Rosemary Martin, Chair of Council

I am pleased to provide this update for the Sussex staff community following the meeting of Council on 29 November 2024. As the University’s governing body, Council’s role is to approve the University’s strategy, to meet the University’s responsibilities in relation to legal and regulatory requirements and those deriving from the Charter and Statutes, and to monitor the institution’s (and its own) effectiveness and performance.

Finances and student recruitment

As you will all know, this is a challenging time for the University, as it is right across the higher education sector. The sudden drop in international student numbers, largely the result of government policy and rhetoric, as well as the knock-on effect of some universities offsetting this by recruiting more home undergraduates than expected, has affected Sussex significantly. Coupled with the increasingly challenging funding environment (despite the welcome increase in the home fee cap in 2025/26), this has presented some challenges for the University.

Ensuring that the University is financially sustainable is one of the most serious of Council’s (as well as the Executive’s) responsibilities, and Finance and Resources Committee, a Council sub-committee, has had a number of additional meetings to review the financial situation.

There are no easy options and Council fully endorses the Voluntary Leavers Scheme approach launched by the Vice-Chancellor on 25 November. The Scheme offer is a good one, and we hope it will avoid the need for the University to move to a redundancy programme. The Scheme may involve difficult decisions for some colleagues, which is regrettable, but the long-term financial sustainability of the University must be Council’s number one priority.

Sussex 2035

One of Council’s responsibilities is to ensure that the University retains its focus on the longer-term, in particular the vision laid out in Sussex 2035 that will enable the University to become a distinctive, first-choice university for ambitious and forward-thinking students and staff. Sussex 2035 is the longer-term response to the challenges the University currently faces, and we are confident that by pursuing the new strategy Sussex will have a very bright future. Council is aware of the need for the University to adapt and change, and to become more agile and resilient, to ensure its success in the future. We look forward to the launch of the strategy next year and to monitoring its implementation.

Student focus

In July I reported that Council approved a proposal to ‘retire’ its Student Experience Committee and instead add an independent Council member and an academic Council member as observers at Senate’s existing Student Experience Forum. Last week we received feedback from the Forum, and I am pleased to relate that the change is working well in giving Council important insights into the student experience at Sussex. We will continue to monitor this, given the centrality of an excellent student experience to the mission and purpose of the University.

Audit and Risk Committee’s annual report

At November Council meetings, Council considers the annual report from our Audit and Risk Committee, which included the Internal Audit Annual Report. I am pleased to report that the Audit and Risk Committee’s opinion is that the University has adequate and effective arrangements for risk management, control and governance, and economy, efficiency, and effectiveness.

Socially Responsible Investment Policy

During our Council meeting, Council received an update from the group established to review the University’s Socially Responsible Investment Policy. The group is due to report next summer. I know there is a lot of interest in this review, and I am pleased that there will be communications in the New Year about how and when members of our community can feed into the review.

Finally, as we approach the Christmas break, I would like to take the opportunity to thank staff across the University for all your hard work throughout 2024 and to wish you a restful and enjoyable break.

Rosemary Martin
Chair of Council