UEB, 13 February 2017

• Dr Tim Bradshaw, Acting Director at the Russell Group, joined UEB for the first item. Dr Bradshaw outlined the current key policy issues for the Russell Group which included the HE and Research Bill, TEF, REF, Brexit and visa and immigration.
• It was noted that the preferred candidate for the post of Director of Finance had accepted the offer and a starting date was being discussed.
• UEB received the business case for the establishment of the Wales Centre for Public Policy. The ESRC had announced a competition to establish and run the Wales Centre for Public Policy, jointly funded by the ESRC and Welsh Government through an award of £6.1M over 60 months, whose role would take over the Public Policy Institute for Wales, currently hosted by Cardiff.  It was agreed to approve the submission of the proposal to establish and run the Wales Centre for Public Policy.
• UEB received a proposal to establish a University Research Networks Fund. The importance of continuing interdisciplinary research had been highlighted and that such networks were low cost but of high value, creating a pipeline of new research, and facilitating cross-College activities.  UEB agreed to approve the establishment of a fund over two years to support the establishment of University Research Networks and the success of the initiative be appropriately evaluated.
• UEB received a business case for extending student peer mentoring to all first year undergraduate students. It was noted that the Student Mentoring Scheme had been piloted in 11 Schools with other Schools wishing to adopt the scheme as it can help in terms of retention but the Professional Services budget was not able to extend the scheme to all Schools.  The case proposes that an application is made to the Welsh Government Invest to Save scheme and that, if successful, the University would be required to pay back the interest free loan in three years’ time.  It was agreed to approve submission of the application and that any plan to cover beyond the three year period would be dependent on the success of the Student Mentoring Scheme with a baseline to be set and enough time available to monitor and evaluate.
• In response to an increasing number of requests to fly flags from University buildings, guidance had been developed to formalise the University’s protocol. Subject to some minor amendments the protocol was approved.
• UEB received the mid-year update on the Operational Plan.

UEB received the following regular reports

• PVC College of Physical Sciences and Engineering monthly report
• PVC International and Europe monthly report
• Director of Communications and Marketing Monthly Report and Forward Plan