Park Building
VC's Introduction
This is my first bulletin of the new academic year. I have been delighted to see students back on campus during induction week. It feels such a long time since we last saw that buzz of anticipation, and possibly a few nerves, about what lies ahead for our new students. For our returning students it’s an opportunity to get back to the type of university experience they have been missing and reconnect with peers, colleagues and friends they may not have seen for some considerable time.
As our students are looking ahead to the coming year, so are we as a University - and there is a lot to do. Recruitment has been very difficult this year, we have dropped down the league tables and our National Student Survey (NSS) scores are below where they should be. We cannot, and must not, ignore this and we do need to work together to take immediate and decisive action. I’ll be talking more about this in my VC Address later this month. You can find out more about this in this bulletin including how to book.
In this bulletin I’ll also provide an update on our student recruitment position and financial outlook, as well as the Government’s spending review. The University has been leading the way with our research in plastics and I’m delighted that we will have our own presence at COP26. You can read about this and some other actions that colleagues are taking to support the University being more sustainable. Staying with research it’s been fantastic to see the engagement the University has secured with The Conversation demonstrating the strength of our research. Finally it’s with a little sadness that we will be saying a fond farewell to one of our colleagues who has been associated with the University for nearly 50 years.
I wish you all the best for the start of the new academic year. I do hope you are enjoying seeing life returning to campus and reconnecting with colleagues and students as much as I am.
Student Recruitment and Financial Outlook
As some of you will know, undergraduate UK student recruitment this year was significantly below expectations. There are some short-term contributing factors for this. EU student applications predictably fell significantly post Brexit and pandemic-affected A level results have disproportionately benefited higher tariff universities. While this explains some of the decline, the reality is that our long-term trend is a decline in application numbers - from over 26,000 in 2016/17 to just over 21,000 last year - which we must, and will, arrest and turn around. Higher tariff universities have benefited more from the ‘marketisation’ of higher education since 2012 than have lower tariff universities like us, which is why it is important that we work to restore Portsmouth to be positioned as a mid-tariff university. This is not easy, as while there are more students receiving mid-tariff results, the competition for these students is intense.
There are obvious financial consequences of a sizeable under-recruitment, not least a reduction in fee income compared to budget. As a result of long-term prudential management the University’s financial reserves are currently strong enabling us to budget for a deficit in 2021/22. This will enable us to avoid having to take immediate significant cost cutting actions and allow us to accelerate progress in the delivery of our strategy and address our key strategic imperatives. This deficit is now such that we need to make the necessary changes to reverse this situation quickly and return to a stable student recruitment position at the same time as restoring our NSS and league table position.
This is one reason why UEB has agreed that over the next two years we must prioritise the four strategic imperatives. These are to:
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Reverse the ongoing decline in applications and boost conversions
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Pursue educational excellence, improve student experience and reduce variation in outcomes
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Rapidly improve graduate employment
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Increase our globally recognised research and innovation based on thematic areas, prioritising collaboration and international engagement.
An action plan focused on these four imperatives is under development through UEB. Actions will range from the strategic review of our course portfolio to the reintroduction of the appropriate use of unconditional offers. With a relentless focus on these four imperatives, I am confident that we can reverse this trend both on recruitment of students and league table position. But to do this we need to be working collaboratively.
Spending Review
Later this month the Government will conduct a spending review. For the university sector this is likely to be the most significant spending review for a decade. The background is, first, the Conservative Party’s concerns about universities. Former Universities Minister David Willetts has said in a pamphlet that university looks “like the place where young people go to be vaccinated against Conservatism”. For anyone interested in the sector’s current policy challenges I would recommend this pamphlet. Second, and more importantly for the Treasury, is the amount of the loan that is not expected to be repaid by graduates. The percentage borrowed not expected to be repaid - the ‘RAB Charge’ - is now over 50%. For a loan system this is judged too high.
The Government has options; it might cut the fee cap by as much as 20%. To make it harder for people who are expected to have lower earnings to borrow money, the Government might prevent universities from offering Foundation Years and it might impose minimum qualification requirements for young people in order to get access to student loan support. The Government will almost certainly make graduates repay more, probably by lowering the salary threshold at which graduates start to repay.
