UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
CNL/15/15
COUNCIL
A meeting of the Council was held on Thursday 26 February 2015 at 9.00am in the Tremough House
Boardroom, Penryn Campus.
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
Ms T Costello
Mr R Davies
Professor K E Evans
Ms R Gillies
Ms J Hargadon
Mr P J M Hodges
Mr R M P Hughes
Mr P Lacey
Mr C C Pomfret
Professor T A Quine
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 Campus Services, Mr P J Attwell (for discussions under minute 15.08)
Director of Communication and Corporate Affairs, Mrs J Chafer
Chief Financial Officer, Mr A Connolly
Associate Director, DARO, Ms K Foley (for discussions under minute 15.09)
Head of Philanthropy, DARO, Ms K Gallagher (for discussions under minute 15.09)
Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor M Goodwin
Senior Officer, Professional Services Transformation, Mr J R A Hutchinson (for
discussions under minute 15.07)
Director of DARO, Ms S Jarman (for discussions under 15.09)
Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor N Kaye
Director of Human Resources, Ms J A Marshall
Director of Estate Development, Mr H McCann (for discussions under minute 15.08)
Chief Operating Officer, Mr R G Pringle
Professional Services Transformation, Ms L Sands (for discussions under minute
15.07)
Director of Academic Services and Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Ms M I
Shoebridge
Head of Supporter Engagement, Mr D Watson (for discussions under minute 15.09)
Executive Officer, Mrs J Williams
Head of Operations, DARO, Ms L C Williams (for discussions under minute 15.09)
APOLOGIES:
Sir Robin Nicholson
15.01
Chair’s Opening Remarks
The Chair welcomed Professor Tim Quine to his first meeting of Council since being elected as a
Senate nominated member.
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The Chair recorded her warm congratulations on behalf of Council to Dr Sarah Buck who had
been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List for services to engineering and
education.
The Chair also recorded her congratulations to Chris Pomfret who had been appointed as the new
st
Chair of Governors for Falmouth University from 1 September 2015. Chris would, as a result, be
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stepping down as a member of Exeter’s Council on 31 July 2015.
15.02
Declarations of Interest
Members NOTED the register of members’ interests in relation to the business of the agenda
including standing declarations of interest.
15.03
Minutes
The minutes of the meeting held on 18 December 2014 were CONFIRMED (CNL/14/128).
15.04
Matters Arising from the Minutes
(a) MINUTE 14.114 ANNUAL REPORT: HEALTH AND SAFETY
Council RECEIVED a verbal update on COSHH from the Director of Human Resources,
Jacqui Marshall.
The University was legally compliant to the extent that it had a robust policy and procedures
and COSHH assessor training in place. However, assurance could not be given that Colleges
and Professional Services were compliant with implementing the policy requirements in all
areas. There would be pockets of excellence and other areas that would be yet to start. There
would be more resource in place for the next academic year in the form of a new fixed term
COSHH assessor post. This person would work with the Colleges to develop a picture of
compliance and work with the high risk areas first.
(b) MINUTE 14.110 MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES
Council RECEIVED a verbal update from the Chief Operating Officer (COO) on the matter of
student accommodation bursaries.
The COO had met with the Chief Executive and the President of the Students’ Guild and they
would be developing a proposal to bring to Council at a future meeting.
(c) MINUTES 14.118 REVIEW OF EXETER RETIREMENT BENEFITS SCHEME (ERBS)
Council RECEIVED a verbal update from the Chief Financial Officer, Andrew Connolly.
The University had spoken to the Trustees of ERBS and a timetable for the review of the
scheme had been agreed. Legal advice had also been taken on the changes that were
proposed and there had now been two meetings with the Trade Union representatives. The
University could not unilaterally change the agreed conditions of employment for staff and
therefore changes would need to be negotiated with the Trade Unions.
An update was also provided on the Universities Superannuation Scheme. In January the
USS Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) agreed a joint proposal for reform of the USS,
supported by both UUK and UCU. It would now be the subject of a statutory consultation with
all employees who were members of USS. The proposed changes to the pension benefits were
as follows:
• Move from Final Salary (FS) to Career Revalued Benefits (CRB).
• FS benefits accrued to the date of the change would be increased by Consumer Price
Index (CPI).
• CRB up to a salary threshold of £55,000 (to be increased annually with CPI).
• Defined Contribution (DC) for pensionable pay above the salary threshold of £55,000 20% of salary above the salary threshold would be paid into DC savings.
• Employer Contributions increase from 16% to 18%.
• Employee Contributions increase from 7.5% (FS) or 6.5% (CRB) to 8%.
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• Option for all employees to make extra DC savings, 1% (employee) matched by 1% from
the employer on all pensionable pay.
