The Council

COUN01-M1

Minutes of the 274th Meeting of the University Council held on 16 February 2001.

Members:

Dr J K Green (Chair); Dr C J Backhouse; Mr H Barber (ab); Mr J B C Blood; Mr R H Boissier; Professor W R Bowman (ab); P Boydon (ab); Dr T G M Brooks (ab); Dr S Campbell (ab); Professor L M Cantor; Sir Bryan Carsberg (ab); Dr M J Catton; Mr M Crowhurst; Professor J V Dawkins; Ms V Dhupa; Dr A N Fairbairn; Mr D Gough (ab); Professor C Hanson (ab); Mr P Harrisson; Mr P J K Haslehurst; Dr T Higgins; Ms N Honey; Mrs J E Hull; Professor T J Kavanagh (ab); Dr G Mason; Mr E O Maxwell; Professor R McCaffer; Mr M Moghal; Professor I C Morison (ab); Mr W M Moss; Dr P N Murgatroyd; Dr L R Mustoe; Mr J Mutton (ab); Dr A Osbaldestin (ab); Mrs W M Pilkington; Sir Denis Rooke; Dr J F Rowland; Ven I Stanes; Mrs J A M Strong; Professor H Thomason (ab); Mrs M C Tomlinson; Mr D R F Walker; Professor D J Wallace; Ms E Wallace (ab); Mr J B White; Mr C S Woodruff

In attendance:

Professor J L Alty; Professor N A Halliwell; Mrs F M Hannah; Mr H M Pearson; Mr J M Town; Miss M T Whyte

Apologies for absence were received from:

Professor C Hanson; Professor T Kavanagh; Professor I C Morison; Mr J Mutton; Dr A Osbaldestin


01/1 Minutes

It was RESOLVED to confirm the Minutes of the 272nd Meeting of Council held on 18 December 2000.

01/2 Matters Arising from the Minutes

.1 Further to Minute 00/136.1 - Amendments to Statute XIII

COUN01-P1

It was RESOLVED (by 30 votes to 0 with 2 abstentions) to confirm the Special Resolution for amendments, as summarised in the agenda paper, to Statute XIII subject to such amendments as Privy Council may require.

.2 Further to Minute 00/136.2 - Amendments to Charter and Statutes I, II, XII, XIV, XVI, XXI and XXV

COUN01-P2

It was RESOLVED (by 32 votes to 0 with 0 abstentions) to confirm the Special Resolution for amendments, as summarised in the agenda paper, to Charter and Statutes I, II, XII, XIV, XVI, XXI and XXV subject to such amendments as Privy Council may require.

.3 Transitional Arrangements

COUN01-P3/P3a

Council considered recommendations from Nominations Committee on the transitional arrangements for introducing the changes to membership of Council. Lay members elected by the Court and members elected by the Senate would be allowed to see out their term to ensure experienced members continued to Chair committees over the transitional period. A minor correction to the paper was noted - Professor C J Backhouse would remain on Council until 2002 and therefore the membership of Council would be 36 in 2001/02, 33 in 2002/03 and 30 in 2003/04.

The Registrar had been in consultation with the Privy Council who had indicated their preferred means of dealing with the proposed transitional arrangements, which is by the creation of an additional Statute describing the arrangements to apply over the transition period. Council was asked to approve a special resolution for the creation of an additional Statute XXVII which confirms the transitional arrangements, subject to such amendments as Privy Council may require.

It was RESOLVED (by 27 votes to 0 with 5 abstentions) to APPROVE:

  1. The transitional arrangements for introducing the changes to membership of Council.
  2. A special resolution to create an additional Statute XXVII, as summarised in COUN01-P3a. Council was reminded that the special resolution would be re-submitted to the next meeting of Council at which it must be confirmed by a similar level of support before submission to the Privy Council. The Statute XXVII would not be implemented until Privy Council approval had been received.

01/3 Vice-Chancellor's Business

Tabled paper

The Vice-Chancellor reported on the following matters:

  1. UCEA had reached agreement to enter into further discussion with the unions and all industrial action by campus unions had been suspended.
  2. Applications for 2001 entry

    Undergraduate home student applications were down 7.78% on 1999/2000 figures. However, members were reminded that undergraduate home student applications had increased over the last three years. The Vice-Chancellor indicated that the position was not a cause for concern at this point and the figures represented a challenge which the University should be able to meet successfully. The University should expect to see more activity in Clearing than it did in 1999/2000.

    PGCE applications were down by 29.8% on 1999/2000 figures. It was believed that this was due to misinformation regarding the closure of the Department of Education and a belief that PGCE programmes would no longer be available at the University. A meeting was to take place to address the shortfall of the target. Council was informed that the Education Department at Leicestershire County Council would be happy to co-operate with the University to address this issue particularly as there were problems in recruiting teachers in Leicestershire.

