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Go York Inaugural Lecture 2016

Professor Karen Stanton

Vice Chancellor

York St John University

Lord Mayor and Lord Mayor’s Consort, Sheriff and Sheriff’s Lady, Pro

Chancellor, Governors, distinguished guests, ladies and gentleman and

colleagues, good evening and may I offer you a very warm welcome to York

St John University.

Tonight’s lecture is the first in the 2016 series of our GO York Inaugural

Lectures which aim to bring together York St John’s academics and a range of

national and international guest speakers with the local community.

Previous speakers have included leading entrepreneurs, international

philanthropists, world class physicists and global film-makers. Tonight you

will have to settle for the new Vice Chancellor of York St John!

But with 175 years of rich history to draw upon, I believe we have a

marvelous story to tell and it is wonderful to see so many representatives of

York’s wider community here this evening to help us celebrate this occasion.

I would like to begin by thanking you for your tremendous support, not only

for this evening’s event, but for the University as a whole. Our future, as a

center of quality education in the heart of York, is inextricably entwined with

yours. And much of what I have to say tonight will focus on how we can best

serve this vital and vibrant community and contribute to its future growth

and prosperity.

The theme of this year’s GO York Lecture series is 'Quality, Community,

Growth & Resilience' – the four pillars which have provided the solid

foundations on which this University has built its strategy and which will

continue to underpin every aspect of our development as we claim our

rightful place as a respected, influential University of the 21st Century.

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My lecture tonight will raise the curtain on a year of celebration for York St

John as we mark its foundation originally as a teacher training college 175

years ago, and also usher in its 10th anniversary as one of England’s most

dynamic young universities.

Tonight’s talk is entitled Northern Powerhouse: How 175 years have shaped

York St John University with good reason. From a student intake of one – yes,

just one – in May 1841, we have grown to accommodate more than 6000

students. And our graduates now extend far beyond the realm of excellent,

well-qualified teachers to include a wide range of professions across the

entire employment spectrum. In fact, York St John produces some of the

most highly-employable graduates in Britain, with a remarkable 96% either

in work or further study within six months of graduating, a record that

eclipses the majority of universities, including OxBridge, in the UK.

The wider concept of a Northern Powerhouse has developed beyond political

rhetoric into a government commitment to support economic growth in the

North of England in an effort to rebalance the UK economy away from

London and the South East on the one hand, and a more powerful devolved

Scottish economy on the other.

As you will be aware, early proposals for the Northern Powerhouse include

investment in improved transport links between the major cities of the

North, but there are also proposals for greater investment in science and

innovation and the devolution of other powers through special City Deals. I

am conscious that some northern cities, including York, can feel

overshadowed as attention is focused on bigger centers such as Leeds and

Manchester, with the latter being suggested as the ‘capital’ of the Northern

Powerhouse.

However, if the proposed economic investment becomes a reality, and all the

cities of the north are given a fair opportunity to participate fully in a

collaborative economic revolution, then it could transform not only the

business landscape in general, but the prospects for the future of this

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university, alongside the region’s other higher education institutions as

working in strong collaboration with the Local Economic Partnerships, the

LEPS we can develop a strategy for the development and retention of higher

level skills for the region. With a booming northern economy there would be

a consequent demand for a greater number of high-quality graduates,

offering us the opportunity to slow down the professional drift south, which

continues to drain the region of its best talent.

I will be looking at York St John’s future prospects in more detail – and taking

your questions – in the course of the next hour, but first let me summarise

briefly the ground I wish to cover tonight.

Firstly, I would like to:

share with you how I believe York St John is already a resourceful

educational Northern Powerhouse in its own right, a University making a

distinctive difference in the region and beyond

explain how we will support a learning base that draws on the highest

standards of teaching informed by outstanding research

demonstrate how York St John will be bold in its vision and ambition

show how we will respond to the evolving needs of students and staff,

empowering them to fulfil their potential

explain how we will best meet the needs of local employers and external

partners

and pledge that York St John will continue to fulfil its long-standing role as

a champion of this community

Of course, there are numerous obstacles and challenges en route, but before

we consider those, I would like to spend a few moments looking back over

York St John’s long and illustrious history and its legacy of values that we still

hold dear today; values that have become a rock of stability for this

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institution and which have guided and supported us through 175 years in

the ever changing world of higher education.