• Future CRB accrual to be at 1/75 of pensionable salary each year (currently 1/80).
15.05
Vice-Chancellor’s Report
(a) Council RECEIVED a report from the Vice-Chancellor (CNL/15/1), which covered the
following topics:
(i)
Announcements and Appointments
• OBE for Dr Sarah Buck - it was with great pleasure that the Vice-Chancellor formally
recorded the University’s sincere congratulations to Dr Sarah Buck, on the award of
an OBE in the New Year’s Honours list for services to engineering and education.
• Chair Appointment of the Falmouth University Board of Governors - Chris Pomfret
had been appointed as the new Chair of the Board of Governors at Falmouth
University from 1 September 2015. As a result of his appointment, Chris would be
stepping down from Council at the end of this academic year. The University was
obviously very sad to be losing a valued lay member of Council, but also delighted
that Falmouth University, as one of the University’s partners, would be gaining a good
friend of Exeter’s to lead its governing body. The Vice-Chancellor recorded his
congratulations to Chris on this important appointment.
• Dean of Strategic Development, Cornwall Campuses - Professor David Hosken of the
College of Life and Environmental Sciences had been appointed to the post of Dean
of Strategic Development, Cornwall Campuses. Professor Hosken would be assisting
Professor Mark Goodwin on the implementation of the Cornwall Strategy. Professor
Hosken is a Professor of Evolutionary Biology and a world-leading expert in sexual
selection and sexual conflict.
• New Associate Dean Research (ADR) for College of Life and Environmental Sciences
(CLES) – the Vice-Chancellor was delighted to announce that Professor Andy Jones
would be the new Associate Dean Research for CLES from 1st April 2015. Professor
Jones was Professor of Applied Physiology and currently Head of Sport and Health
Sciences. The Vice-Chancellor also took the opportunity to thank Professor Mike
Boots as outgoing ADR, and to wish him well for his future position at University of
California, Berkeley.
• Changes in Senior Professional Services Roles
College Manager Changes
The growth of the Medical School was a top priority for the University and Ariel Edge,
currently College Manager in Humanities, had moved to the Medical School at this
exciting time in its development. Ariel had been at Exeter since 2004 and previously
managed Exeter’s School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies and the
School of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Chris Lindsay had moved into a new role, identified as critical within the Exeter
Transformation programme, looking at how the University could further sharpen its
processes of compliance, assurance (including Quality Assurance) and governance,
including statutory obligations. Chris brought a wealth of experience from his time in
the Registrar’s office at the University of Warwick as well as his time as College
Secretary and Head of Administration at Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry.
Hannah Rundle would become Acting College Manager in Humanities. Hannah joined
Exeter in 2006 from Oxford and had most recently been Deputy College Manager and
Assistant College Manager External Relations in Humanities, and previously
managed the Graduate School and External Relations team in the College of Social
Sciences and International Studies.
Managers of the Living Systems and Environmental Sustainability Institutes
The Vice-Chancellor was also delighted to announce the recent appointments to both
the Living Systems Institute Manager and Environment and Sustainability Institute
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Manager positions. These exciting and cross-disciplinary roles would play a crucial
part in delivering the University's research ambitions.
Catherine Wolfgang had been appointed to the post of Living Systems Institute
Manager. Catherine had held a number of roles throughout the University, most
recently as Assistant College Manager (ERICA) in CLES. Catherine was pivotal in
securing the recent Wolfson award of £2m towards the capital costs of the Living
System Building. Catherine would take up her new position in March.
Gail Eastaugh, who was welcomed from Plymouth University, had been appointed as
Environment and Sustainability Institute Manager and would join the Penryn Campus
on 20th April. Gail currently held the position of Business Manager (Research and
Innovation) at the Plymouth University Tremough Innovation Centre.
• Chief Operating Officer amongst most influential LGBT Executives in the UK - Geoff
Pringle had been named as one of the most influential executive role models in the
UK. Geoff had been recognised as being amongst the most influential Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) executives in business today, in the Out at Work
Top 50 rankings. He ranked 43rd in the prestigious list, published in the Telegraph on
16 January 2015.
Geoff’s award came as the University of Exeter was named as one of the top-200
best employers in Britain for lesbian, gay and bisexual staff. The Vice-Chancellor
recorded formally the University’s congratulations to Geoff on this much-deserved
recognition of his work.
(ii)
Local Enterprise Partnership Growth Deal
At a visit to the Science Park on 29 January, the Prime Minister announced a major
boost to Exeter’s cutting-edge weather and climate research, with a £10million cash
injection for the Exeter Science Park, as part of the £65.2 million given to the Heart of the
South West Local Enterprise Partnership’s agreement to expand its Growth Deal with the
Government. This money would be invested in the region between 2016 and 2021.
