Council minutes 14 May 2026

Minutes of the Meeting of Cardiff University Council held on Thursday 14 May 2026 at 09:30 held in the Exhibition Hall, Bute Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff.

Present: Patrick Younge (Chair), Beth Button, Dr Andrew Glanfield, Dr Mario Gualano, Professor Urfan Khaliq, Stephen Mann, Liz McKenzie, Professor Wendy Larner, Dr Ana Oliveira, Dr Juan Pereiro Viterbo, Maria Pollard, John Shakeshaft, Sean Strong, Professor Damian Walford Davies, Craig Watkins, Dr Robert Weaver, Dr Catrin Wood, Jennifer Wood.

Attendees: Cynwal ap Myrddin [Items 2435-36], Eve Chamberlain [Items 2435-36], Katy Dale (Observer), Rob Davies [Item 2434 and 2441], Sally-ann Efstathiou [Item 2437 and Item 2445], Hanan Haliru [Items 2435-36], Thomas Hay, Victoria Holbrook, Sarah Lewis [Item 2434], Siân Marshall [Minute taker], Professor Stephen Riley [Item 2441], Dr Paula Sanderson, Joshua Tandy [Items 2435-36], Professor Amanda Tonks [Items 2435-36 and Item 2443], Ronald Voodgt [Item 2427] and Darren Xiberras.

2427 Welcome and Preliminaries

All were welcomed to the meeting, including Ronald Voodgt, Provost, Cardiff University Kazakhstan (CUK) who gave a brief introduction.

2428 Apologies for Absence

Apologies were received from Louise Casella, Suzanne Rankin, Dr Siân Rees, and Professor Katherine Shelton.

2429 Declarations of Interest

The Chair reminded Council members of their duty to disclose any potential conflicts of interest.

Noted

2429.1 that Liz McKenzie was a Trustee to the Cardiff University Students’ Union Board of Trustees.

2430 Minutes of Previous Meeting

2430.1 The minutes of the Council meeting held on 5 February 2026 (25/408C) were confirmed as a true and accurate record and were approved by the Committee on 14 May 2026.

2431 Matters Arising

Received and considered paper 25/412C, ‘Matters Arising’.

Noted

Minute 2323.20

2431.1 that this action would remain open as the cyber security position in Kazakhstan remained live; the risk was currently mitigated as no systems were currently shared, but this position was subject to change;

Minute 2360.2

2431.2 that this action would remain open as the Chief Financial Officer was to bring the deficit transformation dashboard back to the next meeting of Council; that this action would cover the request from Council to have sight of leading as well as lagging indicators.

2432 Items from the Chair

Received and considered paper 25/400C, ‘Report of Chair’s Action’.

Noted

2432.1 that the Chair had approved the extension of Stephen Mann's appointment to the University Research Integrity and Ethics Committee until 30 June 2026.

2433 Vice-Chancellor’s Report to Council

Received and considered paper 25/414C, ‘Vice-Chancellor’s Report to Council’. The Vice-Chancellor spoke to this item.

Noted

2433.1 that the format of the report had been revised based on feedback received from Council members; further feedback was welcomed;

2433.2 that the University was operating in a challenging and volatile external environment; that this included changes to research funding, with success dependent on larger, more interdisciplinary research bids, and new leadership of the higher and tertiary education portfolio in the Senedd;

2433.3 that Plaid Cymru had committed to a review of higher education as part of its First 100 Days plan; it was unclear what the review would comprise;

2433.4 that good progress had been made with transformation activities, including the implementation of Our Academic Future and the Professional Services transformation; that the next step was the review of Corporate Services with a delivery lead for this activity starting in post during the following week;

2433.5 that income diversification remained a key strategy for the University with activity centred around transnational education (TNE), flexible lifelong learning, a review of the academic portfolio, and work on the estate;

2433.6 that Claire Morgan had retired from the University for personal reasons; that Professor Amanda Tonks would continue as Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education and Student Experience until a permanent appointment was made; Council recognised and thanked Claire Morgan for her work on education and student experience;

2433.7 that the Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor was leading the annual planning and budgeting process; that UEB would be holding an away-day during the following week in order to review the planning and budgeting outputs, including the different options for returning the University to surplus; it was acknowledged that the continuation of business as usual activities would not deliver the surplus given the financial headwinds and declining postgraduate taught international (PGTi) student numbers in the sector;

