Campus News

Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s blog: adapting to a new life on campus

July 21st, 2020

Face coverings have been receiving a lot of attention in the media lately, especially with the changes to national guidance on use in shops being introduced from Friday.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that the University’s Expert Advisory Group and the Recovery Board have had discussions about face coverings and we have agreed that from Monday 27 July we will be making them compulsory inside buildings on campus. There will be a number of exceptions for things such as small office spaces, for eating and for those with medical conditions. The policy on this will be available on the Health and Safety CV-19 Recovery webpages [Workspace login required] pages on Friday.

Handwashing and social distancing remain the most effective ways of reducing the spread of the virus but I hope this step offers further reassurance about the decisions we are taking and the measures we are introducing to enable all of our staff and students to return to work safely.

With that in mind I would also draw your attention to Extraordinary is what you make it, new webpages for students which set out our safety measures and what they can expect from their university experience in the autumn.

Clearly, things will be very different this year and we will add as much information as possible over the summer to help students understand how these changes will affect them, allay any anxieties, inspire and enthuse them and give them the tools to make the very best of what our University has to offer.

I would encourage you all to have a look at the pages to get a sense of the work that has gone into making our campus safe for September as well as an understanding of what will be different.

This Friday we will be celebrating the virtual graduation of 10,000 of our students in a 24 hour festival. A Graduation without Borders, will see global alumni and well-known Nottingham faces share messages of support and congratulations to our students as they mark the end of their studies with us.

Watching the videos for both these projects I certainly feel a sense of gratitude, as well as pride, about everything that has been achieved in these testing times.

I know that Schools have been working hard to communicate programme-level details on how they will teach different courses and modules from the autumn – this will be helpful for our students and is also a requirement of the Office for Students.

We are developing the timetable to support teaching in socially-distanced environments while trying to limit any changes to the traditional pattern of working hours. One of the measures we are looking at is around reducing seminars and workshops to 40 minutes to allow for plenty of time for cleaning and safe movement of people.

While we continue to ask staff to work from home, unless advised otherwise, we have now confirmed arrangements for staff who need to return to campus to access specialist equipment in order to prepare for teaching in the new academic year.

A Stay and Do process has been developed to facilitate this, so that staff can work in bookable rooms in buildings on campus that have been approved for opening. This process can be used in conjunction with the existing Grab and Go process, so that colleagues can retrieve materials from their offices and use them for teaching preparation in centrally bookable rooms.

Please note that we are not yet in a position to allow staff to work in their own offices in buildings that remain formally closed. The Stay and Do process provides an opportunity for us to allow staff who need to come on to campus to work to do so, safely and in a controlled manner, and using buildings and facilities that have been formally checked and approved for opening.

On that note I am really pleased that we now have 44 buildings and research facilities open. The latest of these include Hallward Library and Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, at University Park, and the GSK Carbon Neutral Laboratories for Sustainable Chemistry, at Jubilee Campus.

There are a great many factors affecting a building reopening, including the numbers of people working inside and using the services within it. There is a lengthy list of health and safety checks above and beyond those the precautionary protocols for COVID, including flushing for legionella, electrical checks, and checks for fire alarms and ventilation, and many other things besides.

It is imperative that we follow the process that is set out and we do not see people coming back on to campus before it has been agreed. Attempting to access buildings that aren’t open adds extra pressure on these services and compromises the safety of all involved.

For those who are preparing to return to campus to work, in the short or medium term, some core principles have been developed to help this transition. Every team will have different needs and these principles act as a guide, encouraging us all to continue to work as flexibly and with as much agility as we have all done since March, while also setting out some expectations.

When we talk about recovery it suggests we will revert to a former way of working but there are a lot of positive changes that we should seek to retain. The coronavirus is not going to go away in the near future but we have to adapt to new ways of working.

