Professor Colin Bailey provides an update on our people, education and the student experience, research and innovation, and individual news and successes.
Dear colleague,
As we begin the new academic year it is a good point to reflect on where we are, the progress we have made towards our Strategy 2030 ambitions and our priorities for the year ahead. Much as there are challenges facing the UK and the sector, at Queen Mary we are in a very strong position thanks to the hard work and dedication of all our staff.
We continue to invest in our staff and students, and it is a delight to meet new colleagues at the staff welcome events and existing staff when I visit Schools and Institutes.
I am very aware that the cost of living is a major concern to many of you, and to our students. There is a range of support available to our students, and for staff there is information and help available via our Employee Assistance Programme.
This year, the pay rise for staff was between 5 and 8%, with an extra circa 3% for those staff who progressed automatically through the annual increments. At Queen Mary, we also made an increase to London weighting of 21% last year. For next year, although the sector is in a very challenging financial position and will continue to be so with a freeze on UK student fees, we will be suggesting the best possible national pay rise for staff recognising the financial pressure colleagues face, whilst trying to balance the long-term affordability for the University. Although this will be Queen Mary’s position, you will be aware that salary increases are negotiated at national level between the University and Colleges Employers Association and all the trade unions. There has been a lot of discussion about the sector’s finances in the media and elsewhere, and we will be supporting a full review to enable constructive discussions to take place, based on evidence, during these national negotiations.
There was good work at national level earlier in the year, supported by ACAS, between the trade unions and UCEA to agree areas of future joint work including on pay gaps, contract types, workload and pay spines. We continue to hope to see a return to that work to progress these issues. At a local level, we are working hard with Faculties, Schools and Institutes to reduce the use of temporary contracts. There are occasions where we need to use fixed-term contracts, for example to cover parental leave, but it is very important that where possible staff have the surety of a permanent contract. I’m very pleased to note that at Queen Mary we continue to make good progress closing pay gaps, and have also improved staff diversity. We are also very proud that none of our activities are outsourced unlike other universities. Please see the latest pay gap report [PDF] for more information.
Unfortunately pay and working conditions continue to be areas of continuing dispute with the trade union UCU at national and local level. For more information about industrial action including forthcoming strike action, please see our FAQs.
Many thanks to you all for your incredibly hard work to get our University ready for the arrival of our new students. From this weekend over 11,500 new students will be joining our diverse community that represents over 170 nationalities. Thank you in advance for making them feel welcomed into the Queen Mary community: going to university and leaving home potentially for the first time is a big change for students and if you see a student looking lost, do stop and see if you can help. Remember this new intake of students, like our current students, have all suffered significantly as a result of the pandemic. I hope that we can give them a massive welcome to the Queen Mary family or a welcome back.
As you will be aware from my last email, staff across the University have worked incredibly hard to increase the number of students choosing Queen Mary, and to increase the proportions of overseas students on our campuses which historically have been lower than at similar universities. That work has had impact: we received over 70% more applications from potential students last year compared with 2017. However, unfortunately we have not met our student number targets in some subject areas, which does mean a significant financial shortfall in these areas. The areas financially affected are now working to see how those shortfalls can be managed.
I commented in my last email about our student experience and education. We know we have made some small progress in the National Student Survey (NSS), which is used to measure teaching quality, but there is still much more to do. I would urge you all to look at the NSS results in your subject areas which highlights the students’ feedback about the ‘quality of teaching’ and ‘assessment and feedback’. This work will continue to be a big area of focus for all the Schools and Institutes this year as we look to improve.
We continue to have good news to share in relation to research and innovation. Last year’s record-breaking level of research awards, totalling £172.9m, highlights our excellent performance in a competitive funding environment. The announcement last week of the UK’s re-entry into the Horizon Europe research programme was a great moment for the research community across the UK: for more information, please read the statement and blog from Professor Andrew Livingston, Vice-Principal (Research and Innovation). For the latest updates on research, please see the news section of our website and the case studies of our Research Highways.
Before I close, I wanted to note the success of some individuals across the University, and to congratulate some colleagues, existing and new, who are taking up senior positions. Congratulations to our new Heads of Schools: Professor Emma Griffin joins us from the University of East Anglia as our new Head of School for History, Professor Martin Coward is now Head of the School of Politics and International Relations, Professor Christopher Tredwin is Dean for Dentistry and Professor Boris Khoruzhenko is now interim Head of the School of Mathematical Sciences. Congratulations also to Professor Dan Todman, who takes up the role of Deputy Vice-Principal in Humanities and Social Sciences, Professor Chris Bray, who is now the Dean for Education in Science and Engineering and Professor Alex Clark, who is Dean for International in Science and Engineering. Congratulations also to those of you have recently been promoted through the latest academic promotions round: well done all!
Staff across the University continue to win awards. Examples include:
It is always a pleasure to share staff’s successes. If you or a colleague win an award, be sure to let our communications team know.
Thanks again to everyone for making our students feel welcome, and, as ever, for your continued hard work and dedication.
Best wishes,
Colin