Dame Denise Holt, Chair of Council
Your Council
It’s been a year like no other we have known (and hopefully never will again). The University has had to move mountains to adequately support its community of students and staff, and to maintain financial equilibrium. Our day-long Council meeting last week focused closely on the impact of 2020 on the past year (2019/20) as well as on the present and future of the institution. The first and most important thing to say is that skillful financial management and a dose of good luck mean that Sussex has pulled through the year in reasonable shape.
The past – 2019/20 financial status
There were two big items on our agenda this month. First, Council approved a number of key financial documents including the 2019/20 Annual Financial Statement. By now, you may have attended the Vice-Chancellor’s Open Forum, where he updated staff on the financial status of the institution, and the financial statements will be shared on the University’s website shortly, so I won’t go into detail. However I do want to thank Council’s Audit and Risk Committee (ARC), chaired by independent Council member David Curley and supported by five other Council members together with the University’s excellent Finance, Governance and other teams. In this most challenging of years they have done an extraordinary job, providing the very high level of assurance required by Council in order to approve the Financial Statement. Your University’s finances are in good hands.
As things turned out, the University ended 2019/20 in a better position than we feared at the start of the pandemic - in large part down to the Executive’s quick and robust response when the likely impact on student recruitment and other income sources became evident. Welcome though this is, Council is far from complacent and, recognising its responsibility for ensuring that the University remains a going concern with sound finances, Council agreed to extend until March 2021 the temporary limit of £750,000 on the Vice Chancellor’s financial authority. In normal times, the VC is able to approve expenditure up to £10 million, but due to the pandemic this authority is temporarily held by the Financial Sustainability Committee (FSC) of Council. The FSC also keeps a close eye on key indicators and reports back to special Council briefing sessions at very regular intervals.
The present – finances, estates and IT, student experience and staff remuneration
Now to the present. In June Council approved an interim deficit budget pending greater certainty over student recruitment. That information, though not complete, is now available and has been somewhat better than expected. This has allowed the University to revise its forecast for 2020/21– our current year – and, with that, the University’s budget. At the end of this financial year (2020/21) we currently expect to break-even, although there is more uncertainty about the position that normal. Council approved a number of recommendations from the chair of our Strategic Performance and Resources Committee (SPRC) Kirsten Baker, including a planning assumption that in 2021/22 the University should aim to achieve a surplus of £5-10m in order to resume work on upgrading the University’s infrastructure.
Professor Stephen Caddick, Chair of the Capital Programmes Committee talked us through the committee’s work, although much of the University’s capital programmes (e.g. large projects in estates and IT) are paused due to the pandemic, there was some very positive news. East Slope will be fully handed over to us by Balfour Beatty, our partner, in mid-December. All the accommodation will then be complete, providing students with access to new rooms of outstanding quality and giving a tremendous uplift to the campus. The Student Centre development also continues at pace and is expected to be complete by December 2021. I know the Executive also hope to resume work on the University’s IT network replacement project as soon as possible.
As chair of the Student Experience Committee and enthusiastic alumnus, Jane Parsons provided an update on a wide-range of matters including the Spirit of Sussex Award and student wellbeing and the NSS. Jane referred to the poll showing that 70% of students preferred face to face teaching to learning on line. She also noted the growing regulatory focus on academic standards and said that a key focus for the committee (and of keen interest to full Council) is to see the University make greater progress in relation to both the BAME and international student awarding gap. We have made improvements, but there is more to do.
We also heard from our Students’ Union representative, Connor Moylett on the continued activities of the Union to support students. It’s remarkable how we have all had to adapt to the world of Covid. I was particularly impressed with the description of the virtual freshers fair which I gather was extremely well received by the 12,000 students who attended. Connor also spoke of the loneliness felt by many students studying through the pandemic.
On the eve of the Council meeting, we received an excellent briefing on Sussex’s current performance on Diversity and Inclusion. This prepared us very well to consider and approve the annual Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion report the following day. It will be published on the website soon. In this context, Council was delighted to approve the appointment of a Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Culture, Diversity and Inclusion.
I want to give special thanks to Professor Sir Peter Knight, our outgoing Chair of Remuneration Committees A and B (Rem Com A and B) who has decided for personal reasons to step down from Council. One of our most eminent former alumni, Peter has been an outstanding independent member, whose great knowledge and insight will be missed by us all. Peter provided an update on Rem Com’s deliberations, noting that the pause on promotions and pay rises, though a necessary precaution, had caused understandable upset to many staff. Council was therefore delighted that Rem Com endorsed additional days of closure in December to give staff a full two week break. In more good news the VC reported that the Executive would soon be bringing a recommendation to Rem Com to un-pause the hold on the discretionary pay review and academic promotions.
As we bade farewell to Sir Peter, I was able to brief Council that Professor Stephen Caddick has agreed to succeed him as Chair of Rem Com, and in turn Mark Devlin will take the helm at the Capital Planning Committee.
The future
The VC gave a presentation on planning work underway in relation to the renewed academic vision of the University, including the upcoming portfolio review and how that relates to the education offering of Sussex. He reaffirmed the priorities laid out in Sussex 2025 in relation to teaching, research and civic engagement alongside the desire to be a recognised national beacon for sustainability. Although much of this work has been in train for over a year, an important area of focus over the next 3-4 month period will be directed at ensuring we emerge from the pandemic reinvigorated, determined to regain our place as a University that attracts and retains outstanding staff and excellent students.
Finally, Council voted to reappoint David Curley, Stephen Caddick and Rosemary Martin for a second term. Rosemary was first appointed in 2017 but stepped down for a while for professional reasons, remaining throughout a member of ARC.
Thank you and holiday tidings
On behalf of the University’s Council, I want to thank all staff for the way so many of you have risen to the challenge of the past nine months. It has been hard for all of us, and students, staff and the Executive have had different crosses to bear. I’m incredibly proud to say that thanks to your efforts Sussex has responded significantly better than most universities, with no positive cases of Covid on campus last week. This has been noted at the highest levels of Government, which is a tremendous accolade. Let us hope that in 2021 we are all able to get our lives back to a semblance of normality. One of Sir Peter Knight’s parting nuggets of wisdom was that we may not be able to do everything at once, but we should be ready now to begin the journey back to normalcy. I’m sure we all echo that thought!
A huge vote of thanks to you all. I do hope that you may find time to rest during the holiday period and where possible, be with loved ones.