Once again I must thank all of those involved with our return to operations – we have achieved so much in a short space of time. While the tasks ahead of us continue to be complex I am confident that, with all of your support, we will continue to rise to the challenges.

 

Professor Andy Long
Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor

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Stay and Do – new process to aid on-campus teaching preparation

July 21st, 2020

A new process has been introduced to enable academic and technical staff to access on-campus facilities before the start of term so that teaching materials can be prepared.

Stay and Do allows staff to work in bookable rooms in buildings on campus that have been approved for opening.

In order to access this service staff must complete a form which will be sent to them by their School or Department.

This process can be used in conjunction with the existing Grab and Go process, so that colleagues can retrieve materials from their offices and use them for teaching preparation in centrally bookable rooms.

Please note that we are not yet in a position to allow staff to work in their own offices in buildings that remain formally closed.

The Stay and Do process provides an opportunity for us to allow staff who need to come on to campus to work to do so, safely and in a controlled manner, and using buildings and facilities that have been formally checked and approved for opening.

More details about both processes can be found in the CV19 – Recovery Planning webpages.

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High voltage electrical infrastructure works

July 17th, 2020

The Estate Office is currently in the process of completing a long-term series of projects to replace the University’s high voltage electrical infrastructure at University Park.

The high voltage network, that is owned and operated by the University, distributes electricity to all parts of the Campus. The team have been working over a 10-year period to replace 7.5 km of underground cabling and equipment within 23 high voltage substations across the campus to ensure that the system is reliable, resilient and fit for the demands of a modern university.

The team have delivered this business-critical and technically challenging project without disruption to teaching and research, which has resulted in a dramatic improvement to the reliability of supply. The final elements of the replacement project will take place from Monday 10 August to Sunday 13 September. This will involve retiring the intake substation equipment, which dates back to 1956, and replacing it with up-to-date equipment. This will provide improved resilience and increased functionality whilst increasing our capacity of renewable technologies, reducing carbon emissions and fully supporting research and teaching. Following this, off-campus work will be undertaken in December by our partners Western Power Distribution to facilitate increased capacity.

During the works, taking place between Monday 10 August and Sunday 13 September, the team will need to manage energy usage to minimise the risk to engineers. Whilst users across campus should notice no difference to their electrical supplies, it is imperative that electrical demand is minimised during the period of the works. Colleagues across University Park are therefore encouraged to switch off electrical items that are not required and to consult with Estates on any planned utilisation of large items of electrical equipment during the at-risk period.

This will help avoid any interruption to supplies and the introduction of delays to the project which would extend the at-risk period and present associated issues to ongoing business.

For any further details and enquiries regarding the work, please contact the Estates Office by email or via the Estates helpdesk.

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Help tell the story of the coronavirus and UoN

July 17th, 2020

Staff and students are being asked to submit photos, videos and anecdotes that help tell the story of the University during the pandemic. 

Since March 2020 life has changed dramatically for everyone. For the first time in its history the University asked all but essential staff to work from home and teaching moved online. 

Via Teams calls, with interruptions from children and pets, we had an insight into our colleagues’ home life and décor. 

We worked alongside local and national stakeholders to provide expertise and support to those fighting the Coronavirus. 

Researchers began work on vaccines and treatment as well as the impact of the Coronavirus across many different areas of life. 

Teaching staff used new and innovative ways of virtually engaging with students. 

Security teams joined in weekly NHS clap for carers and while large parts of our campuses lay empty wildlife thrived.  

As the crisis continued thoughts turned to the future. Teams were put in place to get essential buildings reopened albeit in a very different way and in September the University plans to welcome students back to Nottingham. 

Official records and communications (such as blogs and press releases) are being collected for the University Archive. These will help document the University community’s work related to the pandemic for the benefit of future generations, but we are asking for colleagues across the institution to bring it to life. 

We’d like photos and videos from staff and students of all campuses including China and Malaysia sharing key moments from the months of the pandemic. 

