Vice-Chancellor's start-of-term message
Friday, 20 April 2018
Colleagues,
I hope you have had a good start to the summer term.
Starting this month, the higher education sector has a new regulator, the Office for Students, and a new funding agency, UK Research and Innovation. Together, these agencies will shape the teaching and research at our universities, and we look forward to working closely with them.
There are other changes afoot too, but first a few updates about the University.
New study spaces in halls
With exams at the University underway, there is increased demand for study spaces. This week, we shared an update on study space for the summer term with students and staff, including news of around 100 new study spaces in our Halls of Residence. These spaces in Wessex Library, St George’s Computer Room, Wantage Computer Room, Stenton JCR, Childs JCR and Mackinder JCR have new furniture, improved lighting and heating, power sockets and USB ports.
The spaces will be open for 24 hours every day during the Quiet Period (between now and the end of the summer term, Friday 8 June) to the residents of each Hall. We are exploring the possibility of opening the spaces up to other Hall residents.
On weekdays, additional study spaces are also available at Eat at the Square (3-6 pm, during term time) and in the Chancellor’s Building (6-9 pm, during term time). The Library refurbishment page has other information that students may find useful.
RUSU 3sixty and Health & Life Sciences
Work is underway on the refurbishment of RUSU’s 3sixty and the construction of a new Health & Life Sciences building. The 3sixty refurbishment will see upgrades to key features including audio/visual systems, access and décor and is due for completion by the start of the 2018-19 academic year.
The Health & Life Sciences building is being built on the site of the demolished Engineering building. It is due to be completed in winter 2019 and our currently dispersed Health and Life Sciences teaching will be consolidated in a brand new facility.
Progress on ‘People Plan’
Our ‘People Plan’ continues to make progress towards its priorities of developing our employer brand, better change management and leadership and management development. Last month, the University Executive Board agreed to fund the proposals on staff health and wellbeing and developing our employer brand.
The benefits of creating a healthy workplace are well-documented, but your feedback in the 2017 Staff Survey highlighted a limited awareness about the support on offer. We will be working on ways to make it easier to access this support by bringing together existing information and resources – and raising awareness about it.
Sector-wide developments
As I mentioned earlier, this is a year of big changes for the sector. Along with the Office for Students and UK Research and Innovation, there is a new sector agency, AdvanceHE. Formed by the merger of the Higher Education Academy, Equality Challenge Unit and Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, AdvanceHE will support institutions such as ours to promote excellence in higher education.
We expect the Brexit negotiations to pick up pace over the coming months. It is still not clear what the exit would mean for the universities, but we will continue to work through Universities UK to secure an effective post-exit settlement and will keep you updated on relevant developments.
In the meantime, you may be interested in the Example case studies: EU citizens’ rights in the UK on gov.uk, which has up-to-date guidance on the status of EU citizens in the period immediately following Brexit.
Global Engagement Strategy talk
Enzo Raimo, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Global Engagement, is hosting a staff session next month on the University’s global presence and developments in transnational education.
The session will take place at 1.00-2.00 pm on Wednesday 2 May at Van Emden Lecture Theatre (Edith Morley), and will cover the University of Reading Malaysia and our other international partnerships.
I would encourage you to attend the session.
Kind regards.
David
Sir David Bell KCB
Vice-Chancellor