    Overseas postgraduate taught student applications had increased by 83.5% in comparison with 1999/2000 figures which was extremely encouraging. This continued an increasing trend as 1999/2000 admissions had risen by 85% since the previous year. These increases represent significant additional income to the University. In return the University must ensure that there are enough teaching rooms available to accommodate the projected increase in postgraduate taught students. The Vice-Chancellor also voiced the need to reward individual academic departments for their success in recruiting additional overseas students. A member commented that they were delighted to see the increase in overseas postgraduate students and that early warning of the likely increase to schools would be much appreciated. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor responded that the University should be seeking to establish special relationships with local schools regarding provision for the children of overseas students.
  3. The value of new research grants and contracts gained in the first six months of 2000/01 had already exceeded the annual total for 1996/97. In addition, Construction Management and Manufacturing Engineering had been awarded Centre of Excellence status and had just been awarded an EPSRC grant in excess of £8 million. Council conveyed congratulations to all those responsible.
  4. The Vice-Chancellor informed Council of some of the factors that would affect the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) Teaching Grant. The teaching of French had been re-banded. All bids to HEFCE for additional student numbers had met with at least some success. It was anticipated that an additional £800,000 in HEFCE grant would be generated.
  5. A special ceremony had been held at Buckingham Palace on Thursday 15 February 2001 at which Her Majesty the Queen had presented a 2000 Queens Anniversary Prize to the Optical Engineering Group. Loughborough was one of only three universities in the country to have been granted three such awards. All three awards had been made to the Faculty of Engineering and no other Engineering Faculty in the country had been granted three awards.

01/4 Financial Report

The Bursar reported that the half-year budget for 2000/01 was on course. Improvements included a non-recurring recovery of customs and excise VAT of nearly £1 million. In light of this, it had been agreed with the Vice-Chancellor that the planned disposal of the University's final holding in BTG should be deferred. Members were reminded that next year will be the last before the impact of the RAE.

Operations Sub-Committee had released additional funding for some high priority objectives, in particular student recruitment initiatives. Limited releases of brought-forward balances had also been allowed for specific projects concerned with restructuring. Performance Monitoring Group will review the detailed half-year picture.

The announcement of the 2001/02 grant is due on 28 February 2001. Early indications of enhanced revenue funding from the Funding Council will probably be insufficient to fund a likely cost of living award for staff. However, the Funding Council's several top-slices will be available for special initiative funding. This will include a Science Infrastructure Investment Fund which should provide capital grants of some £7 million over the next two years to support areas of research strength. A proportion of the funding will be earmarked for Loughborough University, provided sensible bids are put forward. There would also be funds made available for disability-related works although no further detail was known. On the recurrent side, extra money will be made available to help recruit and retain staff and develop good human resource practice, subject to submission of an acceptable strategy. These factors and particularly the success of the bid for additional student numbers means that the budget for 2001/02 is looking less difficult than in recent years.

01/5 Capital Programme

.1 Progress Report

COUN01-P4

Council received a progress report on the Capital Plan.

.2 Engineering Building

Tabled paper

The Bursar reported concerning the cost of the new engineering buildings. Members were informed that the project is already overspent to the extent of perhaps £750,000 and that a similar sum would be needed to complete it to the specification required. The sums mentioned are in addition to the original budget authorised by Council of £15.5 million, expenditure of £183,000 from the Contingency Allowance of £250,000 and the Supplementary Allocation of £800,000 approved by Council last July. Thus the amount spent so far was £16,483 million and to complete the project will cost £18 million on current estimates by the Estates Services Department. This information had only recently been made available to the University.

A member expressed concern that the final cost of the project would be 18% in excess of the initial sum agreed by Council. It was questioned what the chances of recovery, if any, were for the University and more information about the situation was requested.

In reply the Chair expressed his grave concern at the situation, which he had only recently been made aware of. A member expressed surprise that the University had been informed of the problems so late as it had been evident to him for some weeks that the project was experiencing difficulties.

Due to its complexity, the project has been subject to close management from the outset. This included employing a firm to oversee the project and look after the University's interests. The Chair could not understand how this situation had arisen at such a late stage in the project and felt that it was important to establish who was responsible and how the University had got into this position. The Chair asked members to sanction the establishment of an independent Board of Inquiry to investigate. The Board of Inquiry would be chaired by the Treasurer and membership would include lay members from Performance Monitoring Group and the Chairs of Estates Management Committee and Audit Committee. Membership of this body would not include any University staff members. An external expert would be appointed by the University to give independent advice. It is envisaged that this individual would join the Board of Inquiry. The Board would report direct to Council and make recommendations in light of professional advice. A member said that they hoped the Board of Inquiry could investigate fast enough for the University to learn a lesson before other projects overran for similar reasons.