York St John’s story began on May 17, 1841 when the York Diocesan Training

School for teacher education opened at 14 Monkgate with the aim of

widening access to higher education. As I mentioned earlier, it opened with

just one student – Edward Preston Cordukes – and according to the

University’s official history, Edward remained the sole student until he was

joined by a second in July, then two more in September: a far cry indeed from

our busy, bustling campus of York St John today!

I wonder what young Edward – and he was young, having been accepted at

the tender age of 16 – would have made of this magnificent state-of-the art

lecture theatre and the fabulous facilities here in the Fountains Learning

Centre? And I wonder what he would have thought of today’s tuition fees?

Yes, these were also an issue back in 1841, with Edward and his fellow

students paying £20 per annum for board and tuition. Interestingly the fees,

which are the equivalent of around £18001 today, included the provision of

bed linen but not the washing of the sheets! Plus ça change…

The York Training School was established by the Diocese of York in

conjunction with the Ripon Diocesan Board of Education with a view to

producing, as the historic record states: “competently-trained masters and

mistresses for the schools of the dioceses”. But those early years were not

without their challenges. An HMI report of 1847 questions the suitability of

some of the student intake and asks whether they would be likely to succeed

in becoming – and I quote – “qualified to go forth as intelligent and skilled

teachers of ignorant and undisciplined children”.

Well, they obviously believed in “telling it as it is” in those days and it was,

indeed, quite a different world: 175 years ago, Queen Victoria had been on

the throne for just four years, Sir Robert Peel was Prime Minister for a

second time and Britain was still expanding its empire. In 1841, it took

1 http://inflation.stephenmorley.org/

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control of Hong Kong from China after the first Opium War and New Zealand

became a British colony. Meanwhile, at home, the first UK national census

was held; the Penny Red replaced the Penny Black which the previous year

had become the world’s first adhesive postage stamp; the Manchester-Leeds

railway opened; and Thomas Cook launched his eponymous travel company,

with a rail trip for 500 passengers from Leicester to a temperance meeting in

Loughborough. And the cost of the return trip of 12 miles? A sobering one

shilling!

It was the great age of Britain’s rapid industrial growth and economic

development which would lead to it becoming a pre-eminent world power.

To match Britain’s phenomenal growth, there was an increasing demand for

universal education and a raft of School Sites Acts2 were passed between

1841 and 1852, facilitating the purchase of land for school buildings and

expanding education provision through ‘Parliamentary Grants for the

Education of the Poor’.

Meanwhile, the York Diocesan Training School continued to develop to meet

the growing needs of Britain’s burgeoning education system. Here is a potted

timeline of our history since then:

In 1845 land was purchased at Lord Mayor’s Walk and a year later, the

College moved on to its new campus. The female training school was

founded the same year, with the women’s college moving to Ripon in 1862.

By 1904, the forerunner of York St John had become the largest Diocesan

College in the country with more than 100 students.

1920 marked the beginning of a long partnership with the University of

Leeds, with York St John becoming an accredited college of the University in

2001.

In 1953, the College motto Ut Vitam Habeant et Abundantius – That they

have life and have it more abundantly – was approved by the College of

Heralds.

2 http://www.educationengland.org.uk/history/timeline.html

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During the 20th Century the college estate was being continuously developed

to accommodate the growing student numbers. The early York campus

quickly took on the familiar shape that is still recognisable today and, of

course, many of those original buildings have been modernised and retained

alongside the iconic architectural triumphs of today’s campus, and our

outstanding specialist facilities including dance studios; TV and Film

Production Suites, design studios, physiotherapy and biomedical science

labs.

The evolution of both colleges culminated in their merger as the College of

Ripon & York St John in 1975. This also signalled a diversification of the

curriculum into the liberal arts and further expansion included the

incorporation of the York School of Occupational Therapy.

In 1999, the College decided to consolidate on one site in York and invested

a further £35m in modernisation. The transition to York St John College was

completed in 2001 when the Ripon campus closed.

In September 2005, the College was granted Taught Degree Awarding

Powers and permission to use the wording ‘University College’ was granted

in February 2006, followed by the granting of university status by the Privy

Council in September of the same year. And York St John University was

born.

