UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX
COUNCIL
23rd July 2007
( 2.15pm -4.00pm )
MINUTES
UNRESERVED BUSINESS
Chair
Ms Stevens, Pro-Chancellor
Present
Mr Barrett, Mr Blundell, Dr Burnett, Ms Colston, Mr Cornford, Professor Sir Ivor Crewe,
Professor Downton, Mrs Edey, Mr Elston, Mr Gore, Mr Lewis, Mr Mack, Dr Mackenzie,
Professor Massara, Lord Newton, Mr Rainbird, Professor South, Ms Stamp, Professor
Sunkin, Dr Watt
Apologies
Professor Busfield, Professor Cairns, Mrs Garbutt, Ms Hodges, Miss McFaull, Mr
Melville-Ross, Sir Robin Mountfield, Mr Murphy, Mr Nicol, Professor Pretty, Dr Steel
Secretary
Registrar & Secretary
In attendance
Academic Registrar, Director of Finance, Director of Estates, Director of Strategic
Planning, Director of University of Essex Southend, Professor Mitra
By invitation
Mr Boyle, Mr Doughty
CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Noted
The Chair welcomed Mr Boyle, an external candidate for the role of Chair of
Council, and Mr Doughty, the incoming President of the Students’ Union, who were
attending the meeting as Observers.
86/07
STARRING OF AGENDA ITEMS
Noted
The following items were starred for discussion in addition to those on the agenda:
13(a):
14(c):
17:
22:
87/07
Senate Report to Council
Nominations Committee
Membership of Committees of Council
Any other business
Item 12, Annual Report on the Strategic Plan, which was not starred, was listed on
the agenda as ‘for information, but was ‘for approval’.
88/07
The unstarred items of the agenda were then deemed to have been received or noted
and approved by Council as appropriate.
89/07
DECLARATION OF INTERESTS
Noted
No-one present declared an interest in any item on the agenda.
90/07
MINUTES
Approved
The Minutes of the meetings held on 21 May 2007.
91/07
VICE CHANCELLOR’S REPORT
Reported
The Vice-Chancellor gave an oral report which covered:
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a. Student recruitment: applications and acceptances;
b. Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills;
c. Increase in student maintenance grants.
Noted
The improvement in overseas student recruitment was welcomed and staff involved
were thanked for their hard work in implementing various recruitment initiatives,
some of which would take some years to make a significant impact.
93/07
In relation to the change in maintenance grants, the increase would mean that
students regarded as ‘nearly poor’ would receive additional government funding,
which in turn might lead the University to revise its bursary scheme. The overall
percentage of tuition fee income used for bursaries and access initiatives was not
expected to reduce. It was not clear from where the extra £400m the government
needed to fund this increase would be drawn, but it was likely to be taken from the
overall HE budget.
94/07
FORECAST OUTTURN 2006/07, BUDGET 2007/08 AND FINANCIAL FORECASTS TO
2010/11 (paper C/07/24)
Forecast Outturn 2006/07
Noted
Correction to circulated paper C/07/24:
P.5 The figure for the change since March in the two tables should was +£310k
rather than +£470k
P.16 The second bullet point should read ‘ Long-term debt servicing costs not to be
greater than operating case inflow’ (rather than ‘not to be less than’)
95/07
Reported
The Director of Finance updated the information in paper C/07/24. The sale of Avon
Way had been completed, totalling £6.15m. Finance and Strategy Committee had
agreed to cancel the Students’ Union outstanding loans (as at 31 July 2007) of
£741k. HEFCE had informed the University that following an audit of 2004/05
student returns, when it had found that non-completion rates had been underestimated, teaching grant totalling £814k was repayable in respect of 2004/05 and
2005/06. The University would appeal against the decision but the outcome would
not be known until early 2008 so that sum was set aside in the current year’s
accounts. The net impact of these variances was that the University’s projected
surplus for 2006/07 was £3.5m.
96/07
Ignoring the material non-recurring items, the underlying recurrent deficit for the
year was £175k, despite the new income stream from tuition fees. There were three
main factors contributing to this: a reduction in the volume of research and teaching
activity; reduced research contract income; and the start-up costs of the Southend
campus.
97/07
Budget 2007/08 and Financial Forecasts to 2010/11
Reported
UCS Ltd would start trading in 2007/08 and while Council would want to oversee its
financial performance, it should be ignored in terms of judging the University’s
performance. It would be consolidated as a single line in the accounts, taking 50%
of the UCS surplus or deficit and showing it as the outturn from the joint venture.
98/07
Putting aside UCS, the projected surplus for 2007/08 was £1m, rising to £2.5m by
2010/11. Since next year would be the second year of variable fees, with a net
income of £4.8m, rising to steady state at £7m the following year, the new income
stream was not flowing through as had been hoped.