The £10 million for Exeter Science Park would be split across two projects. £6million
would come to the University to help establish the Global Environmental Futures
campus. The remaining £4million would fund Stage 2 of the Science Park Centre,
including additional space.
(iii) Times Higher Education League Table of the Global 100 Universities
nd
The University of Exeter had been ranked 62 in the latest Times Higher Education
(THE) league table of the global 100 most international universities, published on 23
st
January 2015. The latest table showed Exeter having risen nine places, from 71
position in 2014.
The 2015 Most International Universities list, compiled by the THE, considered each
institution’s percentage of international staff, its international student numbers and the
proportion of its research papers published with a co-author from at least one other
country.
(iv) UCU/USS Update
To address a significant increase in the deficit in USS (from £2.9bn following the 2011
valuation to approximately £12bn in 2014), UUK submitted a number of significant
changes to the scheme to the USS Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) in October 2014.
In response, UCU called an assessment boycott in November 2014. UCU submitted its
own proposals for scheme changes to the USS JNC in November 2014. Shortly
afterwards, following discussions at national level, UCU suspended their assessment
boycott to allow for discussions to continue at national level. In the event, revised
recommendations were jointly agreed by UCU and UUK negotiators and following a
consultative ballot of UCU members (where two-thirds of those voting supported the
changes) and the USS JNC agreed the joint proposal in January 2015. UCU had now
formally called off their assessment boycott. The dispute, for the short time it lasted, had
no significant impact on students at Exeter. The proposed changes to USS agreed by the
JNC would now be the subject of statutory consultation, commencing on 16 March 2015
and running to 22 May 2015. The Board of USS would make a final decision on scheme
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changes later in the year taking account of the outcome of the consultation. USS was
currently preparing guidance for institutions on how to conduct the consultation. If
approved, the changes would come into effect on 1 April 2016.
(v) UCAS Application Figures for 2015 University Entry (January Deadline)
UCAS had published its analysis of all full-time undergraduate applications considered
'on time' for the 15 January deadline, the first reliable indicator of demand for higher
education this cycle. The figures revealed a 2% increase in the total number of
applicants (592,290) to higher education courses compared to the same point last year.
Although this was the highest number ever recorded at this stage, the increase was
smaller than in recent years. Key points to note were:
• The underlying increase for UK applicants was 1%. There was a 7% increase in
applicants from the EU and a 3% increase from those outside the EU.
• Application rates for 18 year olds in all UK countries were at their highest ever levels.
• Young people from the most disadvantaged areas across the UK were more likely to
apply to higher education than ever before, continuing to close the gap on the most
advantaged.
• In total over 90,000 more women had applied than men. Demand from young women
was increasing faster than from young men, widening the gap between them. In
England young women were now 36% more likely to apply.
• London had seen the largest increase in demand, with 44% of 18 year olds now
applying.
• Within the UK there had been an increase in 18 and 19 year old applicants, while the
numbers of applicants from older age groups had reduced this year.
(vi) BIS Letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)
The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Minister for
Universities and Science had confirmed funding allocations to HEFCE for financial year
2015-16, in the Government’s annual grant letter to HEFCE. The grant letter set out
Government funding and priorities for HEFCE and for higher education and confirmed a
level of funding of just over £4 billion, essentially unchanged from the indicative
allocations announced in February 2014. This included an increase in capital funding of
£163 million compared to 2014-15 (a £146 million increase in teaching capital and a £17
million rise in research capital). The grant letter did not provide an indication of funding
levels beyond financial year 2015-16.
The letter makes reference to a number of important issues, including the role of higher
education in driving economic growth, and asked universities to give focus to supporting
delivery of the Government’s Science and Innovation Strategy.
Also, the letter
recognised the high quality results of the Research Excellence Framework, but noted
that research excellence should be funded selectively but also ‘wherever it is found’. The
Russell Group had publicly commented that “Ministers are right to emphasise the
importance of focussing funding on world-leading and internationally excellent research;
it is particularly important to build on success by investing in major centres of excellence
rather than spreading limited funds too thinly where they will have less impact.”
Teaching funding priorities remained the same; HEFCE was asked to continue to protect,
as far as possible, funding for high cost subjects, widening participation, and small and
specialist institutions.
th
Grants for individual universities and colleges would be published on 25 March 2015.
(vii) Labour Party Fees Policy Update
Council Members may have seen the letter from the Board of Universities UK to the
Times newspaper on 2 February, which highlighted the dangers of the Labour Party’s
proposal to reduce university tuition fees in England from £9,000 to £6,000. The letter
emphasised that ‘were this to happen, at least £10bn of additional public funding would
need to be found and ring-fenced over the course of the next parliament to close the gap.
