the
COURT
MINUTES of the third meeting of the 2012/2013 academic year held on
Monday, 25 February, 2013, in the Edinburgh Room, Queen Anne Court,
Greenwich Campus, Park Row, Greenwich, SE10 9LS, commencing at 5.30 pm.
Present:
Sir Stuart Etherington (in the Chair)
Mr A Albert
Mr J Barnes
Dr J Cullinane
Mr S H Davie
Mr L Devlin
Mr N Eastwell
Mr K Haque
Ms M Hay
Mr S Howlett
Mr P F Hazell
Mr A L Holmes
Professor D Maguire
Professor P Maras
Ms S Patel
Professor M Snowden
Mr J Stoker
Mrs H Wyatt
In attendance:
Professor T Barnes (Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Enterprise))
Mrs T A Brighton (Minutes Clerk)
Dr L Burke, (Pro Vice-Chancellor: Faculty of Education & Health)
Mrs L Cording (Secretary and Registrar)
Mr R Daly (Director of Finance)
Professor S Jarvis (Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Development))
Apologies for Absence:
CRT 12/46
Mr W Leech
DECLARATION OF CONFLICT OF INTERESTS
There were no declarations of conflicts of interests.
CRT 12/47
ITEMS FROM THE CHAIR
47.1
Membership
The Chair reported that, owing to professional commitments, Sarika Patel had
tendered her resignation from the Court effective from the date of the meeting. He
thanked her for her contribution to the work of the Court.
47.2
Retirement of Secretary& Registrar
The Chair noted that the Secretary & Registrar was attending her last meeting of
Court before her retirement at the end of March 2013. A dinner would follow the
meeting to thank her for her contribution to the work of the Court.
CRT 12 M-3 25 February 2013
page 1
CRT 12/48
PRESENTATION ON THE SCHOOL OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE BY THE
PRO VICE-CHANCELLOR: FACULTY OF EDUCATION & HEALTH
The Court received a presentation on the School of Health & Social Care from the
PVC, Education & Health, who until her appointment three weeks previously had
been Dean of the School. Members were provided with an overview of the work of
the School and details of future plans to strengthen its partnerships, employability
links and research capacity.
The Chair invited the PVC, Education & Health, to return in a year’s time to brief
the Court on the work of the School of Education.
CRT 12/49
MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING (CRT 12/P21)
The minutes of the meeting held on 26 November 2012 were taken as read and
signed as a true record.
CRT 12/50
MATTERS ARISING
50.1
Honorary Degrees 2013
The Court noted that acceptances of honorary degrees had been received from all
nine recipients. Conferment of the awards would take place as follows:
CRT 12/51
Honorary Graduand
Award
Provisional Date of Conferment
Baroness Amos of Brondesbury
Jack Dangermond
Michael Everard CBE
Jean Gaffin OBE
Baroness Grey-Thompson of
Eaglescliffe
Will Hutton
Jude Law
Tariq Mustafa
Sir Michael Wilshaw
HonDLitt
HonDSc
HonDBA
HonDSc
HonDSc
Tuesday, 30th July 2013
Monday, 22nd July 2013
Thursday, 25th July 2013
Thursday, 31st October, 2013
Tuesday, 30th July 2013
HonDLitt
HonDArt
HonDSc
HonDEd
Friday, 26th July 2013
w/c 28th October 2013
tbc
28th or 29th October 2013
INTERIM REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIC PLAN
(CRT 12/P46)
The Court received the following reports to enable monitoring of the University’s
performance:
i
a summary of progress of the key performance indicators
ii
a progress report on the 17 projects established to implement the strategic
plan.
CRT 12 M-3 25 February 2013
page 2
The Vice-Chancellor stated that the information provided to Court had been
revamped and presented as two separate reports because of overlap between
projects and key performance indicators. He reported that key performance
indicators 16, 17, 18 and 19 had been re-defined to be more meaningful and he
hoped that this was acceptable to Court. Many of the key performance indicators
could only be updated annually but, with the exception of KPI 23 (surplus as %
turnover), significant improvement had been achieved in all of the 12 KPIs updated
in the report.
The second document, which reported on the activities under way to achieve each
of the projects, used a traffic light rating system to indicate progress. Overall, at
this stage of the implementation plan, good progress had been made on all projects
with the exception of project 17 on finance.
The Court:
i
confirmed that it was satisfied with the amended metrics for KPIs 16,17,18
and 19
ii
agreed that the new format of the reports was helpful but asked that future
iterations include the following adaptations::


