19 April 2023 14:00 – 15:30
The aim of this webinar is to investigate how the role of universities is changing and to find out how different institutions are responding and adapting their offer to meet the needs of learners and industry. We are particularly interested in understanding the new challenges universities are facing, how learner requirements are changing, and the approach universities are taking towards vocational and real world learning.
Chair
Dr Helen Carasso
Helen’s academic interest in higher education policy developed from more than 20 years of professional experience of university administration – in public relations and admissions.
She gained her doctorate from Oxford in 2010 (a study of the market created by the introduction of £3000 fees for Home/EU undergraduates at English universities in 2006); since then, she has conducted research into the impacts of student fees and funding on institutions, students, graduates and applicants within the higher education sector in England. She also works as a consultant to higher education institutions.
Speakers
Sir David Bell
Sir David Bell became the Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Sunderland on 24 September 2018.
In a career spanning over 40 years, Sir David has held a number of major posts across the education system. Between 2012 and 2018, he was Vice-Chancellor at the University of Reading. Previously, he was Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education for six years, serving four Secretaries of State and three Prime Ministers. He also served as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools for nearly four years.
Sir David began his career as a primary school teacher and later became a head teacher. He was Director of Education and Libraries with Newcastle City Council and Chief Executive of Bedfordshire County Council. He was a Harkness Fellow based in Atlanta, Georgia for a year.
Sir David is a trustee and advisory board member of the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), a board member of the North East North Cumbria Academic Health Sciences Network (AHSN), a ‘Member’ – one of the people who sits at the top of the governance structure – of the Aldridge Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) and a governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). He also sits on the Sunderland City Board, the Skills Advisory Panel of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (NELEP), and the Remuneration Committee of Universities (UUK).
Tom Sperlinger
Tom is academic lead at Black Mountains College, he also writes creative non-fiction and teaches in adult education.
He is co-author of Who are universities for?, with Josie McLellan and Richard Pettigrew, which imagines an alternative higher education system. A policy briefing, Universities should be accessible to everyone, is available with Policy Bristol.
He is Professor of Literature and Engaged Pedagogy at the University of Bristol, where he has set up the BA in English Literature and Community Engagement and a Foundation Year in Arts and Social Sciences. He was one of the co-editors of The Brodie Press, a poetry publisher.
Professor Ross Renton
Professor Ross Renton is the Principal of ARU Peterborough, a new university for Peterborough. Professor Renton was previously Senior Pro Vice Chancellor at the University of Worcester, where he held strategic responsibility for key aspects of the student experience, widening participation, employability, international and a range of partnerships and resources.
His experience has included being a designated Widening Participation Expert for the Office for Students, Co-Chair of the Forum for Access and Continuing Education (FACE), Chair of Widening Participation for GuildHE and a main panel member of the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF) Subject Pilots.
He is also a Visiting Professor at the Open University, and was previously Dean of Students at the University of Hertfordshire