A University is Born

I would like to extend my thanks to those in the audience who were part of

this landmark achievements, some of whom have now retired but have

joined us tonight, and those that are still key members of the team.

From 2004, the University’s award-winning campus has benefited from

investment of more than £100 million, including the addition of Foss, Skell

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and De Grey buildings and the opening of our venue tonight, the Fountains

Learning Centre.

Further investment will include the completion of Phase Three of our sports

development at Nestlé Rowntree Park, and a superb new base for our

Students’ Union in the heart of the campus from the start of the next

academic year.

That whistle-stop tour, which of course should include the fact that our

degree ceremonies are now held in the magnificent York Minister and the

fact that the Archbishop of York, Dr Sentamu, is our first Chancellor – brings

us right up to date and the reason why we are here celebrating two landmark

anniversaries tonight. And we are in good company. Durham and

Roehampton universities in the UK are also celebrating their 175

anniversary this year, as is Queen’s University in Kingston Jamacia, Queen’s

University in Ontario, Canada and Fordham University in the United States.

Closer to home 2016 it is the 200th anniversary of Charlotte Bronte’s birth,

the 150th anniversary of Beatrix Potter’s birth and perhaps less of a

celebratory event, 50 years since England won the world cup!

Anniversaries are important milestones which allow us to stop and reflect on

where we have come from; to examine how events have moulded and

shaped us; to learn from the past but not be bound by it; and to celebrate our

successes and achievements as we prepare to look ahead to the future.

As an institution we may be 175 years old, but as a University we are also

marking our first 10 years. Our distinguished past has allowed us to draw

upon the maturity and strength of our founding institutions and evolve

naturally into one of the UK’s most successful modern universities.

Certainly, as I look back over the past 10 years – and as a relative newcomer,

I can still do this with some objectivity – I see a University awash with talent

and flush with achievement. The granting of research degree awarding

powers last year was the final step in achieving full university status for York

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St John, but everywhere I look across faculties, departments and Directorates

I encounter examples of great work.

Our excellent Student Support Service teams who day in day out, provide

outstanding levels of student support. Our highly-rated library and IT

services; our Academic Development Directorate who lead innovation in

pedagogy and research support; our Registry supporting our academic and

student administration; our Estates Management including our Gardeners

and Maintenance staff and our Marketing and Student recruitment teams

and International Development Directorate who do such a great job in

attracting home and international students to the University, a fact borne out

by our 12.5% increase in applications this year. Our Chaplaincy team who

devote themselves at all times of the day and night to supporting our

community and our HR, Finance and Planning teams who basically keep the

show on the road.

I would also like to do a shout out for our Student Officers and the Student

Union team too. We are enormously lucky here at York St John to have such a

strong bond and great working relationship with our students and it

underpins everything we do.

Within our Faculties there are too many examples of great initiatives to

mention individually of course, but allow me to use just one example from

each of our four faculties to illustrate my point:

In the Faculty of Arts, student researchers overseen by academic staff are

currently engaged in an exciting oral history project. Voices in the University

will mark our 175th anniversary by creating a unique record of internal and

external voices who will explore York St John’s history through its

involvement with local, national and international communities. From

professors to pub landlords, a broad spectrum of interviewees – drawn from

staff, students, alumni and a wide range of external stakeholders – will tell

the story of York St John as it’s never been told before.

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The resultant archival record and booklet will be deposited at the Yorkshire

Film Archives which are now housed here at the University; a dedicated

website will chart the progress of the project and it will also feature as part

of the Create Arts Festival in May. And the research team will share the

results of their work in a presentation to the Undergraduate Research

Conference here in October.

In the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, another video initiative is

transforming student learning on our physiotherapy programmes. Service

users are integral to student learning. Outwith clinical placements however

there are limited opportunities for such engagement.

An imaginative solution to this problem now means that, with their full

consent, local service users are being filmed by the University and a video

library recording different types of treatment is being assembled for use

within our programmes. Access to a varied range of real-life case studies is

already having a tremendous impact on student learning, with one

commenting for example: “Seeing the service user on film really helped me

to understand what I needed to learn and why.”