99/07
The exceptions to the expectations of modest growth were an increase in research
income of nearly 24% arising from an award to the Institute of Social and Economic
Research worth £15.5m over five years, and the anticipated improvement in the
financial position relating to Southend which should cease to be in deficit and move
quickly towards substantial surpluses. The latter was dependent on rapid student
number growth, and whether this could be delivered in accordance with the business
plan, or not, was the biggest risk within the University’s financial forecasts.
100/07
Financial health was also reliant on surpluses from residences, catering and
conferences, which were set to grow over the planning period. There could be a high
degree of confidence that these surpluses would materialise.
101/07
The balance of the surplus came from the activity labelled ‘Colchester Core T&R’
which was regrettably in a spiral of decline, a function of low volume growth and
the funding gap. The problem may be worse than the forecasts suggested arising
from pay inflation, which was linked to RPI. If it continued to increase then it could
add £800k of unbudgeted cost in 2008/09. There could also be additional costs
arising from the outcome of actuarial valuations of the two support staff pension
schemes which were due in the Autumn.
102/07
Noted
Colchester Core T&R figures were slightly misleading because some Southend costs
(centrally funded services) were actually included in this line, which therefore had a
negative impact and masked the fact that the Southend outturn was actually lower
than it appeared.
103/07
Reported
The Capital Fund, which brought together capital expenditure and external financing 104/07
remained overdrawn at the end of next year and the following year, despite the cash
receipt from Avon Way. It reverted to surplus after that because the projected capital
expenditure in later years was unrealistically low. For that reason the work on
devising a new financial strategy had been commissioned, and that work was
ongoing.
Noted
The financial projections ignored the impact of FRS 17, the accounting standard on
pensions, which would not be known until late September and could have a positive
or negative effect on the final figure.
105/07
As the cost of debt servicing was set to exceed cash inflow in 2006/07 and 2007/08,
there would have been a breach of banking covenant for these two years, but the
bank had confirmed that it would be willing to waive the covenant.
106/07
Although there was relatively poor performance in terms of income, there had been a
rapid growth in assets, and borrowing arrangements could benefit from being renegotiated on that basis.
107/07
Resolved
i)
ii)
iii)
to note the 2006/07 forecast outturn recurrent deficit for the year of
£175k but that the profit from the disposal of Avon Way, along with
other exceptional items, converted this to a projected surplus of £3.5m.
that the budget for 2007/08 and later year forecasts be approved, noting
a projected recurrent surplus for the year of £1.4m or £1m after
exceptional items (and ignoring UCS Ltd) in 2007/08.
that Finance & Strategy Committee be required to continue its work on
devising a new financial strategy to permanently lift the University’s
surplus above 3%, to be in a position to afford new investment and be
better placed to deal with unexpected events.
108/07
PROGRESS REPORT ON FINANCIAL STRATEGY DISCUSSIONS (paper C/07/25)
Reported
Noted
In July 2006 Council asked Finance and Strategy Committee to assess investment
needs and identifying a strategy to improve the level of recurrent surplus to fund
those needs.
109/07
Considerable work towards this goal had been undertaken but in some cases the
outcome would take some time to materialise, including improving the financial
position of the newly merged Department of Computing and Electronic Systems,
improving the financial viability of East 15 Acting School though its expansion at
Southend, and examining and taking action on the results of the Tribal benchmarking
exercise which was looking at the costs of support services in the University.
110/07
The work would continue with the involvement of the new Vice-Chancellor and
there would be a further report back to Council after consideration of progress by
Finance and Strategy Committee during the autumn term. The final report would
include an implementation plan.
111/07
FORMULATING AN INVESTMENT POLICY FOR THE UNIVERSITY (paper C/07/26)
This item was deferred to the next meeting.
112/07
UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX SOUTHEND
(a) Southend Business Plan (paper C/07/27)
Noted
The draft Business Plan provided background information for the consideration of
the proposal to purchase premises for East 15 and to develop the old Prudential
building. A revised version would be considered at the October meeting of Finance
and Strategy Committee and a final version would be considered by Council in
November.
113/07
(b) Proposal to Acquire Premises for East 15 and to Develop the Prudential
Tower (paper C/07/28)
Received
The report of the meeting of Finance and Strategy Committee on 17 July (paper
C/07/38), gave a comprehensive summary of the proposals to address the need for
more academic and administrative space in Southend in the next few years, and
outlined the urgent need for additional rehearsal and performance space for East 15
activities.