This might be pictures of your home office, screen shots of Teams meetings, videos of buildings reopening on campus, photos of how you’ve taught students remotely. 

A selection of these will then be used to create a visual timeline and added to the University Archive to complement the official institutional records. 

Please think about what content you would like to remember about working life during the last few months and consider submitting content to tell your story. Bear in mind that this material may be published online so do seek permission from anyone featured in your content. Images, videos and content should be submitted to coronastories@uniofnottm.onmicrosoft.com. 

If you are filming new video footage please consider the following guidelines. 

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COVID-19 Stress and Health study – phase 2

July 17th, 2020

The COVID-19 Stress and Health study is entering its second phase and asking those who took part in phase 1 to update the team.

In April we posted a call for volunteers to take part in phase 1. The study is being carried out to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the physical and emotional health of people in the UK.

Those who took part in phase 1 will be contacted by email very soon with details on phase 2, so keep an eye out for the email and remember to check your junk folder. This phase will include completing the second survey and providing another hair sample.

As a thank you, everyone completing phase 2 will be entered into a draw to win a £200 gift voucher.

For more information, please visit www.covidstressstudy.co.uk.

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FAQs – Coronavirus and our finances

July 16th, 2020

Below are a number of common questions regarding the University’s financial standing that have come up frequently in roadshow meetings hosted by Margaret Monckton and Andy Long:

Does the University have as much liquidity as we should? 

  • Yes. The University has a revolving credit facility which is effectively pre-agreed debt that has not yet been drawn down. This facility is worth £80 million plus an overdraft facility of £15 million, creating £95 million headroom which we can access should we need. We have not drawn it down yet to avoid paying unnecessary interest on it.

Are we in a weaker position than other Russell Group universities?

  • No, on the contrary, we are positioning ourselves to recover our finances more quickly than many universities in the critical years ahead. We have low levels of net debt versus other Russell Group universities which gives us the flexibility to borrow more as part of our plan for dealing  with the impact of COVID-19. We also have lighter touch covenants to comply with, and can manage the impact of COVID-19 and still remain compliant with them.

Are losses really going to be as bad as predicted?

  • Russell Group universities are all making similar planning assumptions and we believe that the impact for Nottingham next year will range between £150 million and £200 million. This is due to lost international recruitment, lost research income and lost commercial income and we will not know for sure how many UK students will join us in September or defer. This represents 20% of total income, which if modelled over 5 years, including this year, the total impact to the University in terms of lost income over that period will range from £450 million to £500 million.
  • The 15% plans contribute £345 million over five years, and it is this coupled with a pause on investment and short term additional debt, that will help us meet this loss. The majority of savings are non-pay savings, with pay savings making up the smallest amount.

What is the University’s credit rating?

  • Having performed a very detailed analysis of our plans and our forecasts, Standard & Poor have recently reconfirmed the University’s credit rating at A+ with a stable outlook. Indeed, their assessment said: “The University of Nottingham has improved its financial resources, putting it in a good position to weather COVID-19-related headwinds. The stable outlook reflects our expectation that the University will successfully achieve its identified cost savings, easing pressure on its financial resources.”

Interest rates are at a record low, why not simply borrow more money?

  • We already have a manageable debt of £100 million and plan to borrow a maximum £60 million during this period, depending on the scale of losses in 2020/21.
  • The financial impact of coronavirus will not be a short-term problem, so in order to remain sustainable as a University, we need to reduce our costs to match our reduced income.
  • Debt still has to be serviced with interest payments, and significant debt would mean that money we want to invest in teaching or research becomes absorbed in interest repayments.
  • Banks will only lend money if we can demonstrate we could maintain the interest payments and repay the debt – which brings us back to the need to bring our cost base down

Why not use the University’s reserves to tide us over?

