NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY
COURT
8 December 2009
Present:
The Chancellor (in the Chair), Chairman of Council and Pro-Chancellor, ViceChancellor, Mrs L Braiden, Mr N E Braithwaite, Professor G Burgess, Sir Peter
Carr, Mrs J J Clubley, Ms M Coyle, Professor EGN Cross, Sir Michael
Darrington, Professor C P Day, Councillor D Faulkner, Ms A Georgiou, Mr A A E
Glenton, Professor E V Haimes, Dr V A Hammond, Ms J Henderson, Councillor
Mick Henry, Professor O R Hinton, Mr M I’Anson, Mr J Jeffery, Mr A Jones, Mr
PM Johnson, Lord Judd of Portsea, Miss F M Kirkby, Judge Mithani, The Rt Rev
the Lord Bishop of Newcastle, Dr M Ridley, Professor E Ritchie, Sir George
Russell, Mr H M Shukla, Mr R Taylor, Lord Walton of Detchant, Professor M J
Whitaker, Professor N G Wright and Professor P L Younger.
In attendance:
Apologies
for absence:
1.
Mr R C Dale (Executive Director of Finance), Dr J V Hogan (Registrar) and
Miss E M Niven (Administrative Officer).
Sir Thomas Allen, The Rt Hon Alan Beith MP, Mr A Bergshaven, Sir
Patrick Brown, Mr J Edwards, Mr A Fenwick, Ms C Galley, Professor C
Harvey, Dr R Hawley, Lady Irvine, Dr H Loebl, Lord Joicey, Mr RH
Maudslay, Mr N Sherlock, Professor AC Stevenson, Dr M Stoppard and
The Rt Hon Sir Mark Waller.
WELCOME TO THE NEW CHAIRMAN
Reported:
That Sir Liam Donaldson was chairing his first meeting of Court following his
inauguration as Chancellor on Monday, 7 December.
The Chairman of Council and Pro-Chancellor welcomed the Chancellor and
congratulated him on the speech he had delivered at the previous day’s inauguration
ceremony. It was agreed that the transcript of the Chancellor’s speech would be
circulated to all members of Court.
2.
MINUTES
The Minutes of the meeting held on 8 May 2009 were approved as a correct record
and signed.
3.
MEMBERSHIP
Received the membership of Court for 2009/2010.
(Circulated with the Agenda as Document B – Copy filed in the Minute Book)
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4.
VICE-CHANCELLOR'S BUSINESS
The Vice-Chancellor’s report was tabled at the meeting (copy filed in the Minute
Book).
Noted that:
1.
The University had improved its performance in the National Student Survey
(NSS) and had achieved an overall satisfaction rating of 87%. Newcastle’s
improved result was in contrast to the national results where the overall
satisfaction rating had declined by 1%. It was noted that the respondents to
this year’s survey were the first to have paid three years of ‘top-up’ fees.
2.
The University was now amongst the top ten institutions in terms of the total
amount of income received from the Research Councils.
3.
Work was underway to implement the strategic objectives noted in the Vision
2021 document, which Court members had received at the meeting in May
2009. A number of strategies had been produced to assist with the
implementation. The University was also developing a number of Societal
Challenge Themes, the first of which was entitled ‘Changing Age’. It had
recently been agreed that ‘Sustainability’ would be pursued as the second
theme and a third theme was yet to be identified. It was suggested that
tackling inequalities and social exclusion should be considered as a possible
subject for the third Societal Challenge Theme.
4.
A meeting of the Newcastle Science City Board was due to take place on 10
December and the University was to propose that the theme of sustainability
should be integral to the whole initiative. It was also stated that the
University’s contribution to Science City would be demonstrated via the
pursuit of three themes on three sites:
Ageing at the Campus for Ageing and Vitality;
Stem Cells at the International Centre for Life;
Sustainability on the Science Central site.
The City Development Company, 1NG, had recently prepared a draft
economic masterplan in which science, innovation and technology was stated
as being an integral part of the strategy to develop the NewcastleGateshead
conurbation. The final version of the masterplan was expected to be launched
in early 2010.
5.
The University was thanked for the role which it had played in bringing
communities together and for making its facilities available to the region.
6.
The University was in a strong financial position and currently no closures of
academic units were planned following the reduction in Government funding
that was expected. Surpluses had been generated over the last few years and
the current programme of capital developments would be completed without
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debt. The University would have to wait for the outcome of the next election,
before the future funding from the Government would be confirmed.
5.
7.
The University could afford to make strategic investments, provided these
investments produced the excellence base required to deliver the Strategic
Objectives and the Societal Challenge Themes.
8.
The impact of research would become an important consideration in the
Research Excellence Framework (REF) that was to be completed in 2013, the
results of which would be used to distribute funding from the funding council.
The pursuit of the Societal Challenge Themes should put the University in a
strong position to address the requirements of the impact assessment. The
final details of the REF were yet to be confirmed and it was not yet clear
whether it would include a focus on inter-faculty collaborations.
9.
It was confirmed that the Science City initiative was about the city of
Newcastle, and as such all knowledge-based institutions located in the city
could be part of it. The University continued to collaborate with Durham
University via the Angel Alliance and the Vice-Chancellor offered to report on
this at a future meeting of Court.
10.
The University’s voucher scheme for business, which had been included in its
ten step plan to assist the regional economy, had been well received. It was
confirmed that a further £500,000 of funding had been allocated to enable the
scheme to be extended beyond January 2010.