2433.8 that the financial impact of the reduction in PGTi numbers had been estimated during the prior year as c.£7m; that the impact would need to be reviewed against this year’s numbers, and would be offset against increased international undergraduate (UG) numbers; over time the impact was becoming less material given the reducing cohort size;

2433.9 that financial modelling was undertaken as part of the planning and budgeting process; this included consideration of capacity to increase home UG numbers and options for modes of delivery; that UEB had committed to holding tariff;

2433.10 that the need for future scenario planning was acknowledged; UEB was considering how to adapt the University given the current HE model was unsustainable; that determining the future model was a challenge for the sector and was reflected by discussions around merger and shared services; that Medr was funding work to consider shared services in Wales, though the impact of this work remained unclear given individual University institutional priorities;

2433.11 that it was suggested that the University consider seeking views from students on aspects of its provision or activity that it could stop; that the need for the University to respond to the changing expectations of students, parents and employers was acknowledged; that change remained difficult for many, but collective courage was needed; that there was an ongoing role for Council to communicate externally the University’s important role in society;

2433.12 that Council wished to have greater assurance that the benefits of transformation activity undertaken were being delivered in order to ensure the University future is secured.

Resolved

2433.13 for an information session on tariff to be provided to interested members.

2434 Student Health and Wellbeing Report

Received and Considered paper 25/411HC, ‘Student Health and Wellbeing Report’. Rob Davies, Interim Deputy Chief Operating Officer, and Sarah Lewis, Head of Student Health and Wellbeing joined the meeting to speak to this item.

Noted

2434.1 [Redacted]

2434.2 [Redacted]

2434.3 [Redacted]

2434.4 [Redacted]

2434.5 [Redacted]

2434.6 [Redacted]

2434.7 [Redacted]

2434.8 [Redacted]

Rob Davies and Sarah Lewis left the meeting.

2435 Students’ Union President’s Report

Received and considered paper 25/415, ‘Students’ Union President’s Report’. The Students’ Union President, Maria Pollard, spoke to this item.

Noted

2435.1 that Welsh Varsity had been successfully held, with record engagement;

2435.2 that work had been undertaken to engage students in the Senedd Elections;

2435.3 that a record turnout in the Spring elections had been achieved.

2436 Student View

Received a presentation from the Students’ Union Sabbatical Officers and Professor Amanda Tonks. Hanan Haliru – VP International, Joshua Tandy – VP Heath Park, Cynwal ap Myrddin – VP Cymraeg, Eve Chamberlain – VP Societies and Professor Amanda Tonks joined the meeting for this item.

Noted

2436.1 the achievements of the Students’ Union Sabbatical Officers over the last year, including:

.1 the provision of Welsh Language accommodation in Senghennydd Court and Talybont North and the shift in thinking of Cardiff as a Welsh-speaking University;

.2 the roll-out of bystander training to all staff and students;

2436.2 the key priorities still to be achieved:

.1 to ensure consultation was undertaken at an early stage where the University was proposing new or revised activities;

.2 to address the issues experienced by students based at the Heath arising from NHS complexities and the location of services;

.3 to support international students with the changes in UKVI rules and challenges around living costs;

2436.3 that a detailed review of the Student Views would be undertaken at the People, Cynefin and Governance Committee on 05 June 2026;

2436.4 that work would be undertaken with the Students’ Union, under the leadership of the Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor for Education and Student Experience to review the feedback and to agree achievable actions.

Hanan Haliru, Joshua Tandy, Cynwal ap Myrddin, Eve Chamberlain and Professor Amanda Tonks left the meeting.

2437 Staff wellbeing update

Received and considered paper 25/413C, ‘Staff wellbeing update’. The Director of People and Culture, Sally-ann Efstathiou, joined the meeting to speak to this item.

