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Uni chief's plans for tough times
THE new vice-chancellor at troubled Leeds Metropolitan University has vowed that future partnerships will be about mutual benefits NOT cash.
Professor Susan Price, former acting vice-chancellor at the University of East London (UEL), took the helm almost a year after the shock resignation of former head Simon Lee amid allegations of bullying – which he strenuously denied.
Leeds Met was left in turmoil after his departure, with question marks hanging over its management, controversial spending programme on cultural and sporting partnerships, and accusations of financial excess.
It is now shedding some of its 3,000 staff as it struggles to claw back 3m in light of a predicted deficit of around 7m this year.
The university blames the hole in its finances on Government funding cuts and a cap on increasing student numbers.
It has reduced numbers through voluntary redundancies and early retirement.
And Prof Price, who worked at UEL since 2002, insisted: "There are no plans for compulsory redundancies."
She said there were "solid plans" for making savings and generating more cash.
She added: "Times are very challenging for universities and we have to be responsible in how we manage our income and generate our income."
She said there were no plans to scale down the university's partnerships, but said existing unions had been reviewed and the focus of future tie-ins should be "mutually beneficial".
Prof Price said: "A good partnership is one that enables partners to achieve things that separately they can't."
She added: "I'm talking about mutual benefits, I'm not talking about financial exchanges."
Under Prof Lee the university developed strong links with both Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the Leeds rugby union and league teams, which transformed its profile.
But it has come under fire for costly contracts with organisations like Northern Ballet Theatre. It agreed to pay Leeds Carnegie rugby union club 8m to relinquish its controlling interest in the club and has pledged to stump up 14m for a new cricket pavilion at Headingley.
An inquiry was carried out by accounting firm KPMG after former deputy vice-chancellor Frank Griffiths made allegations of financial excess, but the university said it was broadly given a clean bill of health.
Prof Price will be paid less than Prof Lee, whose basic salary was 280,000 in his final year, but she refused to reveal the size of her pay packet.
Despite all the controversy to have surrounded the university, Prof Price said she wasn't planning a dramatic overhaul. She said: "It's less about lots of changes and more about building on what's here."
Leeds Met was previously the lowest-charging university in the country. But fees will rise from 2,000 to 3,312 a year from 2010/11 – a move expected to eventually generate an additional 10m in revenue.
Prof Lee said the real reason for his departure was an internal struggle over the fees policy.
And the new vice-chancellor has backed the decision to increase fees, meaning Leeds Met was “coming in line with the majority of the sector.”
One change on the cards is a planned name change to Leeds Carnegie University, deferred after Prof Lee’s departure, which will be considered by governors and Prof Price. The Carnegie name comes from the Carnegie College of Physical Training set up in Headingley in 1933 with funding from philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. It became part of Leeds Polytechnic in 1976 and that became Leeds Met in 1992.
debbie.leigh@ypn.co.uk
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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