The Faculty of Education and Theology, carries with it the culture and

history of over 175 years of engagement with Schools, Colleges and a range

of teacher training partners. Bringing us up to date an innovative

programme which has been introduced for foster carers, allowing them to

study for a Foundation Certificate in Trauma and Attachment. The

programme is offered in partnership with the City of York Council and with

support from the York Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service

(CAMHS).

The course is free to foster carers, whose fees are met by York Council, with

modules designed to be easily accessible to all levels of learners. The

programme was developed to acknowledge and credit prior learning

provided by CAMHS and will help enhance the professionalisation of foster

carers.

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Finally, the York St John Business School continues to push the boundaries

by aspiring to reach the highest standards in business education. For

example, the School is fully embracing the United Nations Principles of

Responsible Management Education (PRME) programme, which is having a

major influence on the School’s thinking, curriculum design, research and

dialogue with the business community. Ethical business and active

citizenship is a core part of the curriculum.

The School has also developed constructive relationships with major

companies such as Yorkshire Bank, Hiscox, Aviva and Mini, all companies I

am delighted to say represented here this evening. These are all helping to

enhance significantly the student experience. A recent example was when

post graduate Marketing students were invited to work on a live project for

the launch of the new Mini Clubman – a challenging, exciting and rewarding

experience for all concerned.

Linking all four faculties, of course, is our commitment to extending our

research activity and enhancing its quality and impact. The University has

already made great progress in this area, recording an outstanding

performance in the UK’s latest Research Excellence Framework findings,

which assess the quality of research in the UK’s higher education institutions.

This resulted in 30% of the University’s research gaining a three-star

(internationally excellent) or four star (world-leading) rating, representing a

tremendous leap forward from 2008 when only 8% of our research achieved

such ratings. In addition, nearly three quarters of our total research was

awarded a two-star or ‘internationally recognised’ rating.

Outstanding projects include our work with Converge, a partnership

between the University and mental health service providers in the York

region. Converge offers high quality arts educational opportunities to adults

who use NHS and non-statutory mental health services. And it provides

work-based experience for students who work with staff to provide classes

in theatre, dance, music, fine art, life coaching, business start-up and sport.

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Converge was recognised as having ‘considerable impact’ in the REF findings

and has been short-listed for numerous awards. Converge, the International

Centre for Community Music and the Prisons Partnership, our innovative

theatre partnership with HMP Askham Grange and the Clean break theatre

company, are 3 related domains that represent our outward facing

community based research and practice. Indeed, our practice-led research

within the Faculty of Arts is exemplified through our collaborations, for

example with York Theatre Royal’s International Centre for Arts and

Narrative. Our creative writing programmes are gaining us a reputation as

one of the top creative writing centres in the country, and our work on

improvisation and its application, and on, children audiences are rated as

world leading.

Within Health and Life Sciences our research is centred around global issues

of health and wellbeing. Our psychology research is also highly rated,

particularly research on understanding bullying, cyber-bullying and e-safety

which has influenced educational strategy and practice in schools in North

Yorkshire. Sports psychology also features prominently, including York St

John’s involvement in a large-scale EU-funded project across five countries,

and eight universities, to design and implement community-based coaching

programmes to promote healthy lifestyles among children. Yesterday I am

delighted to say we launched our Counselling and Mental Health Clinic, a

community based initiative, informing our research base and impact. The

clinic offers low cost services to local and regional citizens and is one of very

few in the country specialising supporting victims of domestic violence,

including children.

Our Religion, Peace and Reconciliation work is internationally acclaimed,

examining methodologies for sustainable peace and reconciliation, work led

by York St John University with a host of international partners. Research,

which is so very relevant to today’s global issues of course. This work sits

alongside our highly regarded EBOR lecture series, which now attracts world

leading speakers, including former Politician’s such as Roy Hattersley, Clare

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Short and Hilary Benn, to promote public conversations in economic,

political and social spheres.

Another influential international research project, this time on the subject of

the social economy, saw York St John take the lead role in a European

Commission Erasmus Mundus funded study which included universities

from Spain, Peru and Portugal, culminating in an international conference

held here on campus last September on the subject of social

entrepreneurship through cross-sector collaboration.

Our research on global Englishes has influenced policy and practice in

teacher development, our work on behavioural competences of non-

executive Directors in NHS Trusts has generated a diagnostic tool, now in use

in the NHS, and our work on coaching and mentoring in a business context is

internationally acclaimed.