CRT 12/52
KPI summary to include milestone targets (using traffic light rating)
both reports to include time series data.
IT STRATEGY
The Court noted that the new IT Strategy had been withdrawn pending further
management review and would be submitted to the next meeting of Court.
CRT 12/53
LEARNING, TEACHING & ASSESSMENT STRATEGY:
MAXIMISING ACHIEVEMENT: THE TRANSFORMATION OF LEARNING,
TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT (CRT 12/P48)
Introducing the new institutional strategy on learning, teaching and assessment, the
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Development) stated that the University aimed
to maximise the success of all its students. Teaching inevitably formed a crucial
part of the University’s work and it was important that the strategy met the needs of
the students who expected a high quality, stimulating student experience in a
dynamic but supportive learning environment. The strategy was closely aligned to
the Strategic Plan 2012-2017 and aimed to raise student achievement through five
interlinking objectives:





CRT 12 M-3 25 February 2013
cultivating relationships
the transformation and enrichment of curricula
the transformation of programme delivery
the transformation of learning environments
succeeding after university.
page 3
He further reported that a key strand of the strategy involved the development of a
culture of belonging. He also emphasised the need to keep apace with the times by
adopting flexible approaches to learning and investing in emerging technologies.
In general discussion about the strategy, Members questioned whether the
University’s IT systems currently met students’ expectations. It was noted that the
new IT Strategy outlined the plans for improved accessibility to facilities and
systems and for greater interactivity across the institution. Members recollected
that the lack of social space was often identified in the student satisfaction survey
and were reassured that improvements to the physical environment would be
addressed through implementation of the estate strategy.
The Court welcomed the strategy but questioned how it was planned to measure its
success. It was reported that relevant metrics had been captured in some of the
KPIs but the general transformation that students experienced through education
was difficult to measure. The University would continue to work towards
improving its retention rates and turning all of its students into graduates. It was
believed that through the accomplishment of these goals, the University would
enhance its reputation and see real improvement in its league table position.
The Court believed that the strategy would serve the University well in the current
competitive environment and endorsed the strategy for adoption.
CRT 12/54
FINANCE COMMITTEE (CRT 12/P49)
The Chairman introduced the report to the Court outlining the principal items of
financial significance arising from the meeting held on 4 February 2013. The
following issues were highlighted:
54.1
Financial Planning: Effects of Reduced Recruitment on the University
of Greenwich (CRT 12/P49(i))
Against the background of a substantial reduction in student numbers for the
2012/13 academic year, the Committee had examined in detail a paper setting out
four recruitment scenarios for the five year period to 2016/17:




