Minutes of the Meeting of the Corporation of West Thames College
Held on Wednesday 14th July in the Banks Room
Members Present
Ms L Penny (Chair)
Mr J Bolt
Mr J Roberts
Ms M Semple
Mr S Buttar
Mr S Castle
Ms K Roche
Ms A Patterson
Mr V Gautam
Also present
Mr J Allen (Clerk)
Mr B Elliott
Mr M Hesketh
The meeting commenced at 1800
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BRIEFING
A briefing on the economic and political climate, and its impact on FE, was delivered by Mr M Hesketh. The briefing covered the following themes:
UK economy
Coalition Government announcements
Spending reductions of between 25% - 40%
New freedoms
Importance of Apprenticeships
Structural changes
Impact on 2010/2011 budgets & beyond
Strategic issues arising
Conclusions
During the presentation reference was made to a letter being issued to all Chairs of
FE Corporations from the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) with the request to attend a future Board meeting in order to provide governing bodies with an SFA presentation on future funding arrangements/strategic options.
In conclusion the following was agreed:
For the College to keep focused on what it does best
To strive to provide quality provision for learners
To grow apprenticeships
To build on the strong HE base
To maintain learner number base
To continue to provide an excellent service to the community that the College serves It was further agreed to continue the debate on the future strategic options at the
Governor’s Strategy Session scheduled for Wednesday 13th October 2010 @ 1600.
The Chair thanked Mr Hesketh for the presentation.
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APOLOGIES & QUORACY
Apologies were received from Mr N Sharma. The Clerk confirmed that the meeting was quorate.
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DECLARATION OF INTERESTS
There were no declared interests against any agenda item.
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MINUTES
It was RESOLVED to authorise the Chair to sign the minutes as an accurate record of the meeting of Corporation held on 19th May 2010 (Paper 1).
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SUMMARY ACTION LIST AND MATTERS ARISING
The ‘Summary Action List’ (Paper 2) provided an update against the four outstanding action points arising from previous meetings.
Minute 59: The Governor’s Strategy meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 13th
October 2010.
Minute 60: Appointment recommendations from the Selection Committee is an agenda item.
Minute 60: The election of the Chair and Vice Chair is an agenda item.
Minute 60: Governance Healthcheck questionnaire has been issued to all governors for completion.
There were no other matters arising.
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EXECUTIVE TEAM REPORT
The ‘Executive Team Report’ (Paper 3) provided Members with updates on the following topics:
Staffing issues
Interim arrangements for Vice Principal Curriculum & Quality
Update on the location of the Skills Centre
2009 Students Entry to HE
College Policy on Prayer and Prayer Rooms
Student & staff success stories
The report summarised the key changes to the management structure for 200/11.
With governor support, the College has been working to reduce expenditure while at the same time restructuring to become a leaner, more efficient and effective organisation, and using the opportunity to set up management arrangements which will support the drive to improve quality. Arising from the review changes have been made to five senior management posts and a detailed outline of each of the changes was made available. As a consequence of these changes the College curriculum will be managed in 5 divisions – three Departments and two Directories.
In addition to the changes in senior management posts it has been agreed to discontinue the International Office as a separate unit, and integrated their work into the work of the general Admission and registry team. Additional Curriculum Team
Manager posts and additional curriculum administrator posts have been created to reflect changes in curriculum areas.
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The main change in the teaching area has been to introduce the SLA (Student
Learning Advisor) model for tutorials to ensure consistent
