School in crisis 2

Your article about the School of Health Sciences at Birmingham University contains a response by the university.JThis says that the two stress reports were confidential "other than to its senior management group and the appropriate staff in the school concerned". In fact, the first stress report from applied research was never labelled confidential.

The university then states that the head of school was "recently reappointed by council, following the normal procedure of consultation with the school". Staff, however, were told that the appointment was "approved by the pro chancellor acting on behalf of the council, following a recommendation from the vice-chancellor". This information was sent in the middle of the summer vacation, despite the fact that the consultation procedure regarding the appointment of the next head of school was undertaken ten months beforehand.

When Pat Wrightson was reappointed for her second five-year stint as head of school in 2001, no one can recall any consultation at all. This would appear to be at odds with the university's own regulations.

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