Minute Precision

The latest minutes of University Council never fail to make for interesting reading.

It would appear Eric Healey - 'Daffyd' Austin's replacement as the Chair of the Audit Committee - was parachuted in in something of a rush. The 30th June 2011 meeting was Mr Healey's first appearance at Council and he was immediately appointed Chair of Audit. Perhaps they were in a rush to dispense with the services of our old friend Ian?

Vice-Chancellor 'Marty' Hall postulates that the HE White Paper looks gloomy for Salford. He calls the University part of the "squeezed middle" (trampled bottom, surely?) that is likely to lose substantial funding under the arrangements.

Finances don't seem to be looking too healthy either and the University have introduced means of mitigating the possibility of the end of year accounts showing a budget deficit (including a freeze on discretionary expenditure - more on this another day).

In what it calls a "cautious approach", Council has anticipated a drop in Home/EU student recruitment, as a result of the HE White Paper/Fee Change, of 21%, as well as declining retention rates thereafter. This itself will put further pressures on operating income. "Asset disposal" was described as a future possibility in order to help try and alleviate the anticipated financial pressures, although the budget agreed to includes no assumptions that this will be necessary.

Yet another fall in the league table positions was finally discussed - Professor Hall yet again claiming that it's a numbers game as well as a quality game (now when did we last hear him say that?). Naturally the method of calculation was blamed rather than the University's performance - a Marxist explanation if ever we heard one.

Of interest is that the University has taken a position of outright opposition to plans for a private Student Accommodation complex (non-affiliated with the University we presume) to be build on Adelphi Street.

Perhaps the most interesting detail in the minutes is that the University's statutes are set to be amended to prevent staff members from being able to elect candidates for membership of University Council. The official explanation given for this was to ensure members were competent rather than popular. So much for transparency!

There is some discussion of the new - much despised - logo, which the Salford Star are claiming cost a whopping £170,000.00. Much attempt is made to intellectualise what is largely seen as a pretty shoddy finished product. To her credit, current Students' Union President Caroline Dangerfield asked for it to be noted in the minutes her opposition to the rebrand.

Success!

A little over a year ago a publication by the name of Private Eye asked, pensively, "How much longer can Ian Austin last as Chair of the University of Salford's Audit Committee?"

Quietly, and without a fanfare, the University have finally answered this question - just over a year, it turns out.

Yes, 'Daffyd' Austin no longer presides over the Audit Committee, his role as Chair now having been filled by one Eric Healey (a Chartered Accountant we think - and seemingly quite a good one at that).

We are quite sure that Daffyd's departure in no way relates to revelations in The Lawyer that he is currently fighting off a claim by Halliwells' administrators BDO to repay the £21m reverse premium he - among others - secretly pocketed whilst serving as Managing Partner.

The three main 'tranches' of the High Court Claim by BDO have been listed by 'The Legal Week' as being:

"breaching Halliwells' partnership deed by failing to act in good faith and parting with the LLP's property "otherwise than in the ordinary course of business"; breaching their fiduciary duties to act in the best interests of the firm, not to make a "secret profit" and not to prefer their personal interests over the firm's; and breaching the Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) regulations 2001"


We are naturally quite sure that Daffyd's ongoing attempts to mediate away the High Court case will not inhibit his capacity to continue serving on the Audit Committee.

We do wish him all the best for the future.

"We're Sorry" Say Amnesty International

Internal emails seen by UoS have revealed that graceless Irene Khan - Chancellor of the University of Salford and former Secretary General of Amnesty International - has made quite the stir in the corridors of her former employer's HQ after she "negotiated" the sum of over £500,000 in a compromise agreement.

The emails describe Amnesty International as being "very shocked and upset by the payments" and explains that Peter Pack, the former head of AI's International Executive Committee (the body which approved the payment), has "stepped down" from his role over the fiasco.

An internal review - due to be made publicy available in October - conducted at AI has been led by former HM Inspector of Prisons, Dame Anne Owers, and has concluded both that "the payments were excessive" and that "mistakes, bad judgements and poor systems" led to the decision.

We are sure that will come as cold comfort to AI's generous supporters.

You Khan't Be Serious

University Chancellors are symbolic roles which historically fulfill the function of representing the Sovereign at degree awarding ceremonies. At places in touch with their history (Cambridge, for instance), when the Chancellor confers a degree upon a student, the student kneels before the chancellor, clasps their hands together (as if to pray) and the Chancellor places their hands over those of the student. This is a ritual of Feudal Homage, although at more 'progressive' Universities such as Salford, a simple handshake usually does the trick.

Unfortunately, for Irene Khan, the University of Salford's ceremonial figurehead, recent events have left her looking less than divine.

When appointed as Chancellor of the University, she was - on the face of it - a highly regarded public figure as Secretary-General of Amnesty International. In the subsequent two years, she has left AI and has since scaled to the dizzying heights of Consultant Editor of the Bangladeshi newspaper, The Daily Star.

She seemingly didn't leave AI without a fight, pocketing a tidy £533,000 sum upon her departure - a figure which puts even former UoS Vice-Chancellor Michael "Didn't we do well" Harloe to shame.

Mercifully she has since resigned from her role as a Board Member of the UK's Charity Commission. Yet she still clings on at UoS.

She must feel right at home there.

Ian't Getting Away With It!

Looks like out old friend Ian Austin is finally feeling the heat under the collar for his folly as Managing Partner at Halliwells LLP (in administration).

The Lawyer are now reporting that the joint administrators, Dermot Power and Shay Bannon, have instructed the 32 former Equity Partners who divvied up a £20.4m property windfall and put it straight into their own pockets to repay the money, plus costs and interest.

We at Universally of Salford have been highlighting Austin's hubris on this issue for almost a year now.

It will be interesting to see just how much Austin pocketed and how much he is ultimately expected to pay  back. One hopes that the University of Salford have been paying him handsomely as their instructed solicitor in their libel case against Dr Gary Duke!