Scenario 1 - NECN +800 students
Scenario 2 – NECN + 500 students
Scenario 3 – NECN + 350 students
Scenario 4 – NECN + 0 (ie no increase in students)
Finance Committee Members had recognised that the current economic
environment and change in tuition fees and student finance regime might continue
to have severe consequences for student recruitment. They were concerned that the
Court should be made aware of the implications for the University and the need to
plan for the worst case scenario. The Committee had asked the Vice-Chancellor to
establish a group to undertake further analysis into the impact of the scenarios
CRT 12 M-3 25 February 2013
page 4
identified, focusing in particular on mitigating options for planning for Scenarios 2,
3 and 4.
The Court received the group’s report, which contained a more comprehensive
analysis of the effects of reduced recruitment for the five years from 2012/13.
It was noted that, save for a few adjustments, the University would only be able to
continue to operate at a surplus for the next five years under Scenario 1.
Without implementing mitigating measures, the University would face increasing
annual deficits and funding gaps under Scenarios 2, 3 and 4 and become noncompliant with the Bond covenants. Should the University be working to these
scenarios, it would be required to make substantial cost savings and, at the same
time, maximise revenue from recruitment and other sources.
It was noted that over the past two years budgets had been cut by £8.8m to drive
efficiency savings and further cost cutting across the board was likely to prove
ineffective. Targeted expenditure cuts would therefore be necessary together with
economies of scale in many areas of the University’s operations.
It was recognised that recruiting additional home students for 2013/14 onwards
provided the most reliable way of increasing revenues. Applications had increased
by 3% for the year but a real change in recruitment strategy would be needed in
order to attract further additional student numbers. The University needed to recruit
800 more students than in 2012/13 in order to achieve the lower level of its New
Entry Control Number (NECN) for 2013/14. Failure to do so could mean losing
NECN numbers in the future with consequent effects on the overall student
population and long-term revenues.
In general discussion, the Court recognised the importance of the relationship
between tariff points and student entry into the University. A reduction in tariff
points could have a positive impact on recruitment but would appear to contradict
the strategy for improving quality. Nevertheless, the Court believed that flexibility
throughout the recruitment process was crucial. It was noted, however, that 40% of
the University’s student population was recruited outside the A level tariff route.
The conversion of applicants to students was critical and the University should do
all it could to nurture prospective students.
In summarising the discussion, the Chair of Court stated that it was important for
the Court and executive to have a common understanding of the effects of reduced
recruitment and to have a well-structured plan for the future. It was resolved that:
i
the University should aim at least to recruit to the NECN student targets
associated with scenarios 2 and 3 (ie NECN +350-500)
ii
admissions staff should be granted the necessary flexibility to make
informed decisions about prospective students throughout the admissions
cycle
CRT 12 M-3 25 February 2013
page 5
iii
a more in-depth analysis of strategic options in the event of scenarios 2 and
3 being realised be produced for debate at the Court Strategy Day on 17th
April 2013.
54.2
Management Accounts to 31 December 2013
The Committee had scrutinised the management accounts and noted that the
forecast for the year had reverted to £3m from £1m following the downgrading to
£1m in November 2012. A number of reasons had contributed to the improvement
but two key factors had been a lower than anticipated national pay award for staff
and a reduction in payments to Partner Colleges reflecting fewer new and
continuing students.
54.3
Bank Mandate
The Chairman reported that the Committee had approved a new Bank Mandate
effective from 5 February 2013. The Bank Mandate would need to be revised
again to take account of the new signatory arrangements for Court following the
retirement of the Secretary & Registrar at the end of March 2013 (see minute
12/57).
54.4
Approval of Orders over £400,000
The Court approved the following purchases exceeding £400,000 (excl VAT),
subject to the relevant School or Office having sufficient funds for the purchase and
to compliance with the University’s Financial and Tendering Regulations:
Estimated Order
Value
International Office, Recruitment & Admissions:
Use of Agents in recruitment of on-campus
international fee paying students from China
£700,000
Estimated Order Value
Vice-Chancellor’s Office:
Provision of Jobs Brokerage for students and
training for staff (ie Employability Initiative)
CRT 12/55
max: £780,577
VICE-CHANCELLOR’S REPORT (CRT 12/P50)
The Vice-Chancellor presented his report on recent developments and highlighted
the following issues:

External Environment: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
had recently set out the government’s agenda for universities for the next year.
Key elements included the encouragement of philanthropic fundraising, a
renewed interest in widening access and a reduction in the upper threshold for
the student control number from AAB to ABB (and equivalents).
CRT 12 M-3 25 February 2013
page 6
CRT 12/56

Student Recruitment: The recruitment cycle for 2013/14 was under way.
Full-time home campus undergraduate applications had increased by about 2%
and firm acceptances by about 9% compared to 2012/13, although this might be
attributed to quicker processing.

Staff Recruitment: Three of the four Pro Vice-Chancellors to head the
Faculties had been appointed. An interim appointment of the PVC for
Engineering and Science had been made. Recruitment for the new Chief
Operating Officer had reached the long listing phase and interviews were
scheduled for 15th March.

NRI: NRI had won a major research grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation to detect viruses damaging to yam crops in developing countries.
ACADEMIC COUNCIL (CRT 12/P51)
The Court received a report on items of academic significance arising from the
meeting of Academic Council held on 28 November 2012 and noted that:
CRT 12/57
i
the new Academic Council structure would become fully operational by 1st
August 2013. Committee memberships would be reviewed towards the end
of the academic session to take account of further organisational changes;
ii
a review of actions arising out of the 2011 QAA Collaborative Provision
Audit had confirmed that the majority had been completed;
iii
the Council had approved a new academic partnership based in Dubai to
deliver programmes in Sri Lanka and India and discontinued a partnership
with a London based College.
APPOINTMENT OF UNIVERSITY SECRETARY (CRT 12/P52)
The Chair stated that, as noted earlier in the meeting, the Secretary & Registrar was
due to retire at the end of March 2013. The managerial responsibilities of her role
had been incorporated into the job description of the new Chief Operating Officer
but those relating to the function of University Secretary currently remained
unassigned. The University Secretary was a Court appointment who reported
directly to Court and was responsible for governance matters and for ensuring
support for the work of Court.
The Court was presented with a number of models across the university sector for
the role of University Secretary as well as a proposal that the new Chief Operating
Officer assume these governance responsibilities in addition to those already
identified in the job description. Members emphasised the need for the incumbent
of the role to be privy to high-level discussions and decisions and to be able to
report independently to Court. There was agreement that, as a senior figure in the
CRT 12 M-3 25 February 2013
page 7
University, it would be operationally expedient for the responsibilities of the
University Secretary to be re-assigned to the new Chief Operating Officer.
The Court noted that, as interviewing for the Chief Operating Officer post would
take place on 15 March 2013, there would be a period of time when the University
would have no Secretary. Interim arrangements were discussed.
It was resolved that:
(i) the duties of the University Secretary be assigned to the Chief Operating
Officer;
(ii) a Selection Committee for the appointment of the Chief Operating Officer
would comprise the following officers:







