UPDATE: GOVERNORS RESIGN – Students In. Governors Out!

BREAKING (Thursday 17th December) – The Independent last night reported what has now been confirmed as the resignation of governors from the London Metropolitan University, following pressure from HEFCE.

At the meeting on Tuesday, a statement from staff governor, Kay Dudman, was read out. It said: “It is clear that London Metropolitan University’s future and safety is at stake. Hefce has made apparent that there is a clear and immediate risk that funding will be withdrawn unless it is convinced that its financial support of the university with public funds is safeguarded to its satisfaction.

“London Met cannot survive without public funds. The honourable, and indeed the only, course of action is for members of the board who were serving during the period in question to resign and the executive should follow suit.”

UPDATED HEFCE Statement (17th Dec 2009):

Immediate steps will be taken to renew the Board and the Audit Committee. In particular the Board will take the following action:

■The Governance Committee will be reconstituted by mid-January 2010 and will comprise two new lay members and the new Vice-Chancellor. The new Governance Committee will have responsibility for identifying a new Chair of the Board of Governors, and reviewing the membership of the Board and its Committees.

■A new Chair will be appointed to lead the Board of Governors by 1 April 2010. The appointee will be someone who is completely new to the University or someone recently appointed to the existing Board who played absolutely no part in the events covered by the Melville and Deloitte Reports. The existing Chair will stand down as Chair and from the Board of Governors by 31 March 2010.

■The Audit Committee will be renewed by 1 April 2010.

■All Governors who were members of the Board during the period covered by the Melville and Deloitte Reports ie up to 31 August 2008, will stand down from the Board by 31 August 2010.

■The analysis provided by the Melville and Deloitte reports will provide a framework for tackling the governance, management and systems issues at the University. The new Vice-Chancellor will be accountable for developing this framework further and overseeing the necessary changes to the existing arrangements. He will report progress on a quarterly basis to the Board of Governors and to HEFCE. The first report covering the period to 31 March 2010 should reach HEFCE by 16 April 2010.

Student Rights believe that the right decision was taken. With a new board and vice chancellor to arrive in the summer of 2010, the London Metropolitan University ensure it is best placed to overcome the nightmare scenario it has seen itself land in over the past 12 months.

The headline of this piece is the slogan chanted alongside calls for the London Metropolitan University’s governors to resign. At the demonstration last night the shamed board of LMU met to discuss The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) advice to “consider their position”.

This video was taken at last night’s protest

The call for the governors to resign comes after reports that LMU owes £36 million in HEFCE funding that was falsely claimed. This, alongside contentious issues regarding job cuts and outsourcing is coming to a head this week and Student Rights can’t help but comment on the dire situation that strikes this institution. The directors, we know, must taken a decision shortly regarding their future within the organisation and an e-mail from LMU’s acting vice-chancellor Alfred Morris to HEFCE chief executive Sir Alan Langlands states that confidence in the governing body could be crucial to any successful bid for funding to help it resolve its crisis.

Without the provision of funding by the HEFCE, LMU would most likely close.

The University and College Union (UCU) today said the governors’ position had become “completely untenable” and demanded that they stand down. UCU’s general secretary, Sally Hunt, said:

“London Met desperately needs a fresh start and that cannot happen with the current board of governors in place.”

Students from other university came and demonstrated alongside their fellow LMU students, who at 27,000 students boasts London’s largest university population.

Student Rights back the protests in order to facilitate the education of the students at LMU and seriously hope that the board of governors consider the implications in terms of both confidence in the institution and the representation of the student body.

A decision will be taken soon, let’s hope it’s the right one.

•The Board on the advice of the new Vice-Chancellor and utilising the required legal and professional advice will institute an investigation into the role of the senior staff mentioned in the Melville and Deloitte reports. Following such an investigation the Board together with the new Vice-Chancellor will decide what action, if any, to take.