You will be aware that in September 2010 the University Court reviewed the financial outlook for the University.  At that time Court's best estimate of the implications of the coalition government's spending plans was that - if the University did nothing - then by 2015/16 it would have £35M/year less than it needed to be financially stable.  In view of this, Court required the Senior Management Group (SMG) to develop plans by February 2011 to address that challenge.

Since September, the SMG has undertaken a thorough review of the University's work, in academic schools and in support services.  It believes that £15M of the expected £35M gap can be met through growing income, mainly from international and postgraduate student recruitment. That leaves £20M to be addressed through reducing costs.  SMG has taken a hard look at costs with the guiding principle being that of retaining the University's world-renowned reputation for academic excellence and the student experience.  An early retirement and voluntary severance scheme was launched in January 2011. There has been a steady interest in the scheme and this will go a long way to achieving, but will not close, the funding gap.

The SMG has also identified a number of areas which it believes should be subject to further scrutiny in terms of their fit to the University's strategic plan. It is anticipated that withdrawing from, or reshaping, these areas might result in net savings of up to £2.5M.

Yesterday, SMG's paper containing these proposals was presented to Court.

The paper asked that a number of consultation processes be established to properly test and evidence the proposals. Court agreed and stated its wish that the consultations should be inclusive, transparent and fully engage with the students and staff potentially affected by the proposals, and that independent members of Court should be represented in the detail of the consultation process. An extract of the SMG paper outlining the areas in which consultation will take place can be found below.

In the next 10 days a page will be established on MyGlasgow that will fully detail the consultation process including how staff and students can input into the process.

Court is expecting the consultation processes to report back via SMG to an additional meeting of Court to be held in May. Court took the unusual step yesterday of adding this meeting in order to allow time for more extensive consultation. In particular this extra meeting will allow Senate to meet and contribute during the consultation period. From the outset of this exercise, Court have fully appreciated that difficult decisions have to be made. Court will make these decisions in the best interests of Glasgow University.

David Ross, Convener of Court

Anton Muscatelli, Principal

 

ADDITIONAL NOTE: Court reviewed the arrangements for the University’s current VS/ER scheme, and agreed that it should be extended with its current payment structure until Court reviewed the situation again at its May meeting.

This extension means that some of the forms and documents need to be revised, and the new ones will be posted on this site in a few days. Until then, staff should continue to use the existing forms.

 

First published: 17 February 2011

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Extract from SMG papers 17/02/2011