And finally, I must mention the Heritage and Arts Visitor Research

Collaborative which is running a number of pilot projects, including using

new visitor research techniques in heritage tourist attractions.

This research was led by Professor Steve Watson and involved working with

Historic England and the British Army Defence Archaeology Group to

develop opportunities for returning army personnel to work on

archaeological and heritage management projects. Very sadly, as this

audience is aware, Professor Steve Watson passed away last Friday, but his

research and his spirit will live on at the York St John through his PhD

students and his many colleagues and friends. Steve we pay tribute to your

work here tonight.

Well, I hope this has given you a flavour of the great variety of research we

are involved in. And how, by reaching out beyond our campus, we can help

transform lives through increased health, education, cultural and business

initiatives, including social entrepreneurship.

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Our civic responsibility and concern for this great community is an indelible

part of our DNA and stems from the basic Christian values on which York St

John was founded nearly two centuries ago. These have evolved, of course, to

embrace today’s multi-faith environment where tolerance, respect,

inclusivity and caring are our watchwords, both on and off campus. Our

commitment to equality and diversity is real, not token, and has been

recognised once again by Stonewall who have named York St John as one of

Britain’s Top 100 employers. We are now ranked in 61st place in the country

on Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index for 2016, moving up from 78th

place last year.

Across the world, universities like ours, play a central role in promoting

education and academic freedom. And this evening I would like to record

York St John’s solidarity with the staff and students of Bacha Khan University

in Pakistan who were subjected to an horrific attack by gunmen last week in

which at least 30 people were killed on campus. An attack on the freedoms of

one University is an attack on every university and their values across the

globe.

At home, being true to our values has included a passionate desire to

increase access to higher education for under-represented groups. It started

with young Edward nearly two centuries ago and today we can proudly point

to the fact that 37% of our current students come from lower socio-

economic groups and 17% come from low-participation neighbourhoods.

This compares favourably with the respective national averages of 33% and

11%. In addition, 97% of our entrants come from state schools, compared

with a national average of 89%.

York St John’s commitment to widening access is manifested in an extensive

range of activities in conjunction with external partners. But perhaps one of

the most long-standing and successful of these projects has been our

participation in the Green Apples shared initiative. Together with the

University of York, York College and Askham Bryan College, this scheme has

been engaging with local primary and secondary pupils since 1998. And it

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has helped transform their attitude towards higher education, with a higher

percentage of the Green Apples cohort continuing their education beyond

the age of 16, when compared with all York school leavers.

Our wider contribution to the community can also be measured in tangible

economic terms, with York St John contributing around £60 million to the

local economy every year and supporting the creation of some 1200 jobs. We

are proud of this contribution and will seek to extend it in the years to come.

In fact, supporting business, working with business and even creating

business start-ups is a vitally important part of what we do.

Since 2009, the University’s enterprise programme has successfully

supported and established 70 new businesses. In addition, our incubation

and mentoring service has provided intensive business assistance to more

than 150 local businesses and supported over 350 graduate business

inquiries each year and we are now delighted to be working with Hiscox on

their innovative Business Club.

Our work with external partners also includes constructive collaborations

with the public, private and third sectors, ranging from major employers

such as Aviva and Nestle, design partnerships with Arup and Vitra to York’s

outstanding educational and cultural initiatives such as Science City York,

the creation of which the University is proud to have played an important

role in, the simply outstanding Aesthetica Film Festival, the National Railway

Museum, York Press Business Awards, Unesco’s City of Media Arts project

and I’m pleased to say our strong links with Make it York.

We have also welcomed into the York St John community a wealth of

internationally renowned individuals from the worlds of arts, science,

technology, film and media, religion, sport, business and the public service,

who have endorsed the University by becoming honorary graduates and

honorary fellows. Desmond Tutu, Dame Tanni Grey Thompson, Will Hutton,

Shami Chakrabati, Professor the Baroness Haleh Afshar, Alan Ayckbourn,

Kate Adie and Andrew Marr, to name but a few, and we are eternally grateful

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to them – and our growing network of alumni around the world – for taking

on the role of special ambassadors for York St John.

