The ‘Clearing’ season is always an important critical time of year – there’s the excitement of exam results for school-leavers and, for many, the rush to get their preferred University place secured. And for us, it’s always a busy time, both in the weeks before as we promote our University and the results days themselves when we have to process a vast number of offers first for Scottish student results and then for the rest of UK. I visited the team in the GRID last week, at the peak of their work, and it was good to see the team there were confirming places there and then and starting many of our future students on their chosen career path. Our student ambassadors working in the clearing team there were telling me about the most common questions they were being asked, and not surprisingly they included ‘what will it be like when we come to campus?’ Many people are busy in developing the answer to this question across all our locations and it will be the subject of much detailed communications ahead.
This year, however, our work on clearing isn’t done just yet. Not by a long way! We have had to contend with not one, but two exam result U-turns, with both the Scottish and UK Governments now, very publicly, reverting back to the teacher’s assessments of grades. This is a challenging time for students starting University without this added complication and we will continue to work with UCAS to provide the simplest process possible for students to be admitted if they now meet our entry requirements. There’s still a lot to do – and I spoke this week to Ruth Swan, Head of Prospect Experience and Conversion, about this year’s Clearing and how we have been dealing with the extraordinary turn of events. Be assured we are busy aiming to contact every student who we believe should receive a place at the University in Scotland including those who have been rejected previously. Thank you to the professional services, academic and student teams who are working so intently on this.
Last week I signed a declaration against racism, following the work of the Race Project Steering Group funded by the Scottish Funding Council. The joint initiative aims to name and tackle racism in all its forms and I’m committed to following this first step on the initiative with the meaningful discussion, action and change the University needs in order to have a zero-tolerance policy. We have, quite recently, received some press coverage about our association with James Watt and his, and his family’s, links to slavery. This had already moved us on a journey of understanding our heritage better and opening the floor to debate and discussion with both staff and students. This also ties together with other Diversity and Equality initiatives, and we will be drawing all these elements together into coherent and cohesive policies fit for now and the future and for a University that is global in its outlook, and international in its ethos. I have gained much personally from reading the book by Reni Eddo-Lodge* that has enhanced my understanding of a number of underlying issues, and as articulated by one of the reviewers it is “eye-opening, honest, opinionated and pretty kick-ass”.
Our next All Staff Executive Briefing is on Thursday 27th August at 9 am (BST). This is an important time for the University and we are making changes, across all our campuses, to what we do and how we work that will affect us all. May I encourage you to join the meeting? As before, this will be on Teams Live – a format I was initially worried about but given we have more than 1600 people join our last session, feel more comfortable that we are able to provide these important updates to so many of you all at once. Questions can be submitted in advance through the suggestion4principal@hw.ac.uk mailbox and can be asked on the day through the online process. The session will also be recorded for those who cannot attend on the day. I look forward to hearing from as many of you as possible next week and thank you for your continued hard work and support as we work through the issues we face to create a strong and sustainable organisation.
Professor Richard A. Williams
Principal and Vice-Chancellor
* “Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race”
R Eddo-Lodge, Bloomsbury Publishing (London), ISBN 978-1-4088-7058-7