Staff Open Meeting 8 June 2020 Virtual meeting
Professor Paul Layzell - Principal
Introduction
Today’s agenda • Priorities, response and focus and the national context • Finance update • The flexible offer to students • Staff working practices and wellbeing • Student experience 2020/2021 • Return to campus • Student recruitment for 2021-22 • Summary and questions
Our priorities: last three and next six months Our overall objective is to maintain a successful and viable university that survives the current crisis and is in a good position to benefit from the recovery phase of the crisis. Timescale Students Staff Short term Complete current year and online Move to effective remote working assessments successfully Support our colleagues immediate wellbeing needs Medium term Support our graduating students Overcome the challenges of the new academic Create a compelling offer for current year with different and difficult circumstances and prospective students Support colleagues to work differently Longer term Ensure the College remains viable and sustainable Wellbeing and support in place, with attention being given to longer-term needs Use the new way of working as a springboard to bring further innovation and success in our delivery of education and research
National context: partners and regulators
National context – QS Student Survey
International context Students from our largest markets: British Council survey Surveys being conducted in various territories on student intentions Likelihood to cancel or delay?
Mary White Chief Financial Officer
Finance update: recap for 2019-2020 • This year we have returned accommodation charges for student accommodation and lost out on commercial activity that can no longer be held on campus • The overall aim this academic year and next is to maximise cash balances through the extended period of uncertainty to ensure the future sustainability of the College • Mitigating actions for 2019-2020 • capital expenditure paused • freeze on new recruitment • non-permanent staff roles reviewed • requests for expenditure > £5k reviewed • Current actions are predicted to improve the year end cash balance for 2019-2020 by £16m to around £45m
Finance update: 2020-2021 (without mitigation) • We are expecting a drop in student fees, Income reduced by £50m accommodation and other income next year. In our worst case scenario this is approximately £50m (25% reduction). Loss of £41m • We are due to make a £22m surplus this year, next year without reducing our expenditure levels this could change to as much as a £41m loss. • In the worst case scenario we spend £27m of our Cash balances reduce by reserves in the year and our cash balances reduce £27m from £47m to £20m.
Finance update: mitigation actions to address risk • Minimise lost income from students and associated business of up to £50m, through flexible offering and giving international students the confidence to join us in September 2020 or January 2021 • Maximise home student intake in September 2020 • Pay and non-pay cost reductions being planned across all spending areas • Preparing plans to activate savings at critical milestones • UCAS June deadline • Confirmation and clearing • September arrivals • November student number count • January arrivals
Finance update: budgeting for 2020-2021 Prolonged period of uncertainty Scenario planning Range of Three scenarios in Interim budget Monitor and assess Final budget impacts July 2020 student registration development November 2020 Mitigating actions planning Maximise cash balances Monitor scenarios, agree interim budget, agree final budget once student recruitment clearer Monitor delivery of mitigating actions, cash balances and covenants against final budget Monitor impacts and keep mitigating actions under review
Professor Ken Badcock Senior Vice Principal (Academic Strategy, Partnerships and Resources)
Flexible offer to students from September 2020 Context • There are many uncertainties about student intake for Autumn 2020 and the physical, social and economic environment in which we will be operating • Any changes we may have to make to the way we operate have a lead time to deliver and therefore we have to prepare now Assumptions • Returning students have an investment in Royal Holloway, and will want to return • We are trying to convert applicants for an on-campus degree • Home students are keen to continue with their plans (UCAS data); overseas students are anxious (British Council) and face travel barriers. • The longer a delay in starting the programme, the lower the chances of students actually starting
Flexible offer to students from September 2020 Building Blocks • Flexible Learning supported for every course; Redesign of some programmes to improve remote experience • September and January start in key overseas recruiting programme - PGT approved/communicated for School of Business and Management, Engineering, Physical and Mathematical Sciences and for International Media Management - UG approved/communicated for selected management degrees and LLB Law.
Defining the Details Request to Schools to define details of the modules and programmes for 20/21 coming our next week. Timetabling Considerations 1. Estate under social distancing restrictions is limited to between ¼ and 1/3 of normal room capacities 2. Our offer to students is a combination of face-to-face (where safe) and online tuition supported by online materials and resources. Students come to us for an on-campus education and we need to provide one as far as safely and practically possible. 3. Staff workload demands for education will increase, and the pandemic will provide ongoing disruption
Professor James Knowles Senior Vice-Principal (Education)
Flexible offer: what it will look like Must be of high quality Must be resilient (reliable experience) (good experience) Must have parity (equivalent experience)
Complex choices Factors shaping teaching pattern • Estate under social distancing restrictions is limited to between ¼ and 1/3 of normal room capacities. • We will offer students face-to-face tuition supplemented by online materials and tuition. • Staff workload demands for education will increase, and the pandemic will provide ongoing disruption. Priorities • Face-to-face (on campus) > key feature = personalised, contact-based, small group • Flexible (face-to-face/remote) and resilient (COVID proof; technology proof; easily understood) • Sustained contact hours (increased?) > learning outcomes, standard hours of study • Engaged teaching (presence) and learning (active, challenging)
Digital realism • High quality – but recognising the technological and physical constraints • Parity – it will be equal to but not the same as previous years – and that there are opportunities for creativity and innovation we can seize • Resilience – both F2F and remote, as flexible as we can be, but also careful to make sure it is robust and as problem-free as we can make it. • The aim is consistency in our approach and style – help and support the students with clear design and well structured material – but not uniformity. • Moodle ‘specification’ • Learning Design Model (‘Flexible Delivery Plan’) • MS Teams
Beyond 2020 • The impact of the pandemic will likely extend beyond 2020-2021; it’s been an acceleration factor for change and innovation. • Some aspects of current alternatives (eg assignments) we will retain > we need to review carefully and learn from what has worked and what has not (nb 97%+ engagement) • Some of the new teaching methods will bring improved engagement, better student responses and even (!) NSS scores • Opportunity for experimentation – even in a difficult time there’s a chance to try new things, be creative • Opportunity to rewrite and redefine our e-learning strategy, the 2030 strategy, and also our technological requirements • Opens up new opportunities: online exams better integrated mark recording data
Professor Katie Normington Deputy Principal (Academic)
Flexible offer: staff working practices • Alterations to educational delivery will require staff to work flexibly, particularly given the recruitment freeze • Academic capacity has been increased for next year, for example by postponing research sabbaticals for around 90 staff • With some January starts and a compressed academic year, we will need flexible approaches in order to deliver teaching that extends throughout the year Teaching delivery needs to be resilient to mitigate for those who may fall ill or who are sheltering to work entirely online from home • Some staff may deliver two intensive teaching terms with additional examining and others lower level year round teaching and examining • Committee and meetings structure slimmed down and alongside the new ways of working we also need to work on a cultural shift so that we focus on what is now necessary rather than looking back at past practices. • The new ways of working with place new demands on our staff and resources like the Working Well Hub are focused on providing information and support for managers and staff.
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