This University’s function as a dynamic hub at the centre of this community

has only been possible of course thanks to the hard work, dedication and

commitment of our academic and professional support staff; our

wonderfully enthusiastic and engaged students; and the astute guidance and

unstinting support of an enlightened governing body. This collective strength

inspires us to face the future with confidence and will help us successfully

negotiate any challenges that may stand in our way. Whilst our values

haven’t changed, there are new imperatives demanding our attention.

And although not insurmountable, these many and varied challenges are

however not inconsiderable, covering the spectrum from governmental to

global. Deloitte and other commentators have identified seven key

challenges3 facing the UK’s higher education sector in the immediate future.

They are:

1. Operating in a global market

It is true that universities need to identify how best to incorporate a global

outlook into their current strategies in a way that both stretches and

enriches their domestic approach and enhances their brand. Global

competition is not only impacting on University’s locally but also nationally.

HE UK PLC is well respected the world over but we must work hard to stay in

a leading position. You can argue that competition is a good thing, it makes

you run faster, that Universities are running hard is in no doubt, keeping a

leading edge will require ambition and vision.

2. Rising student expectations

Increased tuition fees have, not surprisingly, led to increased expectations

among students. Their choice of university will include a value-for-money

3 http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/uk/Documents/public-sector/deloitte-uk-making-the-

grade-2015.pdf

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assessment, with students expecting a more measured return on their

investment, whether in terms of academic quality, employability or facilities

available. In such a highly competitive market, Deloitte says university

strategies must become much more flexible.

3. Increasing costs and shifting funding

The third challenge is linked to the second. As students take on larger loans

to fund their studies, institutions will need to invest more in infrastructure,

teaching and career support to attract them. Staff, teaching and learning

costs will therefore increase rapidly, and universities will have to reshape

their operating models to avoid financial risk should spending start to

outstrip income growth. Creating the headroom for growth is challenging,

especially in the current economic circumstances, but failure to do so will

put institutions at risk. I’m confident that our alumni, increasingly global in

nature, can help us and we must also turn to fundraising to fill some of the

gap following the withdrawal of public monies. Indeed, I am reminded that

the very foundations of York St John are intrinsically linked to the many

benefactors who have donated to our founding institutions, with the

intention of serving the common good.

4. A demand and need for new technologies

Number four on the list is no surprise. New technologies have provided the

sector with opportunities to recast administrative functions. But too many

institutions continue to rely on multiple IT platforms for different services,

while integrated and streamlined IT systems would ensure a smoother, more

cost-efficient administrative process.

5. Linking estates, strategy and the student

Changing ways of learning mean that different demands are being made of

space. For example, there has been a shift from large lecture theatres built

for one-way learning, like the one in which we are now gathered, to more

collaborative workspaces. The same is true of library spaces, also housed

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here in the Fountains Learning Centre, with a move towards shared areas

more suitable for group work rather than independent workstations.

6. Attracting and retaining the best talent

Universities should also work harder to attract and retain the best talent,

both students and staff

7. Making research sustainable

And finally, the report rightly identifies that research funding has become

more difficult to access since 2011 and is also open to intense competition.

As research income streams shift away from government block grants,

universities should look to diversify these by working with new partners and

organisations, business and industry.

And as if those seven challenges weren’t quite enough to be getting on with,

the sector is bracing itself for a raft of policy and regulatory changes,

including the new Teaching Excellence Framework proposed in the

Government’s Green Paper. Consultation on the paper closed just two weeks

ago (January 15). And as part of York St John’s contribution to that process, I

have taken part in national discussions through Guild HE, the Cathedrals

Group and Universities UK. As we now wait for government officials to

assess the responses and publish their final proposals, I was interested to

note the comments made last week by Dame Shirley Pearce, who chaired the

Quality Assurance Review Steering Group. She said:

“The government has rightly raised the profile and importance of teaching

excellence and this will be welcomed. The debate is less about the principles

and more about how we best implement and deliver an approach that

successfully promotes better teaching and learning in the student interest,

while avoiding excessive cost and complexity.”

It is difficult to disagree with Dame Shirley’s sentiments as improving the

quality of teaching and learning in a cost-effective way is, of course, a

perennial issue for us. Indeed, it is one we explored in some depth just last

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week at our annual Talking About Teaching Conference. Among the topics

discussed there was the double-edged sword of technology-based learning

where the enormous opportunities are delicately balanced against the

challenges of harnessing the full benefit of digital technologies that are

constantly evolving.

