VC blog, University of Warwick

July 18, 2016

Reasons to be proud

At the University of Warwick, we are about to see over 4000 students graduate at ceremonies over the course of this week. During our degree ceremonies, we will give out four awards for teaching excellence, nine outstanding student contribution awards, 10 honorary degrees and one Chancellor’s Medal. 460 staff will support the events: participating in the academic procession for each ceremony, giving orations, handing out certificates, directing traffic, answering queries and so much more behind the scenes. We are delighted to share our celebrations with local councillors, alumni, and of course the parents, families and friends of our graduates, those who have supported and championed our students throughout their studies, and will continue to do so as our graduates take their next steps in life.

Degree ceremonies are a time of immense pride and celebration for all of us. The nervous smiles and grins of sheer joy on people’s faces as they walk onto the stage to receive their awards are wonderful to see. Those grins are well-deserved, I know how hard students work to get to this point, and how exciting their futures will be. I am proud to be able to play a part in their celebrations, and proud to be part of a University that attracts the best students and produces such fantastic graduates.

Three other things have happened recently that have also given me particular reason to be proud.

The first was the public launch at the Godiva Festival of Coventry’s bid to become UK City of Culture in 2021. Alongside Coventry City Council and Coventry University, Warwick is a partner to the bid and is great to see the bid taking shape, and the support from arts and cultural organisations, neighbourhood communities, businesses and schools to showcase all Coventry has to offer when it comes to culture and the arts. Warwick will do all we can to support the bid, as we are proud to be part of this great and creative city, at such an exciting time.

The second is the agreement made recently between the University of Warwick, Coventry University and Coventry and Warwickshire local government leaders to unite in our resolve that the concerns, interests and opportunities for growth in the region must have their voice heard in forthcoming negotiations following the recent EU referendum. Our region is home to a great many global companies and talented people from around the world. We also welcome the many international students who not only contribute to the economy, social fabric, and cultural life of our region, but become global ambassadors for the city and county. We know the challenges ahead as the UK negotiates its exit from the EU, but I’m proud that we can work together in the region to show that we are committed to continuing to attract the international investment and global partnerships that bring economic growth.

The third, and related, event was an all-staff meeting we held at Warwick last week on the EU referendum. As organisations are doing across the UK, we are starting to come to terms with what the future may look like following the UK’s vote to leave the EU. Many of our staff feel very deeply and personally affected by the decision to leave the EU, many more are concerned about what it might mean for the diversity of our international community, and for the teaching and research collaborations we have with partners across Europe. At the meeting, we discussed concerns, questions, developments. But we also found a truly positive sense of solidarity: that we will all use every opportunity we can, at whatever level, to influence the current debate. Along with our partners and friends across the region, Warwick will continue to be an international institution, with Europe as important to our activities, community and values as ever. And we will play our part to champion and argue for the post-referendum outcomes that we believe will be the best for the UK’s future. I’m deeply proud of the collective commitment of Warwick staff to do this.

Whether you’re just graduating from University, or looking at how the UK’s new future in Europe might affect you personally, or affect your work or studies - of course, there are challenges ahead. But, personally, as I face challenges in the future, I’m going to remember these things that make me proud to be part of the University of Warwick: our students and graduates, the bright possibilities for our region, the value of our regional relationships, and the strength of our staff community. I hope our staff, friends and graduates can do the same.

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June 24, 2016

Reaction to the EU Referendum result

So, the voters have spoken; the next few years will see the result of that vote translated into policy reality. Across the University of Warwick, although some will be celebrating, there is, I know, much concern. Let me try to put some of that concern into context.

There are three issues that could impact directly on people.

The first concerns our students who are citizens from other EU countries. Many are concerned about their fee and immigration status. We currently have some 1260 such students registered on undergraduate degrees, as well as around 700 students who participate each year in Erasmus exchanges between Warwick and other EU institutions. Regarding fees, we have said confidently that those already registered will not be affected by any fee changes the government might subsequently impose; and that will hold also for those seeking to join us this Autumn. There will be a two year window at least for the negotiations. Therefore, logically, any fee change would not occur until 2020. That is not to accept the principle of a change to the fee regime; it is a worst case analysis.

