We all know instinctively that diversity matters. We know it from everyday lore sayings: “two heads are better than one” – which at the most basic level is a reminder that we all need others, with different perspectives and different points of view. There’s a good deal of evidence from management consultancy surveys that more…
This year is the twenty-fifth anniversary of our university status. It’s an opportunity to celebrate, of course, but also to launch our thinking about the ‘Hallam Difference’. Here’s a birthday message from me:
There’s a probably interminable debate about what universities are for, which provides a backdrop to working in them. The historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto covered virtually all the bases in a piece he wrote in 2011: “there are only two worthwhile objectives for everything we do, in the university and out of it: enhancing life and preparing…
Term’s in full-swing; the buildings are full of life and the corridors, foyers and cafés are busy. I was delighted to have been asked to do some teaching last week, and taught an undergraduate education studies group – which, amidst all the talk of strategies and budgets, stakeholders and planning, policy and long-term thinking which…
There’s a remarkable finding in one of the early reports from the Millennium Cohort Study – the vast research programme following the lives of 19,000 children born in the year 2000. The mothers were asked what they wanted for their children as they grew up. More than nine out of ten said they wanted their children to go…
The new academic year begins. Over the weekend, students fresh and returning have been making their way to Sheffield, full of anticipation for the year ahead. This – after all – is what the University is all about. I looked back, as I wrote this blog, at what I wrote a year ago and –…
Perhaps the best sporting headline of all time appeared in 2000. Inverness Caledonian Thistle had – remarkably – beaten Celtic 3-1. The Sun headline writer had a field day: SUPER CALEY GO BALLISTIC – CELTIC ARE ATROCIOUS. It is pure genius wordsmithing, which works on every level. It’s striking, it’s memorable, and, of course, it references…
Evelyn Waugh told the story in a letter home to his wife in May 1942. A British commando unit was billeted for training on the Earl of Glasgow’s estate. The Earl wanted rid of an old tree stump and the commandoes offered to blow it up for him. He was keen on the idea but worried about damage to…
The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) results were published last week. For me, as Chair of the TEF panel, last week was hectic: two hundred and ninety-five institutions submitted for TEF assessment, including large multi-faculty universities and specialist institutions, research-intensive and teaching-intensive universities, further education colleges offering higher education and alternative providers. That meant that the…
I switched on the television at ten. I had intended to look at the exit poll and, assuming it would point to a clear winner, turn in. My wife stuck to her plan to go to bed, but I stayed up until about 3.30 am – and in an age of Twitter, watching the early…