Mike Sharples, a Professor of Educational Technology, has undertaken

pioneering work on the virtual learning environment for the Open

University, exploring concepts such as hybrid and blended learning, the

more-established MOOCS, and the idea of ‘flipped classrooms’ where

students study in their own time and then focus more on seminar and

tutorial-based teaching when they are on campus.

Fulfilling our digital future is also high on the agenda here at York St John. In

its recent report on the 2018 Digital University4, PWC had a stark warning

for those institutions who prevaricate over this issue, saying:

“Students bring their own digital world expectations to university. As a

generation that is more digitally sophisticated than any previously, students

expect to be taught and to learn using methods that suit their personal

preferences, and at a pace they have chosen, not one that is mandated to

them.”

And if we believe, as I do, that students are at the heart of everything we do

then, this generation, they must have a voice in our University’s digital

evolution – or should that be revolution? – helping us to think digitally and

embrace digital across the entire university experience.

While there are few who would argue that the future may be digital, it is self-

evident that we will always need a strong community of academic and

professional staff and a clear strategy to get us there. And the occasion of our

175th anniversary, with so much to build on from the past, is the perfect

4 https://www.pwc.co.uk/assets/pdf/the-2018-digital-university-staying-relevant-in-the-digital-age.pdf

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launch-pad to propel us into the future. We have already carried out some

extensive groundwork – for the next five years at least – with the

development of our 2020 Strategy.

My colleagues are intimately familiar with this, but for the benefit of our

external guests, our Strategy is built around the four pillars I mentioned

earlier – Quality, Community, Growth and Resilience – and will help us meet

those key challenges identified by Deloitte.

As you can see from this slide, in terms of Quality we will be intensely

focused on raising the bar on learning and teaching and our levels of student

support, while improving the overall quality of academic work spaces and

resource management and on supporting our staff to be research active, both

early career researchers and our established academics.

To re-inforce our Community commitment, we plan to extend our external

partnerships and business engagement and will build staff capacity to

support this. In seeking the partnerships that will allow us to achieve our

mission, a closer working relationship with business and industry partners

remains essential. We will also aim to improve student recruitment –

including among under-represented groups as a further strengthening of our

pledge to widening access.

On Growth, we have set ourselves stretching targets on annual enrolment,

teaching and research, and generally to build on our academic strengths.

On the fourth pillar, Resilience, we will develop a culture of empowerment

among staff. We will enhance systems and processes to help reduce

bureaucracy and eliminate duplication.

And, finally, we will re-model our operating structures to facilitate and

ensure the successful delivery of our 2020 Strategic Plan.

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That, of course, is merely a brief snapshot of our 2020 Strategy. It is not for

the faint-hearted, but if you visit our website you will find more than 20

slides explaining and exploring the 2020 Strategy in much greater depth.

Like all strategies, it represents a blueprint, a framework for the future with

clear instructions and directions on how to proceed, and milestones to mark

and measure our progress along the way.

Strategies are necessary and vital management tools, but they can only guide

us in the short-term. They cannot predict what this university is going to be

like in 25 years’ time, never mind the next 175 years! And, even in the short-

term, strategies can be blown off course as they cannot plan for the

unexpected or predict the unpredictable.

So how can we transcend unexpected events and short-term strategies and

re-inforce our mission with a vision for the long-term future which will

ignite a burning passion for York St John among the communities it serves?

A vision which will inspire this and future generations to gather round this

great institution to maximise its intellectual and social capital and help build

a better society, a better world, starting right here from this small hub in the

heart of York?

Our identity, our character, the qualities that make us distinctly different are

embedded in our founding purposes, in our values and in the good that we

do. On that we are abundantly clear. But how do we capitalise on these great

strengths and express them as a call to action, a “key message” as the

marketing team might say, that York St John is an agile, resilient, creative 21st

Century University committed to the highest standards of learning and

teaching and the ultimate delivery of our mission:

“To inspire students and staff to reach their full potential, advance knowledge

and make a positive contribution to the world.”