  • Simply put, this is a cash issue – the difference between what we want to spend and how much income we will generate. Reserves are not cash, they are net assets – our buildings and endowments for example – so for the most part, they are not easily cashable and of no help in the current situation.
  • To use a domestic example. Add up the value of any property you own, a car and savings, then deduct any debts, eg a car loan or mortgage.  The sum is the value of your net assets or ‘reserves.’
  • Imagine you wanted to fund a career break, so you look at your net assets to see how much you can afford – you have some savings, could sell your car and are thinking about even extending your mortgage.
  • However, some of your savings come from a legacy with ‘strings attached’ on how you can spend it, you cannot sell your car at the asking price and the bank says it will only extend your mortgage by 50% of what you need.
  • So you are already restricted in how much cash you can access from savings, and how much and how quickly you could convert your physical assets like your home or car into cash. Can you still use your reserves to fund a career break?

Why not delay financial reductions until we know the actual scale of the impact?

  • If we delay, there is a very real risk that we would have to impose sharper, more sudden measures or it will simply be too late to do anything about it and we run out of cash and can no longer operate.
  • We will know our true position on our income at the end of the calendar year. If the impact is anywhere near as expected, it would be too late to empower budget holders to choose where to make the considered savings that we are making now.

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Propulsion Futures Beacon newsletter

July 15th, 2020

The latest edition of the Propulsion Futures Beacon newsletter was recently published and can be accessed here.

The Propulsion Futures beacon seeks to support new ideas and innovation in science and engineering to drive the discovery and translation of new materials, new components and new technologies for future, greener, propulsion systems in mobile applications.

At the University, our academics and researchers are collaborating with businesses and organisations to pioneer ways of moving people and goods – and reduce our dependency on fossil fuels.

The newsletter is sent on a quarterly basis and shares news and achievements towards sustainable materials and technologies for greener and more electric transport systems.

Highlights from the July edition include:

  • The University’s involvement in the EU Graphene Flagship
  • Discover more about the University’s extensive contributions to the Clean Sky aviation programme
  • Dr Xuanli Luo recognised as one of the Top 50 Women in Engineering by the Women’s Engineering Society

The quarterly newsletter will next be published in October. To be added to the mailing list, please email EZ-PF-Beacon@nottingham.ac.uk. In the meantime, you can follow @UoN_Propulsion on Twitter.

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A graduation without borders

July 14th, 2020

Nottingham alumni, ambassadors and famous faces are helping to mark the graduation of 10,000 students in a 24-hour global celebration.

The virtual festival will begin at 1am (BST) on Friday 24 July as dawn breaks in New Zealand. Bursts of activity will take place in different countries around the world, following the path of the sun, and ending as night falls in the South Pacific.

University staff, students, alumni living around the world, and at our China and Malaysia campuses, will be sharing in messages of celebration, congratulations and offering advice for the future. They include Nottingham-born actress Vicky McClure, explorer and alumnus Levison Wood and former UNM Student President BBC journalist Ben Hunte.

Meanwhile in the UK, faculties at the University will celebrate the success of their graduating cohorts and award school prizes for exceptional students.

Nottingham’s first Young Poet Laureate, alumna Georgina Wilding, has written a poem titled In Absentia to mark the occasion.

Students have been encouraged to put their own spin on celebrations. Suggestions include how to fashion a mortar board and gown from items lying around the house, ways of celebrating in a socially-distanced world as well as a series of other challenges to take part in.

In line with government advice the University is not able to hold its usual graduation ceremonies this summer. Instead students will graduate in absentia, with certificates posted to them.

President and Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Shearer West said:

“Graduation is one of the most significant events of the year.  For our students, it is the opportunity to share with loved ones the culmination of their hard work.  For staff, this is a moment of pride for the many achievements of our students and an opportunity to celebrate their success.

“But these extraordinary circumstances have called for a different approach to our celebrations this year. While we will, of course, invite all our students back for their official graduation ceremonies when it is safe to host them on campus, we also want to mark their achievements now.

