I would like to start by thanking everyone at all campus locations for their continued engagement across all aspect of our University life. We had a very large number of people attend the Executive Briefing last week and over 100 questions were submitted on the day, on a variety of subjects. With the time available, we were only able to answer a small number during the live event, but all the questions have now been answered and are in the Our Financial Challenge SharePoint site. A recording of the session, with British sign-language added, can also be found there. Your feedback suggests that the Executive Briefings are, for now at least, a good way of providing important updates from myself and other members of the Executive. Professional Services, schools and campuses also have some bespoke local communications channels that are working well. I am very happy to keep the Executive Briefings going, and I hope they continue to be informative. Our next Executive Briefing is Monday, 21st September at 9am (UK time). In addition, for a more personalised discussion, look out for the “Lets Talk…” sessions that I will host regularly.
I continue to receive suggestions via the suggestion4principal@hw.ac.uk mailbox, for which I’m very grateful. The concise thinking and level of detail that has gone into the suggestions is much appreciated and they have provided interesting avenues to explore. As we work through our challenge of identifying cost-savings, we are still looking at every possibility. Cuts will not be made just for the sake of it. We genuinely wish to minimise the need for redundancies across the organisation and as the consultation process continues to remain open to such suggestions and ideas. We continue to be guided by our Strategy 2025 to shape the University for a sustainable future, whilst focusing on what needs to be changed, reduced, or stopped.
Reshaping our own future will require careful navigation and supporting the recovery of the wider economy will require us to draw on all our strengths. This has been brought together in one place – our Recovery Prospectus – which shows how Heriot-Watt University can, and will, work with others to help drive the recovery of human talent and economy at all our campuses. Launched yesterday, the Recovery Prospectus demonstrates the values we all share to collaborate with and inspire each other and wider society. Thanks to everyone who worked on this for bringing together such a timely document.
A large number of us have responded to the recent Back to Campus Pulse Survey. This feedback will help us understand what is most important to the Heriot-Watt community. A summary of the feedback and associated responses will be out for discussion next week and I am sure there will be things we can all do to better understand what is working well but also the concerns of colleagues and further actions we might take to support each other. It is very important to me that your thoughts and concerns are heard, and that action is taken where appropriate.
It will be of no surprise, I suspect, that a particular concern raised in the Pulse Survey was about keeping everyone safe as we start to see more and more colleagues and students arrive back on our campuses. Experience from colleagues in Malaysia, Dubai and researchers in Edinburgh is that the re-entry to campus is a personal big step but once overcome and getting back to the campus life most are finding the experience a positive one. However, there are people who find it hard to return for a variety of reasons. Our Safeguarding teams across every campus have played a vital role in ensuring we are all ready for Semester 1, and are a key part in ensuring we remain safe. This week, I spoke to Les Allen, Head of Safeguarding Services about the single framework that the Safeguarding Team operates across all five campuses, the challenges of working in three different jurisdictions, especially with ever-changing guidelines, and the collaboration that has been required to make it all happen. I invite you to watch and listen to the video.
Next week our Welcome Week starts in Scotland – I don’t think any of us could have imagined what this would look like six months ago! While it may feel like a different form of welcome this year, it is, as always, most certainly a warm welcome to all our new and returning students. With the support of our Student Unions/Associations we are developing safe and regulation compliant ways to ensure students can receive an appropriate induction to the new year ahead and also to obtain information on their wellbeing and support. I wish everybody involved in these important induction events best wishes for a successful time. I too am looking forward to returning to campus at Riccarton during next week.
Professor Richard A. Williams
Principal and Vice-Chancellor