Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Sir Andrew Burns and Neil Constable.

Nicy Roberts declared a personal interest in matters relating to the Centre for Young Musicians being a member of the CYM Monitoring Group, editor of CYM's termly magazine UPBEAT, and jointly responsible for the LSSO Alumni Database.  This was a standing declaration.

To agree the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 17 November 2014.

The public minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2014 were approved as a correct record, subject to it being noted that John Scott had been present, that Vivienne Littlechild and Deputy John Tomlinson had been in attendance, and further subject to a grammatical correction under minute 12.

To receive the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 7 November 2014.

The public minutes of the meeting held on 7 November 2014 were received.

To receive the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 16 January 2015.

The public minutes of the meeting held on 16 January 2015 were received.

To receive the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 23 January 2015.

The public minutes of the meeting held on 23 January 2015 were received.

To receive the public minutes and summary of the meeting held on 23 January 2015.

The public minutes of the meeting held on 23 January 2015 were received.

To receive a resolution of the Policy & Resources Committee from its meeting held on 22 January 2015.

A resolution from the meeting of the Policy & Resources Committee held on 22 January 2015 was received.

The Chairman provided Members with a précis of the Policy & Resources Committee’s discussions, explaining that there had been significant discomfort at the prospect of Common Councilmen comprising a minority of the Board while the City of London Corporation remained the lender of last resort for the School. Whilst this undoubtedly represented a disappointment, the Committee had nonetheless endorsed the recommendation to establish an Academic Board to facilitate the management of Taught Degree Awarding Powers. As such, the Chairman was minded that it would be sensible to accept the Policy & Resources Committee’s judgment concerning the other proposals at this point in time.

RECEIVED.

Report of the Principal.

The Board received a report of the Principal updating on various items including awards and prizes, Milton Court, the Research Excellence Framework (REF), admissions and applications, and carbon reduction.

The Chairman prefaced discussion by noting the recent achievement of the Vice Principal and Director of Academic Affairs, who had received a distinction in completing her MBA at Ashridge. On behalf of the Board, he expressed his congratulations to the Professor for her achievement.

Pavement Leaks

The Director of Strategic Projects provided a brief update on the Pavement Leaks issue at Milton Court, advising that a solution had been agreed at a meeting that morning which it was hoped would resolve the issue. An initial trial would take place involving four lights, so as to validate the solution, prior to this being applied to all lights should it be successful.

Research Excellence Framework

The Principal advised that he had met that morning with David Sweeney, head of HEFCE’s Research Excellence Framework (REF), to discuss the results of the exercise. Members noted that the REF was the largest exercise aimed at assessing the quality of research work in the Higher Education sector in the world, with over 191,000 pieces of research undertaken by over 52,000 staff read as part of the process. This year had seen the inclusion of impact assessments for the first time and specialist institutions had done particularly well in this area; indeed, the School’s high rating for impact of research demonstrated particularly good value for money for the taxpayer. Overall, the School had received extremely encouraging results as well as verbal feedback from the assessment panel, with 60% of its impact research being assessed as “world-leading” and 40% “internationally excellent.”

The outcome on funding allocations was not yet known with any certainty, but informal discussions had

Report of the Vice Principal and Director of Academic Affairs.

The Board received a report of the Vice Principal and Director of Academic Affairs updating on the School’s evolving internationalisation strategy, drawing on outcomes from the session at the Governors’ away day in November 2014 and including a summary of international activity through the autumn term.

The Vice Principal and Director of Academic Affairs advised that this report built upon previous discussions and sought to crystallise the central strategies that would be needed for it to work effectively. It was clear that there was a need to map what exactly was meant by “international experience” and for a delivery framework to be built to facilitate this. This framework would need to detail the opportunities available to students and involve the forging of key partnerships with other institutions, as well as the development of existing relationships. As part of this, the School would need to better gather and use the data available around its international students, and a communications package would be developed for teachers visiting different countries so as to provide a consistent and effective message.

A Member asked what could be done to build on opportunities in North America and generate greater conversion rates in terms of students accepting offers of places. The Director of Music noted that there were several factors to consider, not least that the same students were targeted by Juilliard and Yale who were able to offer substantial scholarships. However, the quality of the teaching at the Guildhall School was still managing to draw students and it was felt that using teachers in one-to-one tuition or Master Classes was by far the most effective method of securing students. However, there was clearly resource implications associated with this and so the School needed to be selective and intelligent about who it sent where, so as to

Report of the Principal.

The Board considered a report of the Principal discussing the award format for the Guildhall Gold Medal Competition and proposing a range of alternative options for Members’ consideration.

The Chairman introduced the item by reminding Members of the background to this issue, advising that a question had been asked at a meeting of the Court of Common Council following the previous year’s competition. The thrust of the Member’s question had been that it seemed unfortunate there was no third place prize awarded on the day of the competition, with the implication that there should be more prizes. However, upon reviewing the matter, it had emerged that the clear preference of the School was to decrease the number of prizes in future, so that there was only one prize (the Gold Medal itself).

The Principal thanked the Chairman for his précis, expressing that it was his and the wider School’s strong view upon reflection that the competition should have one only winner. The Gold Medal itself was a highly prestigious award and the current arrangements were somewhat confusing, with the second placed participant receiving a glass trophy and the third placed individual a silver medal. So as to minimise confusion as to who had placed second on the day, the silver medal was not awarded at the ceremony but at a later date. In addition, a modest cash prize was also awarded to the Gold Medal Winner; however, it was widely felt that this was not commensurate with the prestige of the award and, to some extent, diminished the value of the Medal.

Clearly, the current arrangements were therefore unsatisfactory and in need of review and clarification. It was very much the opinion of staff that the Gold Medal was like the FA Cup or the Oscars, prestigious and strengthened through

There was one question:

Employment for students

In response to a Member’s question, the Director of Music advised that the School did not seek to arrange employment opportunities for those students undertaking courses as the aim was very much to ensure the students were focussed on their studies. However, many students did receive employment opportunities through the affiliations the School arranged for them and the School also worked to provide students with an awareness of their employment potential following graduation.

There were no urgent items.

MOTION - That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act.

RESOLVED – That under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act as follows:-

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2014 were approved as a correct record.

To agree the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2014.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 17 November 2014 were approved as a correct record.

To receive the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 16 January 2015.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 16 January 2015 were received.

To receive the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 23 January 2015.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 23 January 2015 were received.

The receive the non-public minutes of the meeting held on 23 January 2015.

The non-public minutes of the meeting held on 23 January 2015 were received.

Verbal report of the Principal.

The Board received a verbal update from the Principal on two non-public matters.

Report of the Chief Operating & Financial Officer.

The Committee received a report of the Chief Operating & Financial Officer

presenting the Finance Review for the Period 9 Accounts 2014/15.

Report of  the Principal.

The Board considered and approved a report of the Principal providing an update on the Capital and Supplementary Revenue Programme 2009/10-2013/14 (‘Cap 2’) and Programme 2014/15 – 2015/16 (‘Cap 3’), seeking approval for the movement across financial years of certain projects, the omission of two projects, and the introduction of one new project.

There were no questions.

There were no urgent items.