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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 28th February 2015
Prof. Aldwyn Cooper, Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive of Regent’s University London
Aldwyn Cooper is a cognitive psychologist by background having studied and worked at London, Bristol, Stanford, Berkeley, the Open University, Henley Management College and the University of Glamorgan. He held a Harkness Fellowship for two years postdoctoral study at Stanford and Berkeley Universities. Back in the UK, he started the Open University on-line learning. At Henley he established its innovative distance learning programmes and was made Professor of Management Science and Managing Director of their learning company. He worked in television for ten years as managing director of Workhouse, and as a consultant on culture change and internal communications for many blue chip companies throughout the world. He has written and presented extensively on the use of technology to enhance learning and has been a member of the advisory board for the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education for more than ten years. He is a member of the Quality Assurance Agency ‘Advisory Committee on Degree awarding Powers (ACDAP), the Higher Education Funding Council ‘Leadership, Governance and Management committee’, the Universities UK ‘International Policy Network’ and the ‘GuildHE Council’.In January 2007 he joined Regent’s College – a private, not for profit, higher education institution with a very strong global commitment – with the remit to gain degree awarding powers and university title. Regent’s delivers British and American programmes at Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral levels, in Business, Management, Languages, Humanities, Arts, Fashion, Design, Social Sciences, Psychotherapy, Drama, Film and Media. The Privy Council granted the College Taught Degree Awarding Powers in July 2012 and Regent’s achieved full university title as ‘Regent’s University London’ in March 2013. 1) What is your current position? My current position is Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive of Regent’s University London, one of only two, non-state funded, charitable universities in the UK. Regent’s is focussed on internationalism and has the most diverse student body of any university in Britain with students from 142 nationalities. It has been a privilege and a pleasure to lead this project.
tion has grown over the past eight years. Our students have obtained outstanding employment or started entrepreneurial businesses all over the world. 3) What inspires you? I am inspired by commitment to succeed and to use that success for the benefit not only of the individual but also a recognition of the society and communities in which they live. We work with the Desmond Tutu foundation and the Revd. Tutu talks about the Zulu philosophy, Ubuntu. Its core is ‘I am because we are’. Nobody can really succeed without understanding, and supporting their communities.
2) What are your proudest achievements? My proudest achievement is to lead a committed and enthusiastic team to start, develop and grow a unique university in the heart of London. Our reputa-
6) What is the best aspect about your current role? Without any doubt the best aspect of my current role is to see the development of our amazing students during their time with us and to see the rapid rise in their careers back in their home countries or around the world once they have graduated.
obstacle in your career? The biggest obstacle in my career has been my inability to grasp and benefit from the many opportunities that have been offered to me and to have formed even stronger relationships with the fascinating people that I have met. 5) Who has been the biggest influence on your career to date? It is difficult to single out one individual from all the inspiring men and women who have mentored me throughout my life. However, if it must be one it would have to be my father. He came from a poor and problematic background and overcame this to contribute to the education of troubled young people in some of the poorer areas of London. He taught me honesty, values, understanding and the need to be engaged.
7) And the worst? The worst is the need to struggle continuously against the flawed and inappropriate legislation that applies currently to higher education in Britain, in particular to policies on visas and immigration. While we must have reasonable controls to avoid problems of capacity and cost, we must continue to make politicians and the community as a whole aware fully of the enormous benefits that have been and continue to be brought to Britain by immigrants and the long term benefits to trade, influence and peace that come from welcoming international students to this country. 8) What are your long term goals? My personal goals are to continue to lead Regent’s and to see us achieve the milestones on our journey to be recognised widely as the most internation-
ally focussed university. My own objectives are to continue to enjoy time with my wife and our children and to see them gain the success they deserve from their efforts. 9) If you were Prime Minister, what one aspect would you change? Maintaining a strong economy must be the central focus for any Prime Minister in order to fund all the core services from health to infrastructure, support for the disadvantaged to education and the arts. However, one of my clear priorities would be to restructure the education system in Britain from pre-school through to postgraduate and research to ensure that those most likely to benefit, no matter their backgrounds, can do so and make real contributions to society. Britain used to lead the world with its effective and coherent system than we do now and also led to more social mobility. This has been dismantled by various governments, particularly in the eighties. 10) If you were marooned on a desert island, which historical figure would you like to spend your time with and why? It would have to be Plato. He continued the philosophical work of Socrates in education and developed a school of thought of his own. He was also supposed to be able to tell a good story. If he isn’t available it had better be Howling Wolf. I could take lessons from him in playing my guitar and singing the blues and I would certainly have the blues on that island!
Baroness Warsi accused of recruiting radicals in Whitehall
According to a report published by The Daily Telegraph, Britain's first female Muslim Cabinet Minister Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has been accused by a Muslim leader of handing out official posts in Whitehall to radical people linked to Islamist groups enabling them to enter the political system. Until recently, Fiyaz Mughal was a former member of a “cross-Government working group on anti-Muslim hatred” set up in 2012 by Lady Warsi and Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister. The group, which directly
4) What has been the biggest
reports to the Prime Minister, includes officials from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office, the Department for Education, the Foreign Office and the Crown Prosecution Service. It has continued to operate even after Warsi's August 2014 resignation from the government over Britain's policy on Gaza.
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Mughal has reportedly claimed that the 'radicals or former radicals and their allies' were given the official posts by Lady Warsi included a man involved in an “unpleasant and bullying” campaign to win planning permission for the controversial London “mega mosque” proposed by a fundamentalist Islamic sect. Some members of the group are also accused of using their
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi
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seats at the table to urge that Whitehall work with Islamist and extremist-linked bodies, including one described by the Prime Minister as a “political front for the Muslim Brotherhood”. Others are said to have demanded the lifting of bans on preachers from entering Britain, including controversial televangelist Zakir Naik. The Telegraph however reported that all members of the working group are not Islamist or radical sympathisers and there is no suggestion that any member is a supporter of violent extremism.
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