Given the many pressures on public finances, and with all political parties committed to
further public spending cuts, it is implausible that any incoming government would be
able to do this. The result would be cuts to universities that would damage the economy,
affect the quality of students’ education, and set back work on widening access to higher
education.’
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(viii) European Research Funding: Horizon 2020
In January, the European Commission launched a proposal to set up a European Fund
for Strategic Investments (EFSI), designed as a new instrument to tackle the investment
gap in Europe. While the intention of the European Commission with this fund was
highly commendable, the university community was concerned about how the
Commission proposed to finance this initiative. The Commission’s proposal foresees to
remove 2.7bn Euros from the Horizon 2020 programme for this purpose. The proposed
cuts spanned the full scope of the programme, affecting the Excellent Science pillar and
the Societal Challenges pillar (collaborative research).
The European Universities Association is lobbying against this worrying proposal, and
the Vice-Chancellor would keep Council informed as the situation developed.
(ix) South West Life Sciences Review
It had been announced by the Chancellor that a Review of the South West’s strengths in
life sciences was to be carried out by Professor Sir Mark Walport, the government Chief
Scientist and Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer. The University clearly expected
to be very involved in the Review as it developed, and Professor Nick Talbot had been
nominated by GW4 to represent the GW4 partnership.
(x) Dowling Review
The Government had asked Professor Dame Ann Dowling to develop advice and
recommendations for BIS on how Government could support relationships between UK
businesses and the UK’s world-leading university researchers. The objective of the
Review was to help researchers to understand better the interests of industry. The
Review would Report after the General Election.
(b) In addition to the written report, the Vice-Chancellor drew attention to the following:
(i)
Outcome of Guild Sabbatical Elections
The Vice-Chancellor was very pleased to announce that the elected candidates in the
2014/15 Students’ Guild Sabbatical Elections were:
Guild President: Laura-Jane Tiley (BA English)
Vice-President Education: Bethan Jones (BSc Mathematics)
Vice-President Welfare and Diversity: Naomi Armstrong (BSc Pyschology)
Vice President Activities: Katie O’Connor (BA Drama)
Athletic Union President: Jack Bristow (BA History and Politics)
International Officer: Ben Tao (MSc Psychology)
The turnout for the election had broken the Guild’s highest ever voting rate: 7431
individual votes were cast for the positions. The total turnout was 6% higher than in
2014, 4% higher than the Students’ Guild record and 2% higher than the national
average at comparable students’ unions. The Vice-Chancellor congratulated the 2015/16
officers and looked forward to welcoming them into their roles in July. Colleagues now
looked forward to the results from the FXU sabbatical elections which were currently
th
underway and would close on Friday 27 February.
(ii)
Chancellor Announcement (CONFIDENTIAL)
(iii) Tuition Fees
The Vice-Chancellor supplemented his written report with a verbal update on the external
higher education (HE) environment and the Labour Party’s proposal to reduce tuition
fees.
15.06
Admissions Update (COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE)
15.07
Business Case: Exeter Transformation Programme (STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL)
James Hutchinson and Liz Sands in attendance
15.08
Capital Infrastructure Fund Tranche 3 Update and Penryn Sports Centre (COMMECIAL IN
CONFIDENCE)
Phil Attwell and Hugh McCann in attendance
(a) CAPITAL INFRASTRUCTURE FUND TRANCHE 3
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(b) PENRYN SPORTS CENTRE.
15.09
University Campaign Plan (COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE)
Sarah Jarman, Kate Foley, Lisa Williams, Dave Watson, Kristen Gallagher in attendance
15.10
Draft Students’ Guild Accounts 2013/14
Council RECEIVED the draft Students’ Guild Accounts 2013/14 (CNL/15/8).
15.11
University Terms and Academic Calendar 2015-16
Council CONSIDERED a draft of the University Terms and Academic Calendar 2015-16
(CNL/15/9), the final version of which would be presented to the April meeting of Council for
approval.
15.12
REF Outcomes: Full Report
Council RECEIVED the full report on the REF Outcomes (CNL/15/10).
15.13
Infrastructure
(a) INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
Council RECEIVED a report on infrastructure projects (CNL/15/11).
(b) BUILDING A HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT (COMMERCIAL IN
CONFIDENCE)
15.14
ERBS Trustee
Council APPROVED the appointment of Ray O’Connell as a Trustee of ERBS for an initial
term of three years with immediate effect (CNL/15/13).
15.15
Affixing the Seal of the University
Council AUTHORISED the fixing of the University seal to the documents listed in CNL/15/14.
15.16
Chair’s Closing Remarks
The Chair thanked colleagues for an excellent two days at the Penryn Campus. The next
th
meeting of Council would be held at the Streatham Campus on 16 April.
JW/JAL
30 March 2015
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