minutes from meetings of the Capital Strategy Group held on 21 October and 18 November
2014 (CNL/14/122 and CNL/14/123).
14.128 Update Report from the Chief Information Officer
Council RECEIVED an update report from the Chief Information Officer (CNL/14/124).
14.129 High Performance Computing Environment
Council RECEIVED a progress report on building a High Performance Computing Environment
(CNL/14/125).
14.130 UOE Consulting Group: Annual Report
Council RECEIVED an annual report from the UOE Consulting Group (CNL/14/126).
14.131 Affixing the Seal of the University
Council AUTHORISED the fixing of the University seal to the documents listed in CNL/14/127.
14.132 Chair’s Closing Remarks (COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE)
JW/JAL
30 January 2015
M:\Exec Officer\COUNCIL\2014-15\December 2014\Council Minutes 18 December 2014.doc
Page 8 of 8