The second is the impact on our staff. We have nearly 500 colleagues who work here from other EU countries. And I know many are concerned with the implications for their right to stay in this country. I can understand why, given some of the unpleasant things said during the Referendum campaign. It is not in the interest of any government to lose highly skilled workers, and so the main challenge is likely to be visa costs. This is something that will need careful monitoring. However, our European staff are an important, valued, part of our community, and I intend to make the case wherever I can that such staff are incredibly valuable to UK HE, and should not be disadvantaged in the new world.

Third, many at Warwick will be concerned about the impact on the university's research income, currently over £13m a year from EU sources. That funding comes from government, industry and charitable sources, and translates into posts and studentships, as well as equipment and activity. All currently signed contracts will be honoured. I will be arguing that even without membership of the EU, the UK should be a part of the European research family, as Norway and Switzerland currently are. In this work, we will be much helped by being inside a Europe wide body of research intensive universities - the Guild that we recently announced - which has, as its chair, the President of a Norwegian university. Working with other like-minded institutions around the world to progress our research and teaching aims will continue to be a priority for Warwick.

There is much, complex, work for us to do in the new environment, but much is already being prepared here at Warwick to enable us to understand how the University and our community might be impacted.

There will be, if the referendum campaign has been anything to go by, plenty of apocalyptic language greeting this result in the media. We will be told that the economy will collapse, that it's the end of civilisation as we know it.

I have made no secret that, in my view, the University's future would have been more certain with a Remain vote. But it is still secure with a Leave vote. We still are a very attractive place for students to study, whether they be British or from around the rest of the world, and part of that attraction is precisely because of the cosmopolitan nature of our student and staff body. We must maintain this. And seeing our growing research income over the past few years, we should remain confident in the quality of our research in the global competition for the funding our research needs and deserves.

So, although we will leave the EU, Warwick will remain a strong, confident, global institution.

There is one last point. Clearly the business of government will be dominated by the many processes required by exit. Once there is clarity on who is charged with translating this for higher education, I will be writing to them to call for a delay in the Higher Education Bill while this work is carried through. To add the demands of that Bill to those of EU exit, at the same time, will be an intolerable burden for universities that, frankly, threatens to rock our very capacity to do everything we do to promote and extend the UK’s reputation globally. This, at a time when that reputation matters more than ever. I hope that much will be self-evident to the minister.

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June 17, 2016

Prevent in context

I am not an agent of the state. By this I mean that I do not work for the government. There is nothing wrong of course with working for the government. But I do not. I work for a University. British Universities are set up in a different way to others in the rest of Europe, which often are state bodies. So, for example, when Warwick signed up to the new Guild of European Research Intensive Universities, we were able to do so ourselves. Our partners at Uppsala in Sweden were not; in order to join, they need an act of parliament to be passed.

I start in this way because it is important in the context of the debate on Prevent which is quite rightly occupying the minds of many of my colleagues and students at Warwick and across the UK HE sector. As a Vice-Chancellor, indeed as the head of a major organisation, I'm not doing this through choice or desire and it is not because we are part of the government machinery. I need to ensure that Prevent is implemented because it is a statutory duty; it is the law.

Many are worried about Prevent in operation. At Warwick, we heard this at our staff Assembly, which overwhelmingly passed a resolution critical of Prevent. I have seen those concerns in meetings with students, at our Senate, and at our Council. The governing body of this University, in terms of its trustees, is the Council. At its last meeting, the Council confirmed that the University should “continue to take an approach of ‘appropriate’ compliance with the Prevent duty”, whilst ensuring this was implemented in a way that protected the values we hold strong at Warwick: non-discriminatory academic freedom -“noting that Council recognised the importance of these principles” [Unconfirmed minutes].

This is also something that I take an academic interest in. My last book, Securitising Islam, mapped the processes in society that have for some led to practices in which Islamic identity is seen purely through a security lens; and the discrimination and violence that has sometimes followed. So it may be that you don’t like government policy; but arguably more problematic is the way that identities are seen to be problematic in everyday life – in newspapers, film, in blogs and in social media. You can track the same ‘jokes’ which many might see as Islamophobic on a whole range of social media sites, which ostensibly are in completely different domains. Governments may lead in particular directions; but equally importantly is how we, as a society, act.

Our duty as a University is certainly to follow the law, but we must do so in an enlightened way.

No one, I think, doubts the seriousness of the threat of terrorism. Think about what has happened in Paris, in Brussels and just recently in Orlando. Still greater acts of violence happen on a daily basis in Syria, in Iraq and elsewhere in our world. Closer to home, we have just seen the horrific murder of Jo Cox whilst she was doing her duty as an MP – working with the people in her constituency she was elected to serve. Often the perpetrators claim that they are driven to these sorts of acts to demonstrate their faith, or their political beliefs. But an important act of resistance as a University is to deny them that claim unchallenged, and to refuse to pigeonhole people.