We have made our views known, individually and collectively both to local MPs and national policymakers. But, whatever the outcome on 27 October, we must all focus relentlessly on the four strategic imperatives and deliver for our students. Fundamentally, we cannot control the rules but we can work within them to offer our students what they need and deserve.
VC Address later this month
I’m glad to say that we can hold an in-person VC Address later this month after the disruption of the past 18 months. It’s a vital opportunity to reflect on where we are, to assess our priorities, and to renew our focus on what matters to us all: our students, our values, and our Strategy and Vision. The University is entering a period of change, challenge, and opportunity so I hope as many of you as possible can make it to the Address.
There’ll also be an opportunity for colleagues to ask questions of a panel of UEB members.
We’ll be holding two sessions this year on October 20 and 21, with one session broadcast live to ensure those who cannot join in person can watch and listen online. Please book your place to attend in person at one of the following links or submit a question ahead of the session:
Harassment and Sexual Misconduct
Harassment and sexual misconduct are serious matters for higher education and ones which all universities need to play their part in addressing, including our own. Studies undertaken by the National Union of Students indicate that 14% of female students have experienced serious physical or sexual assault and 68% have been subject to verbal or physical sexual harassment.
In April 2021, the Office for Students (OfS) published seven expectations that set out how universities should prevent and respond to incidents of harassment and sexual misconduct.
An internal working group chaired by Bernie Topham, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Vice-Chancellor has been established to oversee the University’s work to meet the seven expectations and to set an action plan and associated timescales, building on the actions and policies that we already have in place.
One element of the expectations is that there should be visible and ongoing commitment from senior leaders to preventing and responding to all forms of harassment and sexual misconduct. I am pleased that UEB has affirmed its commitment to responding to all forms of harassment and sexual misconduct and to work towards its prevention. We all of course have an important role to play in calling out and reporting situations where behaviours are inappropriate.
Our sustainable world
It gives me great pleasure to highlight how our colleagues are tackling the issues of climate change and sustainability. During this important month of COP26 in Glasgow, I am pleased to report that our researchers will be present at the meeting, one of only five universities invited by the COP26 UK University Network to present our work on plastic waste within the COP26 green zone under the theme of 'youth and public empowerment'. This builds on our active involvement in organising and running the Portsmouth Climate Festival this month, again in support of COP26. Our University catering team is also part of the Friends of the Earth launch of their “Kale Yeah!” accreditation scheme encouraging caterers to make more sustainable menus that include higher welfare meat, dairy and fish alongside tasty plant-based options. We are one of only six universities involved in this initial launch.
Finally, I want to congratulate my colleagues at the Centre for Enzyme Innovation for their involvement in the impressive BBC Earthshot programmes which again highlights our research around the blight of single-use plastics.There is much more we should be doing but these examples show our continuing commitment to becoming climate positive by solving real-world problems.
No.2 in The Conversation
I’m pleased to see that we continue to raise the profile of our research and innovation to national and international audiences. This July we were number two in The Conversation (second only to Oxford and higher than Cambridge) for the number of articles published, a fantastic achievement at a time when we have prioritised our globally recognised research and innovation as one of UEB’s four strategic imperatives. This has been possible through the hard work and collaboration of many colleagues across the University.
We also have an opportunity to showcase the teaching talent within the University and promote our expertise globally through THE Campus, an initiative from Times Higher Education that was created in direct response to the challenges posed to higher education by the coronavirus pandemic.
Our own University blog has grown impressively in the past two years with several blogs published each week by academics, professional services and alumni.
If you want to pitch an idea for The Conversation, THE Campus or the University blog and have your expertise republished, shared, and posted on social media around the world, or want to find out more, including the opportunity for media training, please contact Glenn Harris in the media and communications team at glenn.harris@port.ac.uk.
Fond farewell to Alan Thorne
I’d like to make a special mention and say a fond farewell to Dr Alan Thorne, who is retiring as Associate Dean for Research and Innovation in the Faculty of Science and Health and has one of the longest associations with the University stretching back nearly 50 years! Alan joined in 1973 as a BSc Biomolecular Science undergraduate when the University was then Portsmouth Polytechnic. After a spell in California, he returned to Portsmouth for a series of postdoctoral posts before being appointed as a senior lecturer in 1991 and reader in 2005. I know many will wish him a happy retirement, but will also be glad that his long association will not come to a complete end as he will continue as a Visiting Reader.