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INTERNAL MEMORANDUM
FROM: Vice-Chancellor
TO:
Members of staff
DATE: March 2004
SUBJECT:
Newsletter to staff
Dear Colleagues,
I am writing again to keep you up-to-date with key developments in the
University. I want this newsletter to provide a basis for informed discussion in
your own area and enable you to put forward comments or questions. It is
complemented by the Vice-Chancellor’s Office (VCO) intranet site which has
an up-to-date briefing on a wide range of issues This newsletter is available
to Associate Lecturers via the AL World website, as is the VCO site.
Finance
The University’s financial outturn for 2003/04 promises to be better than
budgeted because the savings that we need are being delivered and, on the
basis of our forecast student numbers, the Higher Education Funding Council
for England (HEFCE) has confirmed that the £2.9 million of teaching grant
held back last year will be restored this year. This is good news and I
congratulate everyone who has contributed to this success. However, I must
reiterate the importance of ensuring that our budgeted expenditure and our
student number forecasts are delivered; we have to maintain our efforts and
remain vigilant.
For next year, the Finance Division and the Planning Office have run the
Income and Expenditure Model, which gives us the parameters for the 2004/5
budget. The annual saving achieved to date is some £14 million, which is just
over half way to our ultimate target. With the further savings planned for it
looks like we will break even in 2004/5. There is still work to do to ensure that
planned savings are delivered but excellent progress has been made from the
position we were in two years ago.
HEFCE grant
We have just received details of our 2004/05 HEFCE recurrent funding (3
March) and our grant will be increased by £4 million to £156.4 million.
However, the small 2.6% increase is almost 1% less than inflation in
university costs, and means there is a continuing need to seek cost savings.
Within the small overall increase, however, there is some good news with
above sector-average increases for research and widening participation,
which will receive an additional £260K and £1.1 million respectively.
We welcome the improved funding for WP, which reflects government
recognition of our achievements and future potential in this area. However,
the rest of our teaching grant (£134.5 million) makes up the vast majority of
our HEFCE funding and this allocation assumes the OU will remain on track
to recruit and retain 3% more students this year.
The parallel announcement from the Scottish Higher Education Funding
Council will be made later this month.
The Higher Education Bill at Westminster
We continue to be very active in positioning the University on a series of
issues arising from the Bill, for example, student fees and OU funding, and we
have received very positive responses from Ministers both privately and on
the floor of the House. Our lobbying activities have been well supported by
OU advocates in both Houses and, in particular, by the MP for North East
Milton Keynes, Mr Brian White, who has been especially energetic in pursuing
the University's interests.
The Bill is now at Committee Stage, and we are fortunate that several MPs
who have direct knowledge of The Open University have been appointed to
that committee.
Although the funding aspects of the Bill will not apply in Scotland, we are
equally concerned that any consequential action taken in Scotland as a result
of the HE Bill in England should not disadvantage the part-time sector in
Scotland and the disproportionate contribution it makes to widening access
and renewing the skills and qualifications of the Scottish workforce. The OU
in Scotland is continuing to argue for more equitable financial support for parttime students.
Strategic Priorities 2004-08
Following discussions and workshops, including scenario planning earlier last
year, we
have brought together a revised version of the University‘s strategic priorities
and objectives under the title 'OU Futures'. This was unanimously approved
by Council on 2 March. The task now is one of implementation. We have set
ourselves some tough, though realistic, targets – and work is well underway to
achieving them. All of us have a role to play and I look forward to reporting
back to Council as we deliver against our targets.
We are intending that this plan will be revised on an on-going basis rather
than every two years, and I have created a small group to monitor and report
on the implementation of the Strategy. Regular updates will be included in the
‘Communications Brief’, which is included in my office website, and in Open
House and Sesame.
Academic Governance Review
The Academic Governance Review set up late last year as part of my
Executive’s Strategic Reviews programme has now produced a Consultation
Document.
The Review is studying the territory covered by Senate, the Academic Board
plus the main elements of its substructure, and the Central Academic Unit
(CAU) Boards. Its brief is ‘to make recommendations on what purposes the
academic governance structure should serve, what structure will best serve
those purposes, how it should operate, and what resources it should be
allocated'.