Noted

2437.1 that HR had worked with the Trade Unions to deliver the HSE Staff Wellbeing Survey; that the response rate was low at 17% but was considered to represent a respectable level of participation at a demanding time of year, noting that more Professional Services staff had responded than academic staff; that a commitment had been made to identifying specific local action in response;

2437.2 that the findings indicated both supportive local environments and significant challenges arising from organisational change; that UEB in the delivery of Our Academic Future and Professional Services transformation had had to take difficult decisions that could not be fully mitigated and it was recognised that continual change would be necessary for the University; that extensive engagement had been undertaken with staff, but many staff were struggling with the pace of change;

2437.3 Council’s view that the results highlighted that UEB and other managers were doing a good job in supporting staff; that there remained a need to build greater resilience amongst staff and to support them to deliver continual improvement; it was acknowledged that this was not straightforward or easy to achieve; that a refresh of the programme of support for staff was planned, including further training on managing and supporting change;

2437.4 that the People, Cynefin and Governance Committee had a standing item on its agenda on staff wellbeing; that it would receive the staff survey results at its next meeting;

2437.5 Council’s thanks to the Director of People and Culture and her staff for delivering the survey and the ongoing focus on supporting staff.

Sally-ann Efstathiou left the meeting.

2438 Chief Transformation Officer Update

Received and considered paper 25/410C, ‘Chief Transformation Officer update to Council’. The Chief Financial Officer spoke to this item.

Noted

2438.1 that a working draft of the deficit transformation dashboard was shared with Council; that the dashboard demonstrated that the financial position was ahead of plan [PART REDACTED], however, more action was required to address the underlying structural issues as the savings made as part of Our Academic Future would cover only the cost of inflation;

2438.2 the feedback from Council that the dashboard was a positive development; that it would be helpful to show more clearly the current position and target, the gaps that have been identified, the mitigating actions to address the gaps, the activity KPIs, and the opportunities not included in the plan;

2438.3 that the Hoshin Kanri X Matrix tool was a mechanism through which UEB could cascade the Strategy down through the institution, to help staff understand where they could influence progress, and give greater assurance to Council; that it was for UEB to determine the mechanism for tracking progress, but Council wished to see a recognised tool implemented;

2438.4 [Redacted]

2438.5 that further assurance was required on benefits realisation over the coming 12 months.

Resolved

2438.6 for UEB to consider and put in place a recognised tool/system for tracking progress;

2438.7 for the Chief Financial Officer to bring back the revised deficit transformation dashboard to the next meeting of Council.

2439 Risk Appetite

An oral update was provided from the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee, Dr Robert Weaver.

Noted

2439.1 that progress had been made in updating the University’s risk appetite; that further work was required to ensure that risk appetite was defined within the updated Risk Management Policy; that completion of this work would enable UEB to prioritise and target activities; that a plan had been agreed by UEB to enable this;

2439.2 that there was a need to align the approach to risk and risk appetite across the institutional and to ensure that risk management was a living and breathing system.

2440 Transnational Education plan

Received and considered paper 25/417C, ‘Transnational Education plan’. The Chief Operating Officer, Dr Paula Sanderson, spoke to this item.

Noted

2440.1 that the TNE activity to date had positioned Cardiff as a global institution, fulfilling our ambitions to bring Wales to the world, and delivering on our global-civic ambitions; that the University Strategy set out an ambitious future with TNE as a key part of our offering;

2440.2 that Cardiff had started from a low base but CUK was seen as a sector level success and had created a confidence in Cardiff as a global institution; that this provided opportunities to diversify and grow income in ways not necessarily open to others;

2440.3 that the rationale for TNE growth was clear: falling PGTi numbers, an increase in anti-immigration and political/ideological pressure, a significant demographic dip in UK (and Welsh) 18-year-olds from 2030, significant growth in student demand in Asia and Africa, and policy environments both here and overseas that support and encourage cross border education;

2440.4 that the risk of doing nothing had been considered and included loss of global visibility in an increasingly competitive and internationalised sector, and an inability to capitalise on the range of opportunities identified;

2440.5 that the University was already experiencing a halo effect from CUK with increased applications from Central Asia to Wales, improvements in reputation and in QS rankings, increased research profile in Central Asia, and interest from multi-national industry partners;

2440.6 that a heatmap had been developed using a range of data to identify the markets most accessible to Cardiff; that the risk framework for TNE indicated that a balanced portfolio was the best approach with a mix of different TNE models;

2440.7 [Redacted]

2440.8 [Redacted]

2440.9 [Redacted]

2440.10 that market research was undertaken at country level to determine viability of delivering subjects overseas; that programmes could only be delivered overseas if already offered in Cardiff;

2440.11 that Africa was not currently included in the initial roadmap as a 4-8 year horizon was required for developing new activities based on the regulatory environment;

2440.12 that it was proposed to include a member of Council on the CUK Supervisory Board of Directors; that Council was comfortable with the appointment of a member of Council to the CUK Supervisory Board of Directors, noting that this would not be feasible for every future initiative;

2440.13 that the recent Quality Enhancement Review had confirmed that the University has in place robust arrangements for securing academic standards, managing academic quality, and for enhancing the quality of the student experience; that this included its overseas partnership provision.

