Karen has invited me to contribute to the Executive Group blog series, as Chair of the Council of the University.\u00a0 \u00a0I probably have to start by explaining what the Council is and who I am.<\/p>\n
Council is effectively the Board of Governors of the University.\u00a0\u00a0 Our job is to oversee the way in which the University is run \u2013 its finances, its strategy, its day-to-day management, and its public profile.\u00a0\u00a0 The University is an educational charity, and we are its Trustees.\u00a0\u00a0 We have to ensure that the University is meeting its legal obligations.\u00a0\u00a0 We are also the main financial and business authority of the University.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Our regulator is now the Office for Students (OfS), and we are responsible for reporting to the OfS on the University\u2019s financial position and public benefit activity, as well as its delivery of high-quality education to students (and its successful widening of participation to include a higher proportion of students from non-traditional backgrounds).<\/p>\n
The Vice-Chancellor and President and her two senior deputies sit on Council; there are four elected staff representatives, academic and non-academic; and two student representatives, rising to three next year.\u00a0\u00a0 All the other members are lay, and come from a wide range of backgrounds: law, local government, the NHS, the Civil Service, banking and finance, broadcasting, consultancy, retailing, and further education.\u00a0\u00a0 Some, but not all, are alumni.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0My own background is diplomacy.\u00a0 \u00a0I was in the Foreign Office for 37 years; I was a specialist in East Asia (ending up as Ambassador to Japan) and am now retired.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been Chair of Council for four years, and will stand down in 2020.<\/p>\n
We meet five times a year: four full plenary meetings, and a more free-wheeling \u2018strategy day\u2019 in February.\u00a0\u00a0 Some University Councils meet more often, even as much as monthly.\u00a0 I\u2019m uneasy about that, because I think there is a danger of a Council slipping into habits of micro-management.\u00a0\u00a0 It is the Executive Group\u2019s responsibility to manage<\/u> the University: it\u2019s our job to give oversight, ask questions, approve the direction of travel, ask for things to be looked at again; and to be accountable when formal decisions are made.<\/p>\n
In her blog on 10 October, Karen reported on our meeting the previous week, and particularly the discussion of the University\u2019s Strategy, where we approved the broad principles but asked for a little more detail and context as the implementation is carried forward.<\/p>\n
We also had reports on two difficult areas: student recruitment and the National Student Survey.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 On the former, the University has not met its targets in 2018.\u00a0\u00a0 This will have implications for our budget, because there will be a corresponding drop in fee income, and we shall return to this in our November meeting.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the NSS, satisfaction ratings have dropped across all areas in recent years, which in turn contributes to our falling rank in the national league tables.\u00a0 The job of Council is to understand what the survey tells us about how we can improve – the key themes emerging from student feedback are consistency and care \u2013 to satisfy itself about how the University is managing this process, and to question, challenge and support as necessary.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0We aren\u2019t alone in facing problems of this kind: our peer group of universities is in a similar position, and Kent has done marginally less badly than others.\u00a0\u00a0 But there are clearly problems to tackle and challenges to face.\u00a0 \u00a0I was grateful to be able to sit in on two of April McMahon\u2019s meetings with Schools to discuss how to follow up the Survey, last month: this gave me a very good sense of the questions under discussion.<\/p>\n
Our November meeting will have a very heavy agenda, as is always the case when we are on the verge of submitting the annual financial statements to our regulator.\u00a0\u00a0 The Council\u2019s Finance and Resources Committee will be going through the detail of these at its meeting in mid-November, but Council has to approve the reports before they go to the auditors and the OfS.\u00a0\u00a0 We will be considering the annual returns we have to make to the OfS that give assurances about the academic work of the University (which of course is the responsibility of Senate rather than Council).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And the agenda will also include an annual report on how we implement the Prevent duty; the detailed projects being considered by Finance and Resources Committee; how effectively we are managing our risks; and how we are getting on against our Key Performance Indicators.\u00a0\u00a0 And much else besides.<\/p>\n
I probably don\u2019t make Council sound very exciting.\u00a0\u00a0 The technical responsibilities of serving on a board rarely are.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But beneath the detail are really important questions about how we sustain the culture of the University and equip it to face future challenges.\u00a0\u00a0 I enjoy being Chair of the Council at Kent.\u00a0\u00a0 Firstly, it\u2019s a great privilege to be associated with such a fine institution.\u00a0\u00a0 Secondly, it\u2019s a pleasure to be part of a group of individuals, from within and outside the University, dedicated to the process of strengthening the institution yet further.\u00a0 I am constantly learning new things and understanding new concepts.\u00a0\u00a0 And thirdly, it\u2019s an exceptionally bracing time to be working in higher education \u2013 as the sector faces financial uncertainty, the impact of Brexit, increased competition both nationally and internationally, and political challenges from both left and right.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m looking forward enormously to the coming academic year and deepening my contacts with, and knowledge of, the University.<\/p>\n
Sir David Warren, Chair of University Council<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"