This document discusses the changing landscape of higher education in the UK and strategies for building resilient universities. It emphasizes the importance of: 1) Maintaining a strong, distinctive identity while developing efficient partnerships and networks. 2) Providing an active learning environment and sense of community through the physical university as a place. 3) Creating well-connected, collaborative networks and partnerships locally with other universities and colleges and globally through subject-specific thematic networks.

1. LONDON IS OUR CAMPUS
Building institutional resilience
Professor Geoff Petts
Vice-Chancellor

2. LONDON IS OUR CAMPUS
Changing HE landscape
Building the resilient university
Collaborations – reinforcing academic identities
evolving business efficiencies

3. CELEBRATING HE UK
• British degrees highly regarded globally for quality,
integrity and developing the individual
• Research in our universities respected globally - high
citations relative to gross expenditure on R&D
• Investment in graduates and research has direct link to
general UK economy and GDP growth

4. CELEBRATING LONDON
• A Global city
• 8.17 million people, 300 languages
• Business hub, knowledge hub….
• Concentration of creative classes
• Magnet for international visitors
• 8 x larger than next UK city

5. CELEBRATING HE LONDON
London offers 45% of all graduate jobs
39 HEIs:
• 402,400 students (2011-12) including 46% Londoners
28% from rest of the UK
and 103,000 international (25% UK)
• Create 131,982 jobs in London,
• Generate £5.8 billion for London’s GVA (2.8%) -
and £2 billion for rest of UK.
• 48.4% graduates stay in London.

6. HE UK 2014: 35 years of change
A journey from „being funded to deliver‟ to „delivering to
earn‟.
• 1979: Universities, Polytechnics, HE Institutes,
Teacher Training Colleges….
• 1986: first Research Assessment Exercise
• 1992: Further and Higher Education Act
• 2012: Completion of funding change from general
taxation to target those who benefit
Westminster: more than 30% of academic
staff share same journey

7. UK to 2014: global change
• Restless, mobile market forces in disruptive global
economy;
• Labour market moved from pyramid to hour-glass;
• Employers seek agile graduates who can adapt to
rapidly changing conditions;
• Society has become more fluid and competitive,
but success still measured by esteem and
status as well as material wealth.

8. UK to 2014: societal change
• Opportunity and the possibility of success has
been held out to more and more people,
but so too has it become easier to fail;
• Rise of status anxiety; increase in loneliness and
withering of trust in fellow citizens.
• Young people need ‘place’ to develop as
independent, responsible, free-thinking,
community-contributing members of society.
Universities roles in nurturing capabilities

9. HE to 2020 (?2017!)
• 2012: Fees (up to) £9,000 supported by student
loans
• 2013 Autumn Statement:
• restrictions on recruitment lifted from 2015-16,
• commitment to invest in science to 2021,
• expansion of industry-related Catapult centres
and University Enterprise Zones.

10. HE UK to 2020: funding uncertainty
• £9k fee 2012 will be devalued to ca £7.5 k
• Increasing cost of the student loan system –
currently cost to tax payer 43p in £ (5% saving
on old system).
• Successful graduates will pay off loan in less than
10 years.
• Labour suggesting fee reduction to £6k……+
graduate tax?
Need for efficiency gains is now part of everyday life.

11. HE UK to 2020: student demand
• 21% of HEIs reported recruitment fell by more
than 10% since 2010-11.
• Declining PG by 8% (to 26%) since 2005-6
• Declining UG PT, foundation degrees, HNDs etc..
since 2007-8
• Declining population of men in HE
• 30% potential Home UG consider studying abroad
especially USA and Australia (up from 20%)
Are we moving to situation where capacity exceeds
demand so the market will regulate itself?

12. 2020: skills shortage
• UK 2020 shortages: STEM and school teachers
• McKinsey Global Institute 2012 – forecast shortfall of
85 million high and middle skilled workers
• Technician ‘black hole’
• New recognition of ‘facilitating’ subjects: mathematics,
physics, chemistry, biology, geography, history,
English literature, languages………
• Global increase in number of universities: who will be
the next generation of academics?

13. HE CHALLENGE: building institutional
resilience in the middle ground
Investment in PLACE
• The Distinctive University
• The Physical University
• The Connected University
Research
intensives
Branded &
niche
institutions
Teaching
dominated

14. THE DISTINCTIVE UNIVERSITY
• A strong institution has confidence in its
identity, values and history;
• identity signifies a special relationship;
• its story is a useful tool for integrating
newcomers.

15. Westminster „2015‟: our Corporate Strategy
MISSION: To be the leading practice-informed teaching
and research university in the UK.
A vibrant learning environment -
fostering innovation and creativity,
and developing entrepreneurs;
Known for research excellence
inspired by engagement with practice,
interdisciplinarity and
internationalism;
Focusing on the globally relevant
areas in which we excel.

16. THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSITY
a sense of place Paul Temple, 2014
People flourish through relationships and mutual support
networks.
“We make buildings, and afterwards they make people”
Churchill, 1924
“Institutions are the places where we interact with people
sufficiently for mutual trust to emerge” Willetts, 2014
The University as ‘place’ provides the physical and
emotional space for individuals to develop their sense of
curiosity and experience the thrill of discovery.

17. THE UNIVERSITY AS PLACE
Students do best in an active learning environment,
often in small teams, with creative moments of
interaction in face-to-face situations led by
motivational academics.

18. THE CONNECTED UNIVERSITY
LONDON networks
London Higher (39 members + 11 partners)
London partnerships include -
• London Universities Purchasing Consortium
• Kingston Group Internal Audit
• Linking London
• International Student House

19. LONDON COLLEGE networks
The Westminster Group* – 6 FE Colleges and new UTC
• Academic portfolio planning
• Student progression
• LA education planning
• Interaction with Linking London, LEP…
• Coordination of submissions to Government and
Funding Agencies.
*City of Westminster; NW London; Ealing, Hammersmith and West London; Kensington and
Chelsea; Hackney Community; Harrow; Uxbridge; Sir Simon Milton UTC.

20. Westminster Global
Thematic networks founded on excellence:-
Media, QS World Top 50, linked with other leading
institutions in Beijing and Delhi.
Architecture, Architecture Journal
UK No. 2, LATITUDES global
network.
Biomedical Sciences, Tempus
Award Winner, Postgraduate
training for hospital technicians in
the Caucasus

21. THE RESILIENT, CONNECTED UNIVERSITY
Autonomous institutions
• Well networked with active, mutually beneficial
partnerships, promoting
business efficiency
strong, distinctive academic identity
• Advancing distinctive as well as excellent research,
innovation, creativity and exploration;
Led by staff who are adaptable and responsive to
evolving student and stakeholder needs.

22. THE TRANSFORMATIONAL POWER OF
CONNECTED UNIVERSITIES
• Providing PLACES for individuals to develop within a
global community context;
• Providing opportunities to combine adaptability with
special knowledge/skills;
• Promoting social cohesion and mutual understanding
In a changing world, adaptability and resilience build
confidence and psychological comfort (Fieschi, 2014).