11.
Members of Court who wished to send feedback or receive further information
on the items discussed were invited to contact the Vice-Chancellor.
VICE-CHANCELLOR’S QUESTIONS
Received from Lord Judd :
Request for update on ‘Access and the University’s performance in the 2009 intake’.
Noted that :
1.
The recession had caused a higher demand for university places and the
University had witnessed an increase in application numbers in almost all
subject areas.
2.
The University’s main widening participation initiative was the PARTNERS
programme which developed relationships with a large numbers of schools
and further education colleges in the region. The number of applications
submitted via the PARTNERS supported entry route for 2009 entry had
increased by 35% when compared with the previous year. The number of
students finally accepted onto degree programmes had also increased by
12.5%.
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6.
3.
The University’s Graduate Ambassadors had visited 86 schools and colleges
in Yorkshire, Humberside and the North West during 2008-09. Applications
and enrolments from the schools which had received a visit from a graduate
ambassador had increased by 57% and 81% respectively.
4.
The UCAS admissions data for 2009 entry was not yet available, however,
data from 2007 and 2008 showed that there had been a year-on-year increase
in applications from black and minority ethnic and lower socio-economic
groups. This upward trajectory was expected to be continued in the figures for
the 2009 intake.
5.
Due to the strong links it had established with schools and colleges in the
region, the University was able to meet and exceed its targets for recruiting
from areas with a history of low participation in higher education. The targets
which required the University to recruit on a nationwide basis proved harder to
meet, however, due to the difficultly of establishing relationships with schools
and colleges outside of the region. The University was participating in the
Realising Opportunities ‘Group of 13’ project which, it was hoped, would
address this. A report on this project was included in the Vice-Chancellor’s
business paper.
PRINCIPLES FOR THE AWARD OF FELLOWSHIPS OF THE UNIVERSITY
Considered:
A recommendation from Court Steering Committee that the principles for the award
of Honorary Fellowships should be amended to allow the Alumni Consultative Group
(ACG) to make nominations.
(Circulated with the Agenda as Document C - Copy filed in the Minute Book)
Resolved that the amendments to the principles for the award of Honorary
Fellowships be approved.
7.
CHANGING AGE
Received a presentation from Professor Tom Kirkwood, Director of the Institute for
Ageing and Health, on this year’s Societal Challenge Theme ‘Changing Age’.
A copy of the slides used during the presentation is filed in the Minute Book.
Noted that:
1.
The Institute of Ageing and Health was founded in 1994 with the intention of
facilitating research which could not be undertaken by a single academic unit.
It sought to encourage collaboration with other institutions and with the NHS.
2.
Life expectancy had increased at the rate of 5 hours a day for each day for the
last 200 years and a graph could be plotted from 1840 showing a linear
increase in life expectancy. In developing countries the increase was
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approaching 8-10 hours a day and in the most advanced countries levels of ill
health were falling amongst the elderly. The work conducted by the Institute
had identified a number of factors that contributed to ageing and ill health.
Genetic factors contributed to about a quarter of the factors that determined
the length of life, but other factors included nutrition, the environment, social
and economic factors, lifestyle and chance.
3.
There was no genetic programme for ageing and ageing occurred because of
damage to the body’s cells. Errors crept into DNA during the process of cells
copying themselves which led to our DNA acquiring mutations.
4.
The Institute's work had increased our understanding of the ageing process and
it was a world leader in terms of the research it conducted into the systems
biology of ageing.
5.
Further work needed to be done to determine why age was the single biggest
risk factor in many diseases. The work currently undertaken in this area was
tiny in comparison with the need.
6.
A great deal of work had been carried out in Newcastle on the cause of
Alzheimer's disease and there was recognised to be a major overlap between
the causes of Alzheimer's disease and the causes of ageing. The University
could demonstrate a sustained record of excellence in this area.
7.
The Institute of Ageing and Health had been awarded funding from the
Medical Research Council to undertake the 85+ study, a 5-year prospective
study in more than 1000 individuals born in 1921 of the biological, clinical
and psychosocial factors associated with healthy ageing. Three-quarters of the
people approached had agreed to participate in the study.
8.
There were many opportunities for the business community to engage with the
work of the Institute. A Professor of Practice had recently been appointed
who had previously worked at Unilever. The business community appreciated
that new business models could be developed by drawing on the research
produced by the Institute.
9.
The Institute sought to promote the ageing agenda by working with the
Government and contributing to various studies and reports.
10.
It was agreed that there were rich opportunities for further research to be done
into ageing amongst black and minority ethnic groups.
11.
It was suggested that efforts should be made to try to remove the idea of ‘old
age’ by spreading the key messages from the Institute’s research more widely.
Resolved that:
(i)
A document which included many of the key facts referred to during the
presentation should be prepared and circulated to members of Court.
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(ii)
8.
Court record its thanks to Professor Kirkwood for his informative
presentation.
MEMBERSHIP OF COURT STEERING COMMITTEE
Reported that:
(a)
The membership of Court Steering Committee for 2009-10 was as follows:
Members
Sir Peter Carr
Ms C Galley
Mr J Jeffery (Chairman)
Observers
Professor C Brink
Mrs O Grant
Professor P L Younger
9.
DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Reported that the next meeting of Court would take place at 10.30am on Friday 16
April 2010 in King’s Gate, Level 5, Room L5.13& L5.15.
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