Adam Tickell

Today, 18 June, the Vice Chancellor wrote to all staff.

You can read his full email below:

Dear colleague,
 
Last night we held our annual Education Awards ceremony.  Although, once again, this was a virtual celebration, it was no less heartening to see how much our students have appreciated and valued the members of staff who have taught and supported them during the past year.  It was truly inspiring to hear just how innovative and dedicated many of you have been in the most exceptional of circumstances.  We received over 500 nominations for the six award categories, which this year included the Extra Mile award for staff who have shown extraordinary commitment and compassion towards our students.  From an abundance of nominations in this particular category, we presented ten awards.  Overall, 26 teams and individuals received awards.  My thanks to Claire Smith, Deputy PVC for Innovation and Teaching, for chairing the selection panel, and to the team who organised the event.
 
It's clear that the pandemic is not over yet. With rising numbers of Covid cases – most notably in young people – we have put our award-winning response back into action.  The over-18s are now being encouraged to be vaccinated, and today we have our own pop-up vaccination centre on campus for students and the local community.  We continue to have mobile testing sites and PCR tests available for students.  As ever, we are prioritising the health and wellbeing of our staff and students for the weeks and months ahead. 
 
Of course, we’re also looking forward to welcoming new and returning students in three months and have created a comprehensive 11-week induction programme.  This, of course, addresses the practicalities of studying, budgeting and university life in general, but also focuses on wellbeing.  With mental health issues among university applicants being of particularly high concern, highlighted in a UCAS report this week, our “get ready, get started and get settled”, programme includes workshops and drop-in sessions to help students with anxiety, homesickness and other emotional difficulties.  Our focus is very much on helping students to navigate challenging times in order to prevent more serious difficulties, and it is complemented by services to support those who do need more specific and targeted support.
 
As I mentioned during my open forum on Wednesday, we’re launching Sustainable Sussex later this month.  Sustainable Sussex is genuinely transformative: it will enable Sussex to exemplify best practice in sustainability on campus and in our community, committing us, for example, to net zero carbon emissions by 2035.  Sussex has many world leading research strengths in sustainability and we will be able to practice what we preach. 
 
I also provided an update at the forum on the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS).  The latest news is that employers have backed a series of proposals for medium and long-term reform of the pension scheme following a recent consultation.  We need to remember that the pension scheme has a serious deficit: without changes to benefits and stronger covenant support from employers, we will need to pay somewhere between 42% and 56% of salaries (shared between employers and individual members).  Although, as I have said before, nobody welcomes the situation we are in, I genuinely believe that the least worst option for everyone is the proposed combination of benefit changes and enhanced support from employers. 
 
As promised, I will continue to give an update on UEG discussions.  This week we talked about the rise in Covid cases and our arrangements for supporting self-isolating students.  We also discussed our budget for 2021/22 and the need to ensure it was informed by our Size and Shape process, given the uncertainties over student intake and residences income over the next academic year.  We also reflected on the Size and Shape engagement process, which revealed a greater need for our community to understand how our finance and funding models are structured and, potentially, a communication plan to explain some of these aspects.
 
While climate change and Covid dominate news channels, this week was also Refugee Week. With Sussex being a University of Sanctuary, I was thrilled to hear about one of our law students, Ahmed Ismaiel.  Ahmed came to the UK as a Syrian refugee four years ago and after a legal battle received asylum status.  He volunteers for our Law Clinics and his story was covered in a BBC news report. Brighton’s Jubilee Library is also hosting an exhibition on LGBTQ refugees that has been organised by Sussex’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Claims of Asylum Group (SOGICA).
 
Finally, I’d also like to give an early welcome back to Sussex to Mary Stuart.  Longer standing members of staff will remember Mary was PVC here until 2005, before moving to Kingston as Deputy Vice Chancellor and then Lincoln as Vice Chancellor.  During her time, Lincoln has become one of the most vibrant and exciting newer universities and I’m delighted that, after she retires, Mary will join us as a visiting professor in the School of Education and Social Work.  
 
Have a lovely weekend,
 
Adam