At Warwick, I alongside some key academic colleagues and the President-elect of the SU, need support from our community to help us work out how we respond to Prevent in practice as a University. We will shortly be appealing via our Insite and MyWarwick portals for staff and student volunteers to work with us. It is important, and sadly unavoidable work, for us all. I hope others in our sector join us.

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June 13, 2016

The Higher Education Green Paper has turned into a White Paper

The Higher Education Green Paper has turned into a White Paper. There is some evolution between the two following the government’s consultation exercise, but not that much. For research-intensive universities, indeed, for the sector as a whole, it is very challenging. That is not an accident, because it is supposed to be. Do recall that the minister for higher education views some of the education we provide as, quote, “lamentable”. As a sector we are labeled the “incumbents”, delaying or even preventing the introduction of innovation.

It is important for all institutions to work out how to react – as react we must. For Warwick, there are two particular issues I would like to focus on: TEF and new entrants. But before I do, let me just bridle at those accusations. “Lamentable” education is not an accusation supported by any evidence at Warwick. Over a dozen of our courses are regularly ranked in the world’s top 100. Look at the work in Engineers without Borders, WBS Create, our new degrees in Global Sustainability Development, and indeed so much of the work of IATL. And the charge of being “incumbents”? Given our proactive engagement with a whole series of regional partners in other parts of the education sector, in business, culture and industry, and indeed our California initiative – again, the evidence does not support the myth.

Let me turn first to the Teaching Evaluation Framework (TEF). TEF rankings will define how much we can raise fees in relation to inflation. The full implications of TEF are as yet undefined, but scheduled to be introduced as soon as 2017 and progressively increase in complexity thereafter. We do not know how TEF will be measured, but my main fear is the level of bureaucracy. For the last Research Excellence Framework – the only comparator exercise we have, Warwick’s submission was 2,741 pages; we estimate it took 50 person years. That is not 50 person years producing knowledge or disseminating knowledge; it is just the exercise of producing evidence for as-yet ill-defined assessment.

Think of the logic. If a fee of £9,000 is the appropriate rate, then surely it is obvious that inflation should, over time, be built in? If that is not the case, the fee actually decreases over time in real terms. Is this fair to students inter-generationally? You may disagree with the balance of contribution between student and State; but once that fee level is set, it simply needs to keep pace with inflation. In other words, the link imposed between TEF and fee inflation questions the very heart of the balance of contribution between student and State. Is that truly the intention? Further, once education is ranked across four levels – ranging from ‘does not meet expectations’ through to ‘outstanding’ – this will undoubtedly influence student choice. So, a university that doesn’t do well can’t inflate its fees, and becomes less attractive in the market place in the bargain. The HE equivalent of the “sink estate”. Where is the mechanism of intervention to turn around that decline?

Then consider the proposals on new entrants. I have no objection in principle. If new organisations offer education that students want and can’t access in the existing market, of course that should be facilitated. However, within three years of opening, such an organization will be able to offer degrees? That is high risk for both students and the sector. If the institution then fails, the continuation of those students’ degrees becomes whose responsibility? Existing universities. The failure would have negative implications for the capacity and reputation of UK HE as a whole. And what are new providers, especially for-profit providers, going to teach? Most probably only those subjects where the financial margin is greatest. That will almost certainly not be in science, technology or engineering. How does this help our national Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – STEM - agenda?

Of course, these issues have been widely debated in this University. An Assembly was called and passed a motion condemning the developments in the White Paper. This was taken to our Council, and after a thorough and wide-ranging debate, the Council resolved that it had “…independently reached similar views on the proposals for reform in the sector and was in sympathy with the views expressed at the meeting of the Assembly on the HE Green Paper”. [Unconfirmed minutes]. Similar views have been aired at our Senate, where there was a full debate last week; and in heads of department meetings. I have expressed these views in correspondence with the minister, and in meetings with various other ministers and senior officials. My hope is that these arguments – which of course are being made across the sector – might have some traction in the parliamentary debate, particularly in the House of Lords. We will see. We can hope, we can lobby, we can support. But we also have to start preparing for the world created by the new HE legislation.