114/07
Reported
Council had previously approved the purchase of the Empire Theatre in Southend,
with EEDA funding, but meanwhile a new opportunity had arisen which would
provide a more suitable space to cater for East 15’s teaching needs beyond 2008 and
allow for its expansion. The United Reform Church on Nelson Street was perfectly
located and planning permission was not expected to cause any difficulty. EEDA
115/07
had agreed in principle that if the University’s bid to purchase the Church was
successful, the funds that would have been put into the Empire Theatre could be
transferred to the purchase or, more probably the refurbishment of the Church. The
funding could not be guaranteed but was highly probable.
Resolved
that expenditure of up to £900k for the purchase of the United Reform Church,
Nelson Street, Southend be approved
116/07
Noted
Finance and Strategy Committee (F&S) had discussed the opportunities and risks of
entering into discussions with Squarestone, the development company which owned
the old Prudential building, known as the ‘Pru Tower’, adjacent to the UoES High
Street Building. It was proposed that it should be converted into a learning and
teaching block. The University would be the lead client and would take a long-term
lease on two floors in the first instance. F&S had agreed that the University should
pursue negotiations with Squarestone to achieve the framework of an acceptable
proposal for use of the Prudential building and develop a funding package designed
to protect the University’s long term interests.
117/07
CAPITAL DEVELOPMENTS
Capital Development (paper C/07/29)
Noted
118/07
ANNUAL REPORT ON THE STRATEGIC PLAN (paper C/07/30)
Resolved
that the annual report on the Strategic Plan be approved.
119/07
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM SENATE
(a) Senate: 4 July 2007 (paper C/07/31)
Noted
The wording of the target proposed by the Equality and Diversity Committee to
increase the percentage of women in senior appointments was unclear.
120/07
Resolved
that the target should be ‘To increase the number of women appointed to senior
roles as Heads of Department, Deans and Pro Vice Chancellors from 11% in 2006
to 20% by 2010’.
121/07
Resolved
that all other recommendations contained in the Report from Senate be approved.
122/07
(b) Approval of Revised Ordinances (paper C/07/32)
Resolved
that revised Ordinances be approved with effect from 1 August 2007.
123/07
(c) Proposed Partnership with Kaplan Open Learning (KOL)(Paper C/07/33)
Received
Extract from the Senate minutes (4 July 2007), the proposal paper submitted to
Senate, report of the Institutional Validation, University Procedures for the
Evaluation and Approval of a Prospective Collaborative Partner and updated
information on projected finances.
124/07
Reported
Since the Senate meeting, the Institutional Validation Panel had confirmed that it
was satisfied that KOL had met the conditions set out in the Institutional Validation
report, subject to clarification of the governance procedures for the partnership. It
was confirmed by the Dean of Academic Partnerships that this would be addressed
through the contractual agreement, as would the condition that clauses allowing
125/07
early termination of the partnership by the University were satisfactory.
Noted
Senate had also required that that the extent to which the University would benefit
from access to KOL’s expertise in online delivery of courses be clarified and made
explicit.
126/07
Reported
KOL would facilitate the creation of on-line versions of existing or new Essex
127/07
modules and run them on the KOL servers. Initially it was envisaged that two
modules would be transferred to the on-line platform, with Essex academic staff
providing the content and KOL staff providing technical support and advice about
on-line approaches to pedagogy. KOL would also provide appropriate access,
training and support to the lecturers to enable them to manage the various discussion
forums, document sharing, student induction and other aspects of the platform. If
complex content required elaborate processing to reach a final on-line form, KOL
might look to recover some of the direct costs of the technical support.
Noted
In response to points raised in discussion, it was confirmed that students enrolled by
KOL on the University’s validated courses would be students of the University
which meant that they would have access to support services such as the Students’
Union and the Library, although they would have different levels of entitlement
from Colchester campus-based students to services. Concerns about a possible
take-over of Kaplan’s parent company at some point in the future would be
addressed through appropriate clauses in the legal agreement.
128/07
Resolved
that Kaplan Open Learning be approved as a partner institution of the University of
Essex for a period of five years from 11 September 2007, subject to confirmation by
Finance and Strategy Committee at the meeting on 10 September that the legal
agreement between the University and Kaplan was approved.
129/07
Noted
Dr Watt dissented from the resolution.
130/07
(d) Campus Relations (paper C/07/34)
Resolved
that the Policy on Tackling Violent Extremism in the Name of Ideology or Belief
and Maintaining Cohesive Campus Relations be approved.
131/07
REPORTS OF COMMITTEES
(a) Finance & Strategy Committee: 16 April, 21 May and 18 June and 17 July 2007 (papers
C/07/35, C/07/36, C/07/37, C/07/38)
Noted
The recommendations from Finance and Strategy Committee had been considered
and approved under earlier agenda items.
