Three potential worlds\u202f<\/h2>\n

We would like to hear your thoughts on three possible futures for social responsibility at The University of Manchester.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

World 1: Continued success\u202f<\/h3>\n

We\u2019re already known nationally for being the first (and still the only) university to place social responsibility as a core goal. And we\u2019re recognised around the world as one of the leading universities for impact towards key societal goals in major global rankings of success. One option, therefore, is to continue on this pathway of continuous improvement and incremental change.\u202f\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

What will this mean in practice?\u202f\u202f<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
Continuing to make impact on society through our research, students, public engagement and operations in addressing civic and national priorities \u2013 for example through our existing themes such as social inclusion, prosperous communities, better health, environmental sustainability and cultural engagement.\u202f<\/li>\n
Maintain a keen focus on performing well in globally recognised measures of success such as the Times Higher Education Impact Ranking for sustainable development goals (SDG) performance and QS Sustainability Rankings for Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) impact.\u202f\u202f<\/li>\n
Maintain excellence in public and community engagement, for example through our Platinum Watermark and Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) measures.\u202f\u202f<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
What resonates with you? What is missing?\u202f\u202f<\/em><\/p>\n
\n
Given we are already world-leading, is incremental change enough?\u202f\u202f<\/li>\n
Are we satisfied judging ourselves in terms of ranking tables?\u202f\u202f<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
World 2: Students as changemakers\u202f<\/h3>\n
Around 70% of our campus community are students. But, if we are to be critical of our progress in social responsibility, we have yet to find systematic ways to ensure that all Manchester students can contribute to social, economic, health or environmental challenges through their taught programmes.\u202f\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n
What will this mean in practice?\u202f\u202f<\/em><\/p>\n
In this world of Students as Changemakers, we do everything in world 1 plus the following:\u202f<\/p>\n
\n
Building on success in a range of discrete programmes across the University, we will ensure every Manchester student is given the opportunity to make a practical contribution to society through their taught programmes.\u202f\u202f<\/li>\n
Contributions to society will vary from discipline to discipline: law students might give free legal advice; dental students could extend basic dental checks to marginalised communities; business and engineering students may support businesses to flourish; geography and life science students may do projects informed by the needs of local communities.\u202f\u202f<\/li>\n
These opportunities will dramatically enhance our engagement with communities, businesses and wider society. They will also contribute to student satisfaction, student recruitment, graduate outcomes and new research partnerships.\u202f\u202f\u202f<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
What resonates with you? What is missing?\u202f<\/em><\/p>\n
\n
What would a guarantee for every student to make a societal contribution look like across such a diverse portfolio of programmes?\u202f\u202f<\/li>\n
Where do we already do this best?\u202f\u202f<\/li>\n
What training, systems and development needs are required to achieve this step-change?\u202f\u202f<\/li>\n
What would colleagues and students be seeing, feeling and doing in a scenario where this was a successful centrepiece of our strategy?\u202f<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
World 3: The globally connected university\u202f\u202f<\/h3>\n
AI will transform access, delivery and assessment and democratise provision of education \u2013 with many new providers \u2013 many with greater resources than a traditional university \u2013 entering the market. Additionally, as automation and AI disrupt traditional job markets, the pace of technological change will demand that workers regularly upskill or reskill, making traditional degrees less relevant or only a starting point for shorter, modular educational lifelong offerings. The higher education landscape will also become more globalised. Furthermore, geopolitical change and rise of new economic powers and heavy investment by these emerging powers will create new hubs of education and innovation in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. We will fully need to be agile and adapt to this new reality.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n
What will this mean in practice?\u202f<\/em><\/p>\n
In this world of the globally connected university, we do everything in world 1 and world 2, plus the following:\u202f<\/p>\n
\n
We will harness technologies like AI and improved communications to dramatically increase access to our taught programmes at home and around the world for communities that have traditionally been underserved.\u202f<\/li>\n
Our students will serve as changemakers right across the world, particularly through engaging with societies in the global south.\u202f\u202f<\/li>\n
We will supercharge our number of transformational, genuinely symbiotic research alliances with partners around the world to tackle global challenges such as climate change, cybersecurity, and public health crises.\u202f<\/li>\n
We will engage across boundaries to promote better understanding of different societies, democratic values, and the role of universities as both a sanctuary for free inquiry and a conduit for social progress.\u202f<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
What resonates with you? What is missing?\u202f<\/em><\/p>\n
\n
Are we under or over-estimating the impact of AI on global education?\u202f<\/li>\n
Are traditional measures like REF, Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) and KEF barriers to such a vision?\u202f<\/li>\n
What would it take to thread social responsibility more deeply into our cultural DNA, to activate more people to have much greater impact?\u202f<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Conclusion\u202f\u202f<\/h2>\n
\n
You have helped make social responsibility a defining part of our identity, reputation and world-leading performance over the past decade. Now it\u2019s our opportunity to write the next chapter of our work in service to society. \u202f<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Get involved\u202f<\/h2>\n
We need your help to advance our social responsibility in the future. Visit our Manchester 2035 web page to book onto a workshop (in person or online) and share your views through online feedback.\u202f<\/p>\n
You can also leave a comment below \u2013 all comments will be captured within the overall feedback we are collating.<\/p>\n
Nalin Thakkar, Vice-President for Social Responsibility<\/strong><\/p>\n
Ele Morrissey, Executive Director of People and Organisational Development<\/strong><\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=”3.17.6″ prev_text=”Previous” next_text=”Next” in_same_term=”off” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.17.6″ custom_button=”on” button_text_color=”#ffffff” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Related posts” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”]<\/p>\n
Related<\/h1>\n
Related posts:<\/h3>
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div>
From Manchester, For the World: turning our international ambition into action<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
<\/div>
Professor John Holden and Carol Prokopyszyn: Making the Leap: A Powerhouse of Innovation<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
<\/div>