“Over 150 countries are represented by those who study and work with us, and we wish to ensure that our celebrations reflect our global thinking. Many of our international students returned to their home countries as the pandemic broke, and I am delighted that they will be able to join in our graduation without borders on July 24.”

In Numbers
The day will also see the University’s campuses in Ningbo, China, and Semenyih, Malaysia, celebrating with their students- bringing the total number taking part to 10,000.

7,500 in UK

1,600 in China

900 in Malaysia

The University has one student graduating in the Maldives this year, taking our alumni population there to 22.

There are three students graduating from Afghanistan and one in Uzbekistan.

In both Eritrea and Somalia there are two students marking the end of their studies.

Our first alum in Cote d’Ivoire is being welcomed this year, as are our first six in Mauritania.

Ongoing support
The University is also offering students in the Class of 2020 an extended package of careers support and activities, helping them to thrive professionally and personally – pandemic or not – wherever they are in the world.  It includes new online modules, a range of talks from alumni to help you develop skills such as networking or CV and application writing.

The Nottingham Open Online Course helps translate COVID-19 volunteering or unpaid work into a valuable CV addition, complemented by tips from alumni about how they’ve used similar experiences to get ahead.

Professor West added: “We are very aware that navigating these uncertain times is challenging. However, the unusual circumstances during the final months of University life make our graduates’ accomplishments all the greater.  We remind them that they are not alone.  They are joining a community of 300,000 alumni, and we will always be here to support them.”

For event timings and more information on how to join in the celebrations visit the Graduation without Borders page or submit your message of support via social media using #WeAreUoN.

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Deputy Vice-Chancellor’s blog: teams working differently for student recruitment

July 13th, 2020

In the wake of the Coronavirus, teams working together in new and innovative ways has been pivotal to the University’s recovery. Director of Student Recruitment Rachel Atkin explains why she is asking staff to volunteer with Clearing and Confirmation activities this year and outlines some of the ways her department has adapted to protect the University’s core business.

Clearing and Confirmation has always been key for the University, with income from teaching and learning making up 60% of the University’s revenue. But the uncertainty of a post-pandemic world has put an emphasis on student recruitment like never before.

As the Higher Education sector moved online to deal with the impact of the Coronavirus one of the most fundamental areas that had to adapt was student recruitment.

We have traditionally attracted new students through on-campus events as well as presentations in schools and local communities – activities that were put on hold as lockdown began.

The other part of the recruitment journey – Clearing and Confirmation – is typically done through the creation of a physical hotline centre with volunteers fielding thousands of calls.

Almost overnight everything changed and teams were left with the challenge of how to market the University in the face of COVID-19, how to generate applications for 2021 entry and turn applicants into students for 2020 entry.

With the Student Recruitment and Digital and Marketing teams working closely together, one solution to these challenges was to create an online accessible alternative for prospective students to replace activity which could no longer take place in person. The Student Recruitment team also had to discover new ways of interacting with our international prospective students and managing Clearing and Confirmation for those joining in September.

Discover… Something Extraordinary
While Open Days rely on the support of the whole University community to show the campus at its best for prospective students and their families even greater collaboration was needed to turn this into a virtual offering.

Colleagues from Student Recruitment, Digital and Marketing and the User Experience (UX) team in Information Services began with research to scope out what prospective students needed (hope and reassurance about their future) before using this insight to design and implement the project from concept to website go-live.

Via the site applicants are able to sign up for a series of live lectures, subject talks and video tours of the campus. To date the 160 different live sessions have seen more than 15,000 bookings.

We then called upon our many talented colleagues across the university to ask them to support with their individual expertise.

Presenter and delivery teams were provided by student ambassadors, academic schools, Widening Participation and Outreach Delivery teams, the Support Hub, International Student Recruitment and Accommodation colleagues while Media and WP Outreach teams supported with presentation training.