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June 01, 2016

Maintenance Grants

On 14 January 2016, 18 Members of Parliament voted to scrap all maintenance grants for new undergraduates from 2016/17, and replace them with loans.

This will have a wide-reaching impact on our community and our concern lies with current and future students who will take on even more debt during the course of their studies or not be able to take up places at universities due to the increased financial pressure.

This is life changing for some, not only for those affected students who won’t be able to fulfil their potential, but to the wider community who won’t be able to benefit from the brilliant minds these students possess. In many cases, this will affect students from low-income families and disproportionately affect students from black and minority ethnic backgrounds and disabled students.

Stuart has written before about how the grant system supported him through his UG degree some thirty years ago and enabled him to complete his final year. We feel deeply that today’s and tomorrow’s students should also have this opportunity and are very concerned about the implications of this change of government policy. We are fully receptive to the concerns raised by students and staff alike, and we do not want this issue to slip under the radar.

At Senate on 8th March, Isaac Leigh, President of the Students' Union, presented a paper and gave a verbal report on the issue. The outcome of this was discussed at Council on 18th May. We appreciate that this can seem frustratingly slow, but in order for us to have the most impact with all issues we face, we have to follow the University’s set procedures to ensure all aspects are considered.

Whilst not able to replace maintenance grants for the majority of our students, the SU are in discussions with the Registrar & Chief Operating Officer about the current provision of hardship funds. We would urge anyone considering applying for UG or PG courses at Warwick to read the information about bursaries, scholarship and support available and we urge current students to talk to the Student Support office, your Personal Tutor or Resident Life tutor if faced with any difficulties; not just financial, as we come to arguably the most challenging term of the academic year.

Stuart Croft (Vice-Chancellor and President)
Isaac Leigh (President, Warwick Students' Union)

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May 25, 2016

Europe, Universities and the Media

There is a story in today's Daily Telegraph (Wednesday 25th May) which asserts that this University, and others, have been telling students how to vote in the forthcoming referendum. It was inevitable in the highly charged debate on this topic that such claims would be made. There has indeed been very active debate on this campus, and that is a very good thing. We have also been active in encouraging students to register to vote. But as is usual for these sorts of stories the true facts have a tendency to become buried underneath rhetoric and sensational headlines.

As a university, we have taken a position on academic grounds only - thus meeting the Charity Commission guidance - that we would support Remain. This was done in March, at our Senate. This was done because many organisations have asked us to declare a position, and grounds for it. And we have done so. This position does not constrict freedom of speech on our campus. I have personally chaired a referendum debate organised by a student society, and there is an active student Brexit society. All views on this issue have, to my knowledge, been aired and continue to be aired on our campus, and elsewhere by individual students and staff, and we have a legal duty to protect freedom of speech for our students, staff and visitors to campus. That duty comes before pleasing the viewpoint of any one newspaper.

You can find out more about registering to vote and EU events on campus on the Warwick SU website.

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May 13, 2016

Our new teaching and learning building

Last week, whilst campus was looking glorious in the sun (which makes a change from this week’s rain!) I was part of a group who took a look behind the hoardings at how our new Teaching and Learning building is coming along.

The building will be a cornerstone of our teaching space, and is emblematic of our commitment to student experience. The building, the first of its kind on our campus, will be dedicated to teaching and have a range of flexible spaces, as well as a new 500 and 250 seat lecture theatres. It will give us space to showcase the innovative ways in which we teach, and experiment with new approaches; building on the great work that already happens here, supported by fantastic state-of-the-art AV and a video wall.

My favourite physical part of the building is the huge amount of light the roof lets in, but more exciting is that it’s a living building with spaces for students to be educated in, as well as new social learning spaces to allow our students to take control of their own learning, together, outside of their formal contact hours.

It’s a physical space, but what’s most inspiring is that it’s really about the people using it. How they’ll learn, how they’ll teach, how they’ll share knowledge in a new way. Having new facilities and spaces is wonderful, and the benefits shouldn’t be overlooked, but great spaces are nothing without great people – we have plenty of those.

We have some fantastic examples of amazing teachers, real beacons of teaching excellence. We recognise some of this through our WATE awards, but also know that a wealth of other great teaching happens across campus on a daily basis. Having, for the first time, a space solely dedicated to teaching and learning will help us to explore and experiment with new approaches, working with our students to enhance their experience at Warwick.