Resolved

2440.14 for the Chief Operating Officer and University Secretary to meet with Dr Ana Oliveira to discuss the new accelerated initiatives proposed;

2440.15 for the Chief Operating Officer and University Secretary to clarify the responsibilities of the Council member as a Director of the CUK Supervisory Board of Directors.

John Shakeshaft left the meeting.

2441 BIOSV consolidation

Professor Stephen Riley, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Biomedical and Life Sciences, and Rob Davies, Registrar for the College of Biomedical and Life Sciences and Interim Deputy Chief Operating Officer, joined the meeting to speak to this item.

Noted

2441.1 [Redacted]

2441.2 [Redacted]

2441.3 [Redacted]

2441.4 [Redacted]

2441.5 [Redacted]

2441.6 [Redacted]

2441.7 [Redacted]

2441.8 [Redacted]

Resolved

2441.9 to approve the relocation of the BIOSV activity and associated facilities at a cost of £30.3m;

2441.10 to approve the additional £3m contingency to be held by the Steering Group (chaired by the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Biomedical and Life Sciences) for emergency use for the BIOSV Heath and Cathays projects.

Rob Davies and Professor Stephen Riley left the meeting.

2442 Finance Report

Received and considered paper 25/352C, ‘Finance Report’ and paper 25/353C Q2 Forecast 2025-26’. The Chief Financial Officer, Darren Xiberras, spoke to this item.

Noted

2442.1 [Redacted]

2442.2 [Redacted]

2442.3 that the increase in debtors reported related to the timing of receipts from the Student Loans Company.

2443 Annual Enhancement Report

Received and considered paper 25/311, ‘Annual Enhancement Report’. The Interim Pro Vice-Chancellor Education and Student Experience, Professor Amanda Tonks, joined the meeting to speak to this item.

Noted

2443.1 that the report provided an update on strategic, student led and challenge led enhancement to education and student experience and evaluated the intended impact of the activities being undertaken;

2443.2 that the report provided evidence that the initiatives undertaken had led to sustained improvements with the reduction in HEFCW/Medr regulatory monitoring over the three-year period, primarily in response to improvements in student satisfaction in recent years;

2443.3 that there had been improvements in progression rates, withdrawal rates and retention following drops over the Covid period;

2443.4 that there continued to be sustained improvement in National Student Survey outcomes, including improvements to the main thematic areas of Teaching on my Course, Assessment and Feedback, and Student Voice;

2443.5 that the proportion of staff qualified to teach had increased significantly with over 1000 staff having completed the Advance HE accredited fellowship;

2443.6 that the programme of work was designed to enhance performance against the target areas within the strategic plan; that action plans were being developed based on the new University Success Measures (USMs) for the first time; that in a short time it would be possible to give a view on the level of impact that could be achieved over the next academic year;

2443.7 that an employability programme was in place in Astrophysics; that this would need to be reviewed to determine if this could be replicated in other Schools; that the graduate attributes had been refreshed as part of the skills framework development in collaboration with students, staff and employers; that the graduate attributes would be deployed as part of Cardiff futures and the student success and Curriculum 2035 enhancement projects; that is was imperative to communicate our strengths to students as part of Open Days and other communications;

2443.8 that the voluntary redundancy scheme had not impacted on the core capacity for Welsh-language delivery; that there were plans to further enhance provision as part of the Cynllun Cynefin (the framework for Welsh language and culture).

Resolved

2443.9 for the next iteration of the report to include a clear overview of progress against the USMs.

Professor Amanda Tonks left the meeting.

2444 University of Dundee Gillies Report

Received and considered paper 25/405C, ‘The University of Dundee Gillies report: Cardiff University self-assessment against 'lessons learned'’. The Director Transforming Governance, Victoria Holbrook, spoke to this item.

