Summer term message from Sir David Bell Vice-Chancellor
Thursday, 16 April 2015
Sir David Bell KCB, Vice-Chancellor
Colleagues
I hope that you enjoyed a pleasant and relaxing Easter holiday, whether it was simply the University closure days or a more extended break. For my part, I spent a - remarkably - sunny week in Scotland where I caught up on some reading for pleasure (not that I am suggesting that reading University materials isn't a pleasure........).
Examinations are, of course, a major feature of the summer term. I know how much this is a team effort, involving academics and many other colleagues too. But the effort is always worthwhile, come graduation ceremonies in July. For everyone involved, it is the culmination of the time our students have spent here (however daunting the prospect is of shaking thousands of hands!).
This is a big year for the University. We will make progress on every front as we see some of the benefits from our investment in projects that will help us achieve the ambitions laid out in our 2026 strategy.
On global reach, we will open the main University of Reading Malaysia campus in September. We have already been teaching students in Malaysia for over a year now but moving into the new building is a significant moment.
An official opening of the Malaysia campus is planned for early 2016. It will be an excellent way to mark the beginning of the celebrations for our 90th anniversary as a free-standing university.
On teaching and learning, the School of Architecture has started the process of recruiting its first cohort of students who will join us in autumn 2016. Each student will be given a £3,000-a-year scholarship, reflecting our commitment to the project in a tough and competitive environment.
For research and innovation, we now have our 2015/16 financial allocation from the Funding Council (HEFCE). We will move rapidly to begin the implementation of our 2020 Research Plan - more to follow on that shortly.
A planning application for the first building on our £50m Thames Valley Science Park has now been submitted. To enable the Park to be developed, alterations to the road network in Shinfield have already begun. I can see the changes every day, as I live near the motorway on Hall Farm, the University's Centre for Dairy Research.
On recruitment, with positive numbers of undergraduate applicants, our attention is now firmly focused on conversion for September. For Reading, like most of the sector, our postgraduate numbers are less encouraging. We are running a short, sharp conversion campaign for this September, including offering 80 scholarships of up to £10,000 for students starting Masters' programmes. Longer-term, we are putting in place robust plans to grow our postgraduate and international intake.
We are creating a new website, Discover Reading, to replace, in time, www.reading.ac.uk. We are also developing new digital products - or online support - to underpin the entire ‘student journey' from first contact, through application (Me@Reading Applicant), to studying here (Essentials and Me@Reading Student) to becoming an alumnus. The first of these, Essentials, was launched last week.
You will have noticed that we continue to invest in our estates and facilities. This term, the revamped Café Mondial in RUSU and the brand new Bulmershe and Whiteknights sports pavilions should open. With our student numbers set to grow, we will make more estates announcements in the coming months.
It is important that we ensure that, throughout all this change, all of us can achieve our potential. Tackling diversity and gender balance at all levels is a real priority for me. It is a sector-wide problem, but I recognise that having an all-male, all-white Executive Board makes the case for change at Reading more pressing.
There has been a lot of work behind the scenes, led by Professor Dianne Berry. I will be providing more information, and outlining the critical next steps, at our four Ask the Board events in the week commencing 18 May. Please make a note of the dates in your diary as it would be good to see you there.
Subject to the approval of the Privy Council, our new Charter and Ordinances will take effect from 1 August 2015. This will result in new contracts for academic staff and new HR policies and procedures.
We are making tangible progress on the PAS review and more information on next steps will follow shortly. We will also start to move to a new academic structure which will take full effect from 1 August 2016. This will broaden and strengthen our leadership team. One consequence is that we will be announcing some significant new appointments later this week.
The headlines here can only scratch the surface of all that we have done and are doing. My address to the University Court last month provides some further detail.
I do not underestimate the scale of change and the uncertainty that has generated. Indeed, some colleagues have asked why we are doing so much at once. Partly, it is because the higher education environment is tougher than it has ever been and maintaining competitiveness demands that we move at pace. Frankly too, we are also doing a fair bit of catching up in some areas and we need to put our year-to-year budget on a sustainable footing (notwithstanding our indisputable, and underpinning, financial strength as a university).
But for me, the bold and positive story is that we have a renewed sense of ambition. No longer Reading being 'the best kept secret' in higher education and slightly apologetic for its position. Rather, we should be bold and confident in believing and proclaiming that we are a leading UK university, and one that has a deserved international reputation.
I recognise that we are asking a lot of you, as individuals and as teams. We need you to manage a demanding day job while working on all those projects and initiatives which are designed to put us on a confident path to 2026. No pretence; this is not easy. But, as always, I am hugely grateful for your continued hard work. Thank you too for sharing the same commitment as I do to the University of Reading.
Best wishes for a successful and productive summer term.
Sir David Bell KCB
Vice-Chancellor