We’ve engaged with our students throughout the process of the build, and it’s been a true collaboration across academic, administrative and student communities. At the ceremony last week, it was heartening to see representatives from the Students’ Union, Estates and other departments all celebrating the space and the benefits it will bring to our student community. I hope this enthusiasm and anticipation can continue on through the last phases of the build. We will continue to use this channel and others to update you on progress, as we look forward to the completion of the building in the autumn.

Professor Lawrence Young, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Academic Planning and Resources

See more of our new building in the below video.

Execblog Resource : 13 May 2016 18:59 | Comments (0) | Close comments | Report a problem

April 29, 2016

Looking forward to the Summer term

I would like to welcome back everyone who may be returning to the University after their Easter vacation. As always there is a lot to look forward to, and if we get more sun than the hail we have had recently, we will all be able to enjoy it still more! Amongst many other things, we have the Aviva Women’s tour due to come through campus in June, and another Summer of graduation ceremonies ahead.

In the last few weeks I have had the chance to meet some of our alumni abroad, as well as some of our partners in Asia. It has been a great privilege to meet so many of our alumni who are doing so well, and who attribute at least a part of that success to their experiences at the University.

For many of you back here on campus, we are heading into exam season and for that I wish you the very best of luck. For those of you looking for somewhere to study during this term, the Library have a range of additional study spaces available, some of them open 24 hours. Having taken a lot of exams myself, I know that it can be a stressful time, so I would encourage you to try to find some time to have a break and enjoy yourselves and keep up with your music, sport or other leisure activities. If you would like any support during this time, there is some guidance available online.

Last week I was involved in the Staff Network Day, an event open to all staff which was themed around our work in the region. It was a wonderful event, and a great opportunity to share some of our thinking about how we can work with our local region and also to hear from members of our community about how you can get involved. Watch this space. This is timely, as only this week I was at the launch of the Midlands Innovation which is a partnership of six research intensive universities across our region. The centrepiece project at the moment is a £180 million fund to accelerate energy research. It was a marvellous event organised by our events team, put together, as always, in an incredibly professional manner - their work is a huge credit to us. We have a long history of collaboration and success in the Midlands, with the Science City Research Alliance, Midlands Energy Consortium and National Physics Alliance amongst some of those initiatives. This event itself was a great opportunity for Midlands Higher Education institutions to come together to harness research strengths and innovation and provide the ideas, test-beds and solutions to enhance productivity and to respond to global challenges. I have also sat on the first meeting of the leadership group for the Midlands Engine – a group that brings together the public and private sector with universities, focussing on sustainable growth in our region.

Finally, we know that our students do incredible things every day, and achieve a lot during their time with us. I’m pleased to be moderating a society organised event on the forthcoming EU referendum on Wednesday 4^th May. I know this will be the first of a number of events and would encourage everyone to find out more ahead of the referendum on 23^rd June, whatever your current views. The Outstanding Student Contribution Awards are a way for us to acknowledge other key contributions students make. Any member of our community (staff or students) can nominate a student to be considered, so I would urge any of you who know an exceptional student to submit a nomination before the deadline on 9^th May. If you need some inspiration, you can read about last year’s winners on the OSCAs webpages.

Execblog Resource : 29 Apr 2016 14:30 | Comments (2) | Close comments | Report a problem

April 11, 2016

Speaking out

I haven't slept well. Again. And it isn’t the jet lag.

I am in Seoul, and have just spoken at the KAIST President's Forum. KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology) is one of Asia's top institutions, and at this meeting, we have had a lot of discussion about global university futures. I have also had a chance to meet with members of our excellent and active alumni community.

Understandably, my thoughts are also with students and staff back at Warwick. Twice, in less than a week, the University has been associated with issues of racism. In one, an act of racism against one of our students on campus; in another, racist statements attributed to one of our students. I will not describe either - although social media is full of both - not least as there are investigations underway.

The principles, though, are something I can comment on. Racism is not, cannot be, and will not be tolerated. The point of racism is to dehumanise. It takes many forms. Racism can be based on ethnicity, background or faith - Islamophobia and anti semitism is also racism. We all have the right within the law to be who we want to be. The attitudes of some, that they can use those choices to decide who is more or less human, must always be resisted.

Such acts of racism are, sadly, found throughout society. An important response for all of us is, in my view, that we speak out. This is my attempt to do precisely that.