132/07
(b) Audit & Risk Management Committee: 6 March and 19 June 2007 (papers C/07/39
C/07/40)
Noted
133/07
(c) Nominations Committee: 21 May 2007 (paper C/07/41)
Reported
The Registrar gave a progress report on the appointment of a new Chair of Council
from January 2008. The vacancy had been advertised internally and on the Public
Appointments website. There had been discussions with all those who had
expressed an interest in being considered, and CVs of those that wished their names
to go forward were being provided to Council members, and the current ViceChancellor and Chair of Council would be in touch with each member to ascertain
134/07
their views. Nominations Committee would draw up a short-list on basis of those
comments, and would appoint a selection committee, including the new ViceChancellor, to interview the candidates and make a recommendation to Council.
Noted
There was no specified procedure laid down for the appointment of the Chair of
Council and it was agreed that one was desirable so that there was a clear and
transparent process to be followed in future. Such a procedure would be drafted for
Council’s approval.
135/07
Resolved
Recommended to Council:
136/07
that the Dean of the Graduate School and the Dean of Dean of Academic
Partnerships should be appointed as members of Council from 1 August 2007 to 31
July 2008.
Resolved
that the following members of Court be re-appointed for the period 1 August 2007 –
31 July 2010:
Mr C Barnett
Mrs E Blundell
Mr R D Hart
Mr G Hewlett
Mr H E Kempe
Mrs E Kerr-Smiley
137/07
Mrs K Merriweather
Mr E A Peel
Mr R P Spendlove
Rt Revd J Waine
Mr C T White-Thomson
(d) Remuneration Committee (18 June 2007) (paper C/07/42 attached)
Noted
138/07
(e) Health and Safety Committee (paper C/07/43)
Resolved
that the revised University Safety Policy be approved.
139/07
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
League Tables (Paper C/07/44)
Noted
The Guardian University League Tables 2003-2007.
140/07
UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX COLLECTION OF LATIN AMERICAN ART
DEVELOPMENT PLAN 2007-2012 (Paper C/07/45)
Resolved
that the University of Essex Collection of Latin American Art Development Plan
2007-2012 be approved.
141/07
MEMBERSHIPS OF COMMITTEES OF COUNCIL 2007/08 (paper C/07/46)
Resolved
that the membership and terms of reference of Committees of Council 1 August
2007 to 31 July 2008 (as set out in paper C/07/46) be approved, subject to the
amendment that the membership of Nominations Committee would not include
Professor Burnett, as he would not continue to be a member of Council.
142/07
Noted
A revised recommendation would be proposed.
143/07
STANDING ORDERS FOR MEETINGS OF THE COUNCIL(paper C/07/47)
Resolved
that the Standing Orders for meetings of the Council(as set out in paper C/07/47) be
144/07
approved, in accordance with Ordinance 11.
CHAIR’S ACTION
Noted
The Chair’s action to approve the University’s No Smoking Policy (paper C/07/48).
145/07
HEFCE’S ASSESSMENT OF INSTITUTIONAL RISK (paper C/07/49)
Noted
146/07
DELEGATION OF AUTHORITY
a. Formal Delegation of Powers (paper C/07/50)
Resolved
that the schedule of powers formally delegated by Council to other bodies be
approved.
147/07
b. Delegation of Authority for Summer Period
Resolved
that the Chair be authorised to take action on behalf of Council during the summer
break.
148/07
ANY OTHER BUSINESS
Noted
The Vice-President (Finance) of the Students’ Union thanked Council for the
support he had received during his two years in membership and paid tribute to the
Vice-Chancellor.
149/07
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Noted
The dates of meeting in 2007/08:
150/07
Monday 8 October 2007
Monday 26 November 2007
Monday 17 March 2008
Monday 21 July 2008
RETIRING MEMBERS
Noted
On behalf of Council, the Chair thanked Lord Newton and Mr Rainbird, whose
periods of appointment came to an end on 31 July 2007, for their support for the
University and the valuable contributions they had made to the work of Council and
its committees.
151/07
The Chair noted that 2006/07 had been a transitional year for membership of
Council, taking account of the reduction in the size of Council which would come
into effect next year, which meant that exceptionally most academic staff members
of Council were standing down, although some might be re-elected by the Senate as
representatives.
152/07
The Chair thanked Mr Barrett and Ms McFaul, of the Students’ Union for their
contribution to the work of Council.
153/07
It was the Vice-Chancellor’s final meeting of Council before his retirement and the
Chair extended the very warmest thanks and good wishes to him on behalf of
members of Council.
There was no reserved business.
Dr Tony Rich
Registrar and Secretary
27 July 2007
154/07