Response from Derek Pretty

We received this response to our demands earlier today…

Responses to the demands made on December 8th 2010 by the group of students occupying the Senate Room

A number of students have taken up occupation in the Senate Room in Senate House in protest against the Coalition Government’s proposals on funding of Higher Education. Whilst the senior officers of the University share the very considerable concerns of those making the occupation, we do not believe that it is consistent with the values or accepted modus operandi of the University for a small but vocal group to occupy working space of the University without consent and use this to attempt to persuade the University to take a position which may not be in the wider interests of the University as a whole.

We have proposed to representatives of the group in occupation that, if they will cease their present form of occupation and work with the officers of the University to agree a basis of occupation which ensures no risk of disruption to University business or additional costs, the University will permit them to use the Senate Room to engage in dialogue with other students and staff of the University about the very serious issues with which they are concerned.
In the meantime, University officers have been in discussion with the officers and management of the Students’ Union to explore the possibility of arranging an open forum in the near future at which senior officers of the University could address students and staff and take questions.

The present occupation and recent demonstrations have caused anxiety to many staff who work in Senate House, which is the workplace of several hundred staff. The senior management team wish to ensure that any such anxiety is brought to an end and does not recur.
Subject to the reservation of the University’s right to take disciplinary action against students who cause harm to our students or staff, or who purposefully damage our facilities or who commit criminal acts, we will not take any disciplinary action against the students in occupation. We do however affirm that this occupation does not have the consent of the University and request that those in occupation should leave Senate House and not return without the University’s express consent.

Set out below are the University’s responses to the various demands which have been presented to the University by our students occupying the Senate Room:
1. We do not propose to arrange an emergency general meeting of Senate with open access to all students and staff. Given the size of meeting rooms and lecture theatres in the University, it would not in any event be practicable to hold open meetings other with a very small proportion of staff and students over and above those who are already members of Senate.

The constitution of Senate provides for a membership which includes elected representatives from the student body (11) and elected (50) and ex-officio (38) representatives of staff to determine the academic strategies and polices of the University and to express views on and provide feedback about the wider affairs of the University. All members of Senate are encouraged to attend its meetings, to engage in its debates and to give feedback to their constituencies about matters reported, discussed and decided at Senate.

Senate is established under the Charter and Statutes of the University. Under Statute 19 its membership includes student representatives including:
the President and Vice-President (Education) of UBU, who are elected by the whole student body under the UBU constitution
six elected undergraduate representatives, one per faculty, and
three elected postgraduate representatives (one taught and two research).

Senate regularly reviews its effectiveness, including its membership. Following a recent review it concluded that it was larger than necessary to be an effective forum and decided to reduce the staff membership slightly, whilst leaving student membership unchanged.
At the request of UBU, Senate agreed in principle at its meeting on 6th December 2010 to change the wording of Statute 19 and the Standing Orders of Senate to help make the electoral process for student representatives more effective and transparent. This change to Statute 19, once agreed, will need to be considered and approved by the Council of the University and, if approved, then by the Privy Council, who also have to approve changes to the University’s Charter and Statutes.
Senate met on 6th December 2010 and, in accordance with normal practice, received from the Vice-Chancellor an extensive update both on the Government’s proposals for the funding of higher education and on related issues to those listed in the first of the occupiers’ demands. After the Vice-Chancellor’s report, Senate also received a full update from the Finance Director on the current and budgeted financial position of the University; this followed similar updates at previous Senate meetings.

The Vice-Chancellor responds to questions and encourages debate on all of critical issues at every meeting of Senate.

2. We do not propose to advertise attendance at meetings of Council and Senate to the wider student body and staff.

Although we are aware that elected local authorities do allow observers at parts of their meetings, we do not believe that making meetings of Council “public” is practicable; nor would it enhance Council’s decision-making or its governance of the University.

Council’s membership, which is set out in Statute 15, is designed to ensure that representatives of the different constituencies of the University can provide input to key decisions. It has a total membership of 32 and includes both elected and appointed members; a majority of the members (19) must not be staff or students of the University. Nine of the members are elected, two by the professoriate, two by the non-professorial academic staff, two by the support staff and three by the student body.