The statement released on the racist incident on campus published last week, can be read here

Execblog Resource : 11 Apr 2016 12:40 | Comments (0) | Close comments | Report a problem

April 04, 2016

Prevent, Protect, Preserve

Like many of you reading this blog I was first attracted to life at university by the thought of being able to debate and challenge new ideas and to acquire new knowledge that would challenge and sift my own thinking in a safe environment where I could grow and mature as a young adult. Now that I have become a Vice-Chancellor it is good to see that culture is as strong as ever. Warwick affirms in its Strategy the core value that “Ours is a lively university community that encourages and challenges ideas, promotes dignity, respect, health and well-being, and makes Warwick welcoming”.

On taking up my new role I have had many opportunities to take time to listen to our student and staff community debate several key issues currently facing higher education institutions today.

One of those issues is the set of legal obligations we now have as part of our Prevent duty. The Prevent duty requires the University to conduct itself in ways to seek to prevent anyone in our community or on our campus preparing, supporting or encouraging others into acts of terrorism. That aim, surely, is one around which we can have consensus. However where that consensus breaks down is over the means by which this is to be operationalised. Some fear that it may make universities into agents of surveillance; some suggest that the approach could be, in practice, Islamophobic. These are incredibly important and intense issues.

I have had the opportunity to read letters and other submissions and to listen to debate on the topic at our Assembly, our Students’ Union, and elsewhere. By its very nature that environment of debate and challenge will never provide complete unanimity of view on any issue. And on this issue, there are some very strongly held views. However it has helped form and articulate a strong view that on our campus, rather than simply shaping how we approach the word ‘prevent’ we should instead focus much more on the words preserve and protect.

Of course, we have a duty to fulfil our legal obligations in regard to Prevent. However if we focus on preserving all that is good about our current university system and protecting and safeguarding the wellbeing of our staff and students so that they can safely thrive in that system, then these “new” legal duties might perhaps be met without conflict with our current culture. How then should universities react to our new Prevent duty?

Firstly we should simply continue to do what we do best. For instance the Prevent Duty Guidance calls us to ensure that “speakers with extremist views….are challenged with opposing views”. That sounds to me like a description of almost every debate, seminar or talk that happens at a university. Our own Regulation 29 already details at length how we at Warwick “ensure that freedom of speech is secured within the law”.
Secondly we need to remind policy makers, the public, and our own communities that, for the most part, this isn’t actually “new”. In fact the Government’s own Prevent Duty Guidance document refers several times to the fact that many of the things it requires us to do we have actually been doing for a long, long time in order to preserve freedom of debate, and to protect our students.
Thirdly we need to take pains to explain more to policy makers and the public what universities already do that meets these “new” legal duties. For instance The Prevent Duty Guidance requires us to review a vast range of our procedures and that we will be assessed on our compliance with these requirements. Review of procedures and compliance with them are at the heart of all regulatory regimes within which universities in the UK exist; and as we know, there are a very large number of these regimes.
Fourthly building on that point of reminding people who we are, and what we are actually very good at already, on the topic of training, who better than an education organisation to decide who needs training, on what, and when? At Warwick we have always had a strong ethos on safeguarding with proactive teams and individuals providing frontline support to students such as personal tutors, student support, and our residential life team. Our training focus will continue to be on those frontline staff (and limited to them), to help them support our students.
As we are required to do by law, we have created and submitted an Action Plan for review by HEFCE. Warwick’s Senate Steering Committee has reflected, reviewed and revised our Prevent Action Plan listening to the debate within our University community, and specifically, the Assembly motion and debate. As that action plan will be a living, evolving document, as the Accountable Officer under the Prevent legislation, my aim is to establish a small reference group to advise me on the level of appropriate compliance for our university. I will be writing to people who spoke in the Assembly, to experts, to student representatives. In this way, in part, we will be able to continue to challenge and develop policy in this contentious area.
And lastly, I come back to what attracted me to be part of a University, that it’s a safe place to acquire knowledge and to debate and challenge that knowledge. We will have views as an institution, and we will certainly have a great many views as individuals. However all have a duty to use knowledge to continually challenge current thinking, within the law, in order to have a positive impact on our society. There can be relatively few current issues where it is more crucial for us to have such an impact. The passion of the debate on this topic and the seemingly endless parade of horror stories in our news headlines both dramatically underscore the fact that we must not fail to get the balance right on how we work together to approach this issue.

Execblog Resource : 04 Apr 2016 14:00 | Comments (2) | Close comments | Report a problem