Professor Duncan Ivison: From strategy to delivery<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div>
<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=”Subscribe” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ area=”et_pb_widget_area_3″ locked=”on” \/][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=”3.17.6″ area=”sidebar-1″ show_border=”off” locked=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
How will we keep at the forefront of social responsibility and take it to the next level in the next 10 years? Now is our opportunity to write the next chapter of our work in service to society.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":4035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"
[et_pb_section bb_built=\"1\" fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\"][et_pb_column type=\"2_3\" specialty_columns=\"4\"][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=\"Row\"][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\" saved_specialty_column_type=\"2_3\"][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" featured_placement=\"above\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=\"3.17.6\"]<\/p>
When I\u2019m out and about meeting staff I hear much debate about the why, what, when and how of change in our University. I wanted to share my thoughts on this often contentious topic \u2013 and hear your views too.<\/p>
Early in 2020 we will launch our University\u2019s new vision and strategic plan \u2013 Our future. In order to fulfil Our future we need to ensure that we are in a financially sustainable position so that we have the funds to invest in the new staff, facilities and infrastructure which will be needed to bring our plans to life.<\/p>
Our Financial Statements<\/a> for 2018\/19, which have been published following approval by the Board of Governors, confirm that more than 95% of our \u00a31.1bn income is spent on our core goals - on our staff and our students - to deliver research, education and social responsibility; with the remainder invested in the long term sustainability of our University. You can find a summary<\/a> of the Financial Statements on StaffNet.<\/p>
However, this is a testing time for UK universities, due to the many external factors that have an impact on us - current home tuition fees are falling in real terms, whilst our costs (not just pay but non-pay too) are increasing. There are further and even greater tuition fee funding risks outlined in General Election manifestos as well as a range of Brexit-related risks that could affect our operations. The Office for Students (OfS) demands that we demonstrate both value for money for our students and our financial sustainability (in the sense of being able to invest to deliver our ambitious strategy, rather than survival). There are, of course, also ongoing unresolved national issues around pay and the continuing challenges around funding pensions in the higher education sector.<\/p>
Our Financial Statements show an improved operating surplus (3.7% of income compared to \u00a324.7m (2.3%) in 2017\/18), with a rise in income from tuition fees, education contracts and research. As I mentioned earlier, we re-invest the surplus we achieve each year in activity in line with our strategy. Recently our funds have been used to create some new academic and Professional Services posts; to invest in key infrastructure including IT; to invest in some new buildings like our student accommodation at Unsworth Park; to improve the student experience by funding more full-time Residential Life staff and to upgrade a range of buildings and research and teaching spaces and resources. Increasingly it is also invested in environmental sustainability and meeting our ambitious carbon targets. So even when we are making difficult decisions in some parts of the University we continue to invest our surplus.<\/p>
Whilst we have reported an operating surplus, our Board of Governors expects us to deliver a much larger surplus than this (at least 5%) if we are to be sustainable in the long-term.
Improving our financial performance will help to deliver our ambitious future plans, but we must also increase our capacity to create the funds and time to invest in our core goals. One of the ways we can do this is by changing what we do and how we do things.<\/p>
Our strategic change programme (including IT Modernisation<\/a>, the Student Experience Programme<\/a>, and the Research Lifecycle Programme<\/a>), alongside our continuous improvement plans, will ensure that we create the financial headroom to invest in people and facilities. The strategic change programme will also enable us to embrace new technologies and new ways of doing things that better support all our staff and students to be the best that they can be.<\/p>
Yes, this means that some individual roles will change. New roles (some that we haven\u2019t yet identified) will be created and some roles will no longer be required. I appreciate that this will cause some uncertainty and where that is the case we will do everything we can to support staff, but the alternative is that we never change anything. If we fail to take advantage of advances in technology and develop more joined-up ways of working we will ultimately find ourselves outdated in the eyes of future students, funders and other stakeholders. Staff want to work for a progressive and successful institution, of which they can be proud. This means we cannot stand still.<\/p>
When I talk to staff and students I often hear their frustrations about how difficult it be can be to get some straightforward things done, grappling with paper-based, manual and repetitive processes, on outdated systems and infrastructure, all of which serves to increase staff workloads. Everyone wants to do a good job, but regularly feel that our world-class status is earned in spite of our internal systems and processes, not because of them.<\/p>
To deliver our new vision and strategic plan we will need to embrace new opportunities and face challenges with courage and determination. That will sometimes mean we have to make tough decisions and no-one is claiming it will be easy or that mistakes will not be made along the way. But where we do have tough choices to make we will commit to implementing changes fairly and with compassion to support the wellbeing of all our colleagues.<\/p>
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" prev_text=\"Previous\" next_text=\"Next\" in_same_term=\"off\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" custom_button=\"on\" button_text_color=\"#ffffff\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Related posts\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" locked=\"on\"]<\/p>
Related<\/h1>
[related-posts-thumbnails]<\/p>
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_3\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Subscribe\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" area=\"et_pb_widget_area_3\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" area=\"sidebar-1\" show_border=\"off\" locked=\"on\" \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-2035"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4005"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4038,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4005\/revisions\/4038"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Three potential worlds\u202f<\/h2>\nWe would like to hear your thoughts on three possible futures for social responsibility at The University of Manchester.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n

Professor John Holden and Carol Prokopyszyn: Making the Leap: A Powerhouse of Innovation<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div>Professor Duncan Ivison: From strategy to delivery<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div>

Professor Duncan Ivison: From strategy to delivery<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div>

Three potential worlds\u202f<\/h2>\n
We would like to hear your thoughts on three possible futures for social responsibility at The University of Manchester.\u202f\u202f<\/p>\n