Agenda item

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 indicated that few significant perturbations were expected; allocations were thus likely to remain broadly similar to the past year. Nonetheless, the School’s strong performance at only the second time of submission, especially when compared to competitors with more experience both in terms of the process and in working within the research field, were extremely encouraging. The more detailed feedback received this year would also assist in learning and improvement for future years.

Admissions and Applications

The Principal highlighted his slight concerns around the decrease in the number of postgraduate music applications, which were reflective of a broader concern about the number of postgraduate applications across the sector. Whilst the Government had sought to alleviate difficulties by providing additional funding in the form of match-funded grants, these studentships would in practice be somewhat challenging to access given the various mechanisms associated with them. However, it was hoped that the extension of the Student Loan scheme to postgraduate students from 2016 would help to resolve this issue.

The Director of Music updated Members on the recent cycle of interviews for prospective postgraduate students he had undertaken in New York and the Far East. He noted that the “conversion” rate of those offered places accepting was higher in the Far East, which was likely associated with the regime of Master Classes the School had operated in the region and the connections consequently established. Nonetheless, it was pleasing to note that the majority of applicants in the US were only applying to the Guildhall School out of the UK conservatoires.

Members discussed the implications of recent visas changes on application levels, with the Director of Music agreeing that this was having a significant impact. The inability of students to work in the UK while studying, as well as the removal of the opportunity to establish careers in the UK after their studies had completed, was demonstrably disincentivising talented potential students from applying to the School. This was true across the whole Higher Education sector and the School was doing all it could to lobby with the sector for appropriate change; the work of the Corporation on this issue was also noted.

A Member took the opportunity to mention concerns raised by the Arts Council and across the classical music sector about the lack of diversity at present, with it clear that the sector was currently not reflective of wider society. The importance of working with specialist music schools from an early stage to bring a diverse range of musicians through the system was stressed as being of increasing importance in years to come.

Governors’ Invitations to Events

In response to a question concerning the issuing of invites to Governors for various events, the Principal clarified that a letter was circulated to all Governors at the beginning of each term which listed events and when the Principal would be hosting guests, inviting Members to express their desire to attend any or all of the performances. It was further clarified that, should the dates for particular performances be unsuitable, Members were able to obtain tickets for different days; the mechanism for obtaining these tickets was also set out in the letter.

RESOLVED: That the report be received and its content noted.