Court meeting: 18 February 2019
The University Court held its most recent meeting on 18 February.
We publish regular updates on matters discussed at all Court meetings, during which members consider matters of strategic importance to the University.
Meetings of the Court are held five times a year.
Governing body
The Court is the University’s governing body and its legal persona.
With a focus on strategic direction, it takes the final decisions on issues of fundamental concern to the wellbeing of the University.
Detailed information on the membership and activities of the University Court, including meeting agendas, papers and minutes, is available online.
Detailed information on University Court
Summary of Court meeting: 18 February 2019
The following is a summary of a selection of items considered on 18 February.
University Leadership Structure
Court approved a proposal from the Principal to extend Vice-Principal titles to the three heads of the Professional Services Groups as follows:
- Vice-Principal Strategic Change & Governance and University Secretary Sarah Smith;
- Vice-Principal Business Development and Director of Corporate Services Hugh Edmiston; and,
- Vice-Principal and Chief Information Officer, and Librarian to the University Gavin McLachlan.
Court approved the extension of the terms of office for the following Vice-Principals:
- Senior Vice-Principal Charlie Jeffery;
- Vice-Principal Planning, Resources & Research Policy Jonathan Seckl;
- Vice-Principal High Performance Computing Richard Kenway;
- Vice-Principal Data Science Andrew Morris;
- Vice-Principal Philanthropy & Advancement Chris Cox;
- Vice-Principal International James Smith; and,
- Deputy Vice-Principal International Alan Mackay.
Vice-Principals and Senior Leadership
Student Experience Plan
An update on the Student Experience Plan was reviewed. Work is underway to establish costings for individual projects to enable calibration against other priorities within planning round discussions, with a standing sub-committee of the University Executive established to oversee the Plan.
Brexit Update
An update on potential impacts from the UK’s planned departure from the European Union on 29 March 2019 was reviewed. The continuing uncertainty over the terms of departure and possible extensions to the departure date was noted. Court discussed: possible changes to government funding for EU students; the recruitment of non-EU international students, with figures to date for 2019/20 entry highly encouraging; other financial and supply chain implications; and, reputational impacts to the UK university sector as a whole, including attractiveness to EU and non-EU staff and access to EU research funding. The importance of staff and student communications at a time of uncertainty was agreed.
External Effectiveness Review of Court and its Committees
The report of the external effectiveness review and covering note from the Convener of Nominations Committee, which had acted as the working group during the course of the review, was considered. On behalf of Court, the Vice-Convener thanked David Newall, external facilitator of the effectiveness review and Alan Johnston, lead Court member for the review. Nominations Committee had agreed that the report be presented to Court without seeking amendments and proposed that two of the report’s five themes: People; and Structure and Process, be prioritised for follow-up action. Court welcomed the report, agreed with the prioritisation of the People and Structure and Process themes and agreed that the report be published in full on the University’s website.
Draft Ordinances: Senate, General Council & Court
The following draft Ordinances were considered and approved for transmission for statutory consultation:
- Composition of the Senatus Academicus;
- General Council Membership and Registration; and,
- Election of Chancellor and Chairing of General Council Meetings.
A minor amendment to the draft Composition of Court Ordinance was approved and authority delegated to the University Secretary to agree any further non-material changes to the Ordinance if requested by the Scottish Government or Privy Council.
Development & Alumni Annual Report
The annual report on the University’s philanthropic and alumni relations activities for 2017/18 and interim update on progress in 2018/19 was reviewed. Court welcomed the strong performance in philanthropic giving for the year.
Other items
Regular reports from the Director of Finance and Students’ Association President and from Court’s committees on activities being undertaken in support of Court were received. This included approval by Exception Committee for phase 1 of the Core Systems Procurement Programme and developing responses to Universities UK consultations on the Universities Superannuation Scheme.
Further information on the remit and work of Court and its Committees can be found online.