14 PROFILE
Turning to the student experience, under Caroline the University has reviewed the undergraduate portfolio and is in the process of reworking postgraduate courses. The aim was to prepare students for the world of work. A new position of Dean of Students was created and a range of services brought together under this unit. The University has increased social learning spaces, which are extremely popular with the student body. The Students’ Union was transformed into the Ambika Paul Student Union Centre, which opened last year offering a coffee bar area with comfortable seats and plasma screens, a study zone with computers, meeting rooms and offices.
Beryl Feely and Louise Tonks, and the Senior Management Group including the Deans and Directors.
Strategic thinking On a personal note, Caroline says she has enjoyed the people the most, and setting up and managing teams in particular. She
“We really have no idea what is going to happen in applications for September 2012 and the years following. There could be a downturn nationally, but then I think it will pick up again as people realise the importance of getting a degree.”
highlights working with the Executive team and the Board of Governors, who have always been supportive. She also mentions her PAs
“I will miss the people the most, and thinking about strategy. Over the last six to nine months, the changes we have had to think about are bigger, more significant and less thought through than in any other era of education I can think of. I have really enjoyed the challenge of thinking through how we should respond and react to them.” This is, of course, a reference to the changes to tuition fees and the withdrawal of Government funding. Professor Gipps states this is the biggest challenge facing the University and the sector as a whole.
This is a theme Caroline picked up on in a public lecture in June, titled Who Goes to University? And Why it Matters. She explained that being educated to degree level offers benefits to the individual in terms of career, interesting work, increased income and a range of other non-financial benefits. “But it also benefits society, in having people educated to a higher skills level. I am not trying to say that everybody should go to university – far from it. I am pleased the Government is encouraging more apprentices and more vocational routes into the professions but I do believe that people who have the ability and motivation to go to university should be able to.”
Looking ahead Caroline retires from her position as ViceChancellor this summer. Professor Geoff Layer, who was previously Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at the University of Bradford, has been appointed to the role. Looking ahead,