We have had an all-day awayday of the University Council today.  Council is probably one of the areas of the university's governance that is least visible to the majority of the university's members.   But then the same would be true in schools where the visibility of governing bodies is also very low.  But these bodies do play a significant role in organisations. In particular they create the opportunity for members of the university's executive (of which I am one) to be asked crucial questions about how the university will tackle key issues.  Lay members of Council bring their expertise from a variety of sources and ask what are at once both innocent and deeply experienced questions about what is going on in the university.  Current lay members of council include the ex-Finance Director of John Lewis Partnerships (and a chair of the funding council at the same time); a senior executive from the steel industry; the chair of a Strategic Health Authority; and a retired senior civil servant.  We benefit greatly from thei devotion to the university and from their role as 'critical friends' to the institution.  Some, but by no means the majority, are Sheffield graduates.

Discussion today roamed over the Browne Review, the state of the university's finances, proposals for revisions to the university's pension schemes, the detail of key performance indicators for monitoring our performance, and the role that Council should play in the next few challenging years for the institution.

There were understandably particular concerns over how the university will respond to the Browne Review (if it is implemented) and what this will mean for the stability of the institution and for its size and shape in the future.  Many inside the university will regard the events of this month as creating a crisis. It was reassuring to hear a senior industrialist, with many years of experience, advise us to bide our time before responding to changing events. There is a big task to be done of gathering evidence before we take decisions - but as a research-led university we should be prepared for such a sequence.