Chair of Court (Chair)
Vice-Chair of Court
Vice-Chancellor
Deputy Vice-Chancellors
Director of Finance
Director of Human Resources
External advisor.
(iii)the Selection Committee be granted delegated authority to appoint;
(iv) the appointment be ratified at the meeting of Court on 29 April 2013;
(v) the Director of Student Affairs be appointed as Acting University Secretary
until a substantive appointment was made.
CRT 12/58
MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTS (CRT 12/P53)
The Court received the University of Greenwich management accounts for the
period to 31st December 2013.
FORMAL AGENDA
CRT 12/59
STOCKWELL STREET DEVELOPMENT : PROGRESS REPORT (CRT 12/P54)
The Court received a progress report on the development of the Stockwell Street
site. It was noted that construction of the frame of the building was progressing
well. The contractor had met all of the costs associated with the additional fees
incurred to adapt the re-designing of the new facades. The overall programme was
still running behind schedule, with work in some areas seven weeks behind.
Completion was now forecast on the later date of 7 February 2014.
CRT 12 M-3 25 February 2013
page 8
CRT 12/60
MINUTES OF MEETINGS
The Committee received the minutes of the following meetings:
i
ii
CRT 12/61
Finance Committee on 4 February 2013 (CRT 12/P55)
Academic Council on 28 November 2012 (CRT 12/P56)
GREENWICH PROPERTY LIMITED: APPOINTMENT OF DIRECTOR
(CRT 12/P57)
The Court approved the appointment of Professor Tom Barnes as director of
Greenwich Property Limited with immediate effect.
CRT 12/62
COURT APPEALS COMMITTEE (CRT 12/P58)
The Court noted the outcome of Court Appeals Committees held on 27th November
and 3rd December 2012.
CRT 12/63
UTC, ROYAL BOROUGH OF GREENWICH (CRT 12/P60)
The Court received an update on the establishment of the University Technical
College (UTC). Building works were now well advanced and on schedule for
completion in time for the UTC’s opening in September 2013. Recruitment of a
Deputy Principal was currently under way. The UTC was currently the highest
recruiting in the country with applications for the first cohort of students currently
exceeding places.
CRT 12/64
2013 AWARD CEREMONIES (CRT 12/P61)
The Court noted the schedule of dates for the July and October 2013 award
ceremonies (as appended to these minutes).
CRT 12/65
EXECUTION OF DEEDS (CRT 12/P62)
The Court noted the signing as a Deed of the following “Group B” documents:
CRT 12 M-3 25 February 2013
page 9
i
DEED OF ASSIGNMENT of INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
between (1) UoG and (2) Greenwich University Enterprises Limited
ii
GUARANTEE BOND re design and construction of a School of Architecture
and Construction and Learning Resource Centre at Stock Street, Greenwich
between (1) Geoffrey Osborne Limited (2) Euler Hermes Europe SA (NV)
and (3) UoG
iii
CONSULTANCY AGREEMENT re design of external render installation for
Stockwell Street Development between (1) UoG and (2) DCP Facades
Limited
The meeting ended at 7.10 pm.
T.A.Brighton
06.03.13
CRT 12 M-3 25 February 2013
page 10
Appendix to minutes of the Court meeting held on 25 February 2013
Award Ceremony Dates 2013
OLD ROYAL NAVAL COLLEGE CHAPEL, GREENWICH
Monday 22 July 2013
School of Architecture, Design & Construction
Wednesday, 24 July 2013
Business School
Greenwich Maritime Institute
Thursday, 25 July 2013
Business School
Friday, 26 July 2013
School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL, ROCHESTER
Tuesday, 30 July 2013
School of Engineering
School of Science
Natural Resources Institute
OLD ROYAL NAVAL COLLEGE CHAPEL, GREENWICH
Monday 28 October 2013
School of Education
Tuesday 29 October 2013
School of Education
Partnership Division
Thursday, 31 October 2013 School of Health and Social Care
Friday, 1 November 2013
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
CRT 12 M-3 25 February 2013
page 11