Noted

2444.1 that the proposed actions would strengthen the University’s governance arrangements in relation to the new CUC Code of Governance which was expected to be published in late June; that this was in addition to the actions being progressed as part of the Constitutional Reform Programme and strategic management information;

2444.2 that there was scope for UEB to be more responsive to requests from Council;

2444.3 that it was perceived that lesson 5 related more to encouraging curiosity and asking questions rather than ensuring staff felt able to speak up; that UEB was open to questions from staff and this was demonstrated through the wide range of questions asked by staff at Townhalls, online webinars, and through engagement with staff on transformation; that there was feedback from some academic and Professional Services staff that they did not feel empowered to question and there was more to do to ensure staff felt they could be part of the solution; that there was scope to improve the culture around cascading information to staff at different levels;

2444.4 that additional support had been put in place to create more capacity for the Chief Operating Officer and University Secretary with the appointment of a CUK Provost, an Interim Deputy Chief Operating Officer and a delivery lead for the next phase of the Professional Services restructure; that it was planned to change the reporting line for Internal Audit to report directly to the Vice-Chancellor; that the issue of independence was kept under review by Council;

2444.5 that work was in progress to improve awareness and understanding of how governance works; that providing greater clarity on governance arrangement was a key priority of the Constitutional Reform Programme;

2444.6 the view that there were some gaps in the oversight role of Council, specifically in discussing the progress with the strategy, finances, legal and regulatory expectation, risks, and culture in an integrated way;

2444.7 that feedback had been received from members as part of the annual review meetings with the Chair that there was insufficient visibility of how the strategy is being delivered in the Colleges and insufficient time spent on key strategic matters; that there was scope to consider taking a different approach to agenda items that do not require a decision in order to create more space for discussion.

Resolved

2444.8 to approve the self-assessment and suggested next steps as accurate and appropriate to our context;

2444.9 to bring back to Council suggestions on how to create more time on the agenda for discussion of key strategic issues and examples of how the strategy is being delivered in the Colleges.

2445 Redundancy Committee report to Council

Received and considered paper 25/403C, ‘The Proposed Cessation or Reduction of School Activities: Report to Council on Redundancy Committee under delegations of July 2025’. The Director of People and Culture, Sally-ann Efstathiou, re-joined the meeting to speak to this item.

Noted

2445.1 that Council was asked to note the actions taken by Redundancy Committee under delegation from Council and that recommendations had been approved by the Chair of Council.

Resolved

2445.2 to approve the business case contained in section B of the report, namely:

.1 the proposed redundancy under section 10 (2) of Part II of Statute XV with effect from 1 June 2026, or as soon as possible thereafter;

.2 where Council has reached a decision under Section 10 (2) it shall appoint a Redundancy Committee to be constituted in accordance with subsection (3) of Part II of Statute XV;

.3 where the Redundancy Committee has approved selection made under section 11 (1) it may delegate authority to the Director of People and Culture to issue dismissal notices following a decision taken on behalf of Council by the Chair or Vice-Chair of Council following submission and approval made at the next meeting of the Redundancy Committee;

2445.3 to approve the business case contained in section C of the report, namely to approve the recommendation to restructure the impact and engagement area of operational support according to the change proposal and strategic need of the University in line with the temporary arrangements in place.

Sally-ann Efstathiou left the meeting.

2446 Any Other Business

The Chair noted Council’s thanks to Maria Pollard, Students’ Union President, for her significant contribution to Council and the University.

2447 External Auditor Contract Extension

Received and considered paper 25/338CR, ‘External Auditor Contract Extension’.

Resolved

2447.1 to approve on the recommendation of the Audit and Risk Committee, the exercise of the contractual extension option with KPMG LLP for the provision of External Audit Services for a further two-year period from 1 June 2027 to 31 May 2029.

2448 Report from Senate

Received and considered paper 25/418, ‘Report from Senate’.

Resolved

2448.1 to approve the academic year dates for 2027/28;

2448.2 to approve the inclusion of consideration of the merits of secret voting as part of the Constitutional Reform Programme.

2449 Items Received for Information

• 25/404C University Success Measures
• 25/402C Report from Audit and Riak Committee
• 25/409C Report from Chair of Finance and Infrastructure Committee
• 25/2407C Report from Chair of People, Cynefin and Governance Committee
• 25/175 Sealing Transactions
• 25/345HCR Major and Serious Incidents update
• 25/330 Strategic Equality Annual Monitoring
• 25/358C Taith Update