The knowledge, skills and expertise of colleagues in IS was key to the project. They managed, scoped out the project, helped with rehearsals and practice as the team got to grips with new technology, provided on the day trouble-shooting and post-session preparation of recordings.

The majority of lectures were delivered by our outstanding academics on campus from the Monica Partridge Building. The team has worked with HR, Estates, Nottingham Hospitality and the Safety Office in new ways to ensure that on campus delivery was safe. We are particularly thankful to the daily teams of cleaning staff who ensured that the building was safe and clean for us.

And of course the WP and Outreach team, who would usually have been at UCAS fairs and open days, have been the glue in trying to ensure digital sessions took place at the right time with the right people and the right presentations.

Clearing and Confirmation
For Clearing and Confirmation the Student Recruitment team has always worked closely with colleagues in Digital and Marketing. We’ve been fortunate that many colleagues have helped with staffing the hotlines that took more than 77,000 call attempts on results day last year.

This year, with many of us working from home we’ve had to look at doing things differently. We had piloted the use of an online form last year for a small number of courses and will be using this experience to widen it out as the main route for clearing this year.

We will have a scaled back hotline for applicants with volunteers needed to help make verbal offers to applicants over the telephone, against a set of entry criteria.

We are also looking for volunteers to support our Confirmation Hotline dealing with a range of queries from current offer holders. In the midst of a pandemic applicants have far more questions about their university experience. We have been proactive in sending out more information that will help reassure new students and help them to make the best decisions about their future.

Both hotlines will run remotely from A-level results day on 13 August. Full training will be provided and supervisors will also be available to provide additional support. If you can volunteer please complete this form by 20 July.

Once again this work has required us to work closely with colleagues in IS UX– particularly around the design of a form to ensure it captures everything we need to know to be able to process queries efficiently. We’ve had to understand and introduce new software and adapt our physical call centre into a series of virtual ones.

The impact of the Coronavirus on student recruitment will not just be for September 2020. Any changes in undergraduate and postgraduate research student numbers will last for the duration of their studies.

In dealing with a pandemic we’ve needed to adapt to protect the very thing that makes the University a place of learning – its students. But what is also clear is that change can be positive, it can inspire new ways of working and collaboration. Through Discover… Something Extraordinary we were able to offer an open day experience to applicants all over the world and through changes to Clearing and Confirmation we’ve streamlined a process to avoid people being on hold for long periods of time on a phone line.

Many of these new ways of working will be things we can take forward to build on in the years to come.

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Leadership and Management Academy: celebration event for 2020 alumni

July 10th, 2020

Staff from across the University joined together to celebrate their completion of the Leadership and Management Academy’s leadership and management programmes 2020.

On Wednesday 8 July the Leadership and Management Academy (LMA) hosted their first ever virtual celebration event to recognise and celebrate the achievements of  over 180 colleagues who participated in LMA core leadership programmes this year.

During this time of crisis, colleagues continued to develop their leadership skills and found their feet in the lockdown world, sticking with and completing their programmes which had moved rapidly to digital delivery. It was great to see participants, their line managers, external learning partners and guest speakers all taking the opportunity to raise a glass (or mug) in celebration.

It was hugely impressive to see the amount of commitment, time and effort that had gone into the programmes and hear from participants who shared their reflections on how the programmes have impacted them.

It was also great to hear from Professor Sarah Speight (who has previously been a participant on a number of LMA programmes) as well as having the chance to see everyone who had been involved across the 4 programmes.

Professor Shearer West shared her own reflections on leadership at the University and responded to each of the guest speaker stories in support of what they had achieved. You can watch the celebration event alumni video here.

The LMA would like to thank colleagues for the dedication, collaboration, peer support and kindness that has been shown in such difficult circumstances.

Leadership and Management Academy programmes 2020/2021
In the coming weeks there will be an opportunity to apply to LMA programmes for 2020/2021.

Find out more about the Leadership and Management Academy.

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