Broadcast: News items

Today the Vice Chancellor, Adam Tickell, wrote to all staff. You can read the email in full below:

Dear colleague,

Welcome back to a new academic year. I hope that you managed to get a proper break during the summer. I spent a fortnight in the Brecon Beacons and, among other things, read Dave Goulson’s new book, Silent Earth.

Dave is Professor of Biology at Sussex and one of the world’s leading experts on invertebrates and, particularly, on bees. Silent Earth isn’t a fun read, in as much as it details the steady decline of insect life as humans have transformed the planet. But it is a vital one, interspersed with fascinating detours into invertebrate life cycles. I met with Dave about a year ago and his was one of the voices that persuaded the University not to mow many of our lawns for most of the year, which allowed an extraordinary range of flowers to bloom and a habitat for a wide range of invertebrate life.  

After a torrid 18 months, we can look forward to this academic year with some hope and optimism. Thanks to outstanding work by the central admissions team and academic and professional staff in various Divisions and in Schools, we will be welcoming around 8,500 new students to Sussex. Unlike some other universities, we are not worried that our total number of students will put too much pressure on our facilities. That said, some programmes have proved hugely popular and these will receive additional support and investment, whilst – sadly – some other courses continue to struggle to attract sufficient students. 

The pandemic is far from over but, with the roll-out of the vaccination programme, we are confident that we will be able to teach safely and securely. All of our teaching spaces that don’t have mechanical ventilation and hold more than seven people have been checked for natural ventilation and the number of windows that can be opened. We’ll be fitting carbon dioxide monitors and setting occupancy limits for these spaces as necessary.  

Although face coverings are not mandatory, we expect students and staff to continue wearing them in confined indoor spaces including in all teaching spaces, and we will be actively promoting vaccinations to all new and returning students. I’m sure that you have seen that we are incentivising student vaccinations by means of a prize draw. We believe that higher take-up will not only benefit the students, but will significantly reduce the risk of transmission to staff and members of our local community. 

Despite all of these measures, we shouldn’t be surprised if there is an increase in Covid cases in the coming months. With this in mind, we have been working with the University of Brighton and the local Director of Public Health on our Local Outbreak Engagement Plan.  

The events over the last few weeks in Afghanistan have been tragic to watch and, as a highly international university, we’ve been touched by them. The most immediate and pressing challenge we faced was to ensure that our Afghan students could get to the UK. Thanks to the tireless work of teams working with Lenny Rolles (Associate Director of Public Affairs), Richard Follett (Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor, International) and Martin Hookham-Simms (Head of International Office), all nine of the Chevening scholars and their dependents are now either in Sussex or in quarantine hotels on the way here.  

We’re also looking forward to welcoming four other students from Afghanistan. However, this remains a very precarious situation for those still in the country and for those that have left but are still to reach the UK. I will be writing again to the Government, requesting further action to support them and their families.  

Throughout this, we’ve had great support from a broad range of external departments and agencies from the FCDO and Home Office, to UUK International and the Association of Commonwealth Universities.  

I also wanted to give you an update from UEG this week. In addition to a lengthy discussion about how we will continue to provide the best student experience we can during the pandemic, we talked about the wider objectives of the Office for Students (OfS) current consultation on quality and standards. As a regulatory body, the OfS aims to ensure that every student has a fulfilling higher-education experience that enriches their lives and careers. It’s in the interests of all UK higher education providers to really pay attention to the OfS proposals to ensure that we continue to provide high quality courses that give value for money. 

Reviews and consultations are necessary to keep the higher education sector performing at its peak. As some of you may already be aware I’m currently leading an independent review into UK research bureaucracy to see where we can remove unnecessary red tape, particularly around complex grant applications and funding issues, and let researchers get on with doing valuable and often ground-breaking work. We’re now seeking views of researchers and would certainly value as much input from Sussex colleagues as possible. As you’d hope from a review seeking efficiencies, it’s not too time consuming – and it's open until 1 October.

I wish you a lovely weekend.

With best wishes,

Adam