Comments are welcome from all members of the University. Senate will be
discussing the Review at its 10th March meeting. Responses are requested
by 16th April. The final report will be produced later in 2004. You can see the
document by opening this link:
http://intranet.open.ac.uk/docs/Academic_Governance_Review_consultation.
doc
Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)
Following an extensive review of the approach to research assessment led by
Sir Gareth Roberts, the four UK higher education funding councils have
agreed to carry out another UK-wide RAE to be completed in 2008. Like
previous exercises, this will be based upon expert review by discipline-based
panels considering written submissions from higher education institutions. The
purpose of the RAE is to inform research grant allocations to institutions
based on the quality and volume of research activity.
The panel structure has been revised which should ensure greater
consistency, and particular emphasis is being placed on involving those
people with a commercial view of research, and from end-user organisations.
The results will be published in different format, which replaces the existing
seven-point rating scale and will be used to determine funding levels.
This RAE gives us a powerful opportunity to present the best OU research to
the advantage of the University and our academic and research staff. The
published structure of the 2008 exercise is more favourable to the university
than the original Roberts’ proposals and gives an increased timescale for
preparation, although, in relative terms, the time is very limited.
Research will be the topic of my next Open Forum on March 9 at 2.30 p.m.
and Alan Bassindale will give a short presentation - 'The nature and role of
research in the OU of the future' – to stimulate our thinking.
I know that research is a hot topic across the University and I look forward to
a lively debate. Do come and share your ideas and questions with colleagues
and the panel, or find out more about the next RAE. As usual, you can submit
your questions in advance, if you wish, to Communications Group.
Middle States Accreditation
At Academic Board last month approval was given to the latest stage of our
accreditation as a university in America allowing us to offer US degrees and
enabling American students to gain access to a range of public funds to
support their study. This stage of self-reporting, together with a final
inspection visit to the Walton Hall campus, should lead to accreditation if all
goes according to plan by the end of 2004. This will further help any
partnership activity in the USA.
Action by the AUT
Members of the Association of University Teachers (AUT) took strike action
last week across the whole University, part of a national AUT week of strikes
against current grading and pay proposals. From March 1 the AUT is taking
action short of a strike, which will mean, in particular, that students will not
receive marks for their assessments until the dispute is resolved. We will, of
course, be doing all we can to support students who are affected through this
period.
New Library
Those of you who work at the Walton Hall campus, or who have recently
visited it, will have noticed the completion of our new library building. This
magnificent facility marks our place in the world of Open and Distance
learning as it is the hub of a wide range of services available to individuals at
their desktop. These facilities will enable us to meet our aims of supporting
academics in their teaching and research, and of supporting the learning of
Open University students and the wider community. I hope that as many of
you as possible will be able to visit the new building and take advantage of the
impressive collection, work areas and meeting rooms.
Space Science hits the headlines
The Princess Royal visited the Walton Hall campus on 10 February. She
toured the Space Science laboratories and met Professor Colin Pillinger and
other scientists involved in the Beagle 2 Mars mission. The Princess also met
students and unveiled a plaque commemorating her visit.
Despite the disappointing news of Beagle 2 there is a great deal happening in
the Planetary Sciences area. High definition television pictures from Mars
Express, the orbiting craft around Mars, have been received and are being
analysed at the OU. OU scientists have also designed and built a crucial
experiment for the pioneering spacecraft Rosetta which embarked on its 10year journey to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from Kourou, French
Guiana, on 2 March, and are closely involved in the epic Cassini-Huygens
mission to Saturn and Titan.
New Senior Appointments
Student Services has announced the appointment of new directors in six
regions. They are: Rosemary Mayes (R01, London); Linda Brightman (R03,
South West); Mike Rookes (R04, West Midlands); Angela Schofield (R06,
East of England); Nick Berry (R07, Yorkshire); and Liz Gray (R13, South
East). I am sure you join me in congratulating them all and wishing them
every success in their new roles.
Communications Brief on the VCO Website
We have now instituted a regular update of the briefing on the VCO website.
The March briefing will include the latest information on on-going reviews. I
hope this contributes to improving the level of communication within the
University and that staff all feel that they are fully informed as to latest
developments.
Professor Brenda Gourley
Vice-Chancellor