A member asked how the Board of Inquiry would ensure that design team members and contractors would co-operate with their investigations. The Chair responded that their contracts would require them to give the necessary information in such an investigation. Another member asked whether the solicitors acting on behalf of the University were aware of the intention to set up the Board of Inquiry and felt that they ought to be informed in writing to make sure it did not impact upon their own work.

The Vice-Chancellor supported the establishment of an independent Board of Inquiry as suggested by the Chair and hoped that Council would allow money to be released to complete the project.

It was RESOLVED (by 32 votes to 0 with 5 abstentions) to APPROVE the appointment of the Board of Inquiry in line with the Terms of Reference tabled at the meeting.

The Chair stated that discontinuation of the project was not a real option as it would be an indiscriminate way of curtailing the budget and the cost of carrying out the work at a later stage would be greater. Council was asked to release funds of £1.5 million to permit the Engineering Building project to go forward and be completed. If additional funds were required at a later stage it was proposed that the request come back to Council for approval. A member expressed the view that the project must be completed and that expenditure over the additional £1.5 million be reported back to Council rather than having to request approval on a continual basis. Another member suggested that requests for further funding should come back to Council for further discussion.

Following discussion it was RESOLVED to APPROVE an increase in the budget for the Engineering Project by £1.5 million. It was further AGREED that, in order not to delay the project, the Chair of Resources and Planning and the Chair of Council be authorised to approve any additional overrun. All expenditure above the budget should be reported to Council.

.3 Sports Administration Building

Council was informed that discussions with the potential donor involved in this project had resulted in support for the original design of the building , at a budget cost of £3.45 million, instead of a cheaper, but unsatisfactory, version which could be built within the original budget of £3 million. Members were reminded that the costs would be divided equally between a private donor, the University and a mortgage offset against revenue from governing bodies.

Council RESOLVED to re-affirm its delegation of authority to the Chair to move the project to Stage E (final stage), subject to receipt of satisfactory tenders for construction, provided that the total costs were within the revised budget of £3.45 million.

.4 Off Campus Halls Refurbishment

COUN01-P5 and tabled paper

The Bursar informed Council that the University owned some 600 student rooms on land close to the eastern boundary of the campus, the majority of which were in need of refurbishment and outlined the four options detailed in the agenda paper.

The fourth option, whereby the University would seek an arrangement with a third party, which would avoid the use of University capital, had been considered by the Treasurer's Committee at its last meeting, the minutes of which were tabled at Council. The Treasurer summarised that after weighing up the benefits of the scheme against the concerns expressed, the Committee was broadly in favour of proceeding but would not make a definite recommendation to Council until it had received a report on the contracts from the University solicitors and examined certain clauses in detail.

During discussion the following major issues were raised:

The Vice-Chancellor reported that Resources and Planning Committee were content to recommend the proposal to Council in principle and delegate authority to approve the detailed financial and legal arrangements to the Treasurer's Committee.

It was RESOLVED (by 17 votes to 7 with 5 abstentions) to APPROVE the recommendation of Resources and Planning Committee that the project be moved to Stage E (final approval) subject to the financial and legal agreements being approved by the Treasurer's Committee on behalf of Council.

01/6 Hall Fees

COUN01-P6

Council AGREED to APPROVE a recommendation from Resources and Planning Committee that hall fee levels for 2001/02 be increased as detailed below.

 

% rise - no refurbishment

% rise - with refurbishment

Ensuite

4.8%

8%

Standard

3.2%

6.4%

Wash hand basin room

3.2%

6.4%

01/7 Treasurers Committee

COUN01-P7

The Treasurer's Committee sought the approval of Council for amendments to the financial strategy as follows:

The Treasurer informed members that the financial strategy is essentially the same as 1998 slightly adjusted for new conditions.

Council RESOLVED to APPROVE the recommendations of the Treasurer's Committee on financial strategy.

01/8 Membership of Council Committees

Council RESOLVED to approve a nomination from the Students' Union that Mr W Drew be appointed to serve on Resources and Planning Committee for the current academic session.

01/9 Common Seal

COUN01-P8

Council RESOLVED to ratify the action of the Registrar in affixing the University Seal to the documents listed.

01/10 Action Between Meetings

COUN01-P9

Council RESOLVED to ratify the action of the Chair of Council, on the recommendation of the Chair of Resources and Planning Committee, in approving amendments to late registration and late submission fees.

01/11 Financial Health Indicators

COUN01-P10

Council received summary statistics and sector comparisons derived from the 2000 Financial Forecasts.

01/12 Estimates 2000/01

COUN01-P11

Council received a budget report for 2000/01 as at January 2001.

01/13 Date of Next Meeting

Friday, 6 April 2001.


Author - Miranda Whyte
Date - March 2001
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