Council reviews its membership and effectiveness on a regular basis and does not believe that it would be in the interests of the University to widen or increase its membership.

All of the UBU sabbatical officers are members of the Student Affairs Committee of Council, which is chaired by a lay member of Council and includes in its membership the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Education & Students) and the Deputy Registrar (Education & Students).

3. The University’s senior officers have shared information on a regular and ongoing basis about the potential impact of the Government’s proposals in relation to public funding of higher education and tuition fees on student support and widening access, income generation, investment, cost structures and staffing with Council, Senate and Trades Unions and is willing, having agreed appropriate mechanisms, to explore how that information could be shared more effectively with the student body.

4. The Vice-Chancellor does not believe that it is either necessary or appropriate to ask for a public enquiry about actions taken by our elected representatives in Parliament.

5. Universities UK, of which the Vice-Chancellor has been Vice-President, and the Russell Group have been in close dialogue with the current and previous Governments at all stages to try and ensure that the interests and values of Higher Education are protected as the funding cuts and changes to the structure of HE are considered and implemented. The previous Government had made decisions to make widespread cuts to public funding with announced cuts to Higher Education of £1 billion and had commissioned the Browne Review. The Coalition Government has proposed to extend these cuts and adopt some of the recommendations of the Browne Review. Notwithstanding this, it is evident that the lobbying of UUK and Russell Group has helped to achieve:

i. Protection for research funding in cash terms over the period of the Comprehensive Spending Review; this is particularly important for the University of Bristol as a research intensive university and supports our ability to provide an excellent education to both postgraduates and undergraduates.
ii. Protection for future students such that, if the current proposals on fees and loans are approved by Parliament, no Home/EU undergraduate student will have to pay for their higher education at the time of study and will then pay for it, only if their earnings exceed £21,000.
There is still extensive lobbying taking place to try and ensure that any cuts in the funding of teaching are minimised and delayed as long as possible. Universities UK and Russell Group have made public statements at open meetings and in the press expressing their strong opposition to the speed and depth of the proposed changes to the public funding of teaching.
The Board members of Universities UK have recently made a statement that they “have consistently opposed the disproportionate cuts to higher education funding in the Spending Review. However, given that those cuts are now a reality, [they] believe that the government’s proposals for university funding are reasonable and retain fundamentally important progressive elements. In particular, no student will have to pay any tuition fees while they are a student; it will be graduates who repay and then only when they earn over £21,000. There will be significantly improved financial support for part time students, funding will follow the student so enhancing student choice, and there will be improved support for poorer students.”
6. The Vice-Chancellor is mindful of his duty to protect the overall interests of the University of Bristol, its staff and its students and does not believe that an open letter to the Government in the terms proposed would be effective in achieving this.

7. We do not believe that it is appropriate to allow students access to the meetings with staff as, whilst the concerns about public funding may be similar, the impact on academics and support staff with a long term employment relationship with the University is different from the impact on present or future students.

8. The University is a charitable institution with a duty to provide public benefit and committed in its vision and strategies to the long-term delivery of excellence in education, an outstanding experience for students and internationally acclaimed research. It is also committed to the goals of widening access to a diverse student body and of maintaining a positive working environment for staff. In order to enable all of these aims, the University, like any charity with long-term objectives, needs to be managed in a way that ensures that it is financially sustainable. This means generating a large enough financial surplus and cash flow, after the costs of employing excellent staff, to provide the resources to invest in the infrastructure and facilities necessary to support the University’s long-term educational, student support and research objectives.

9. The University’s officers believe that the primary duty of teaching staff in lectures is to present whatever the University has committed to the students on the particular academic programme. If the present major public issues are directly relevant to the content of the programme, it is a matter for lecturers to determine how they cover it. If the present issues are not directly relevant to the course and students and staff wish to engage in dialogue outside lectures, we are happy to support this.