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Those words, “Making a positive contribution to the world” succinctly sum-up

what is, in fact, our life-long goal, our over-arching ambition which should

underpin all our short-term strategic aims. For the past 175 years, we have

been aiming to do just that, but the ever-shrinking world of which we are

now part dictates that we must make a fundamental shift in our approach if

we are to survive and thrive and continue to be relevant within a wider

globalised education community.

We need to find and consolidate our place in this new world as an institution

of learning, teaching and research that functions collaboratively, both

internally and externally, not only by working together across our academic

community and professional services but by operating in tandem with a

range of partners across the professional spectrum.

And we need to be bold and fearless in our thinking and in our ambition. We

start from an enviable position, but for all our strengths and achievements,

reputations are hard won and easily lost. In a world that seeks increasingly

to assess academic achievement by simplistic measures and league tables,

we know that real academic achievement is more complex, based as it is on

the interplay of discovery, debate and individual success.

What actions must we take today to ensure our place tomorrow. I can offer 3

answers. York St John needs to grow, we need to change and we need to

ensure that growth, and I don’t mean here in numbers alone, and change are

informed by the spirit and ambition that have seen us flourish.

We will start by offering a broad-based curriculum that is responsive to

students’ intellectual and employment needs; we will support a learning

base that draws on the highest standards of teaching and is informed by the

quality of our research; and we will foster a culture of higher education that

that will allow us to make a distinctive difference through the contribution of

our students and graduates and the impact of our ground-breaking research,

including its growing international reach and recognition.

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In order to deliver our vision for 2020 and beyond, we need to create a

culture where staff and students feel empowered to contribute to the

changes that will support the University’s future success. As a first step, we

must look at the way we are organised and the way we do things here at

York St John.

A new year, and a year of two landmark anniversaries, have aligned to

present the perfect moment in time to launch a review of where we are now

and where we are going in the future.

And I’m delighted to say we were able to start this process just last week

with a series of Open Forums to discuss and agree our focus for 2015-2016

which will involve examining and developing:

Ways of Working

Marketing and Student Recruitment

Innovation and Income Generation

Internationalisation

These four strategic projects will be under-pinned by two cross-cutting

strands – a focus on our key processes and Staff Development, Reward and

Recognition. And in all of these areas, we will work together to marshal

perspectives and our energies, align our resources, and strengthen our sense

of common purpose in pursuit of those 2020 goals.

Of the 4 projects I would briefly like to mention Internationalisation.

As we have heard, operating in a global education market is one of the key

challenges we face in the higher education sector. And in the coming year,

York St John will turn its attention to diversifying international student

recruitment activity and providing more effective support for international

students.

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We also plan to introduce more internationally relevant curriculum material,

as well as supporting scholarly activity and research from a global

perspective. This will include encouraging greater international mobility of

students and staff and establishing partnerships to enable the delivery of our

programmes in and to various locations around the world.

It is just the latest chapter in a remarkable story that began as an educational

endeavour 175 years ago with one student in Monkgate and has evolved into

a highly-successful, flourishing local enterprise with a global reach and

growing international reputation.

Our aspiration to serve society has stood the university well, and must stand

as a beacon for the future. However, standing still is not an option and we

must continue to adapt and develop. Therefore, the challenge for the new

Vice Chancellor is clear.

It is to lead the University in a competitive and difficult economic

environment to secure our financial base, including through the

development of sustained fundraising and business partnerships, develop an

infrastructure both physical and digital commensurate with our aspirations

and ensure the best environment for our staff and students to flourish.

However, this cannot and must not be a one-woman operation because it

inherently affects all of us who value and cherish what York St John has

stood for, for 175 years. We are, it is true, curators in this moment of a 175

year-old institution which has the potential to last many centuries more. We

have a responsibility to the past and especially to the future.

For this reason, I know that I am joining a community that is made up of

individuals who are bound by our shared values, values that will drive us to

continuous improvement. And here I am reminded of the African proverb:

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If you want to travel fast, then travel alone. If you want to go far, travel

together.

Although the challenges are daunting, I am confident that together, we will

achieve our goals and our mission.

Over the course of this lecture, I hope I have demonstrated that thanks to the

powerful combination of our superb academic strength and outstanding

student experience, York St John can and does make a distinctive difference

to the communities it serves. York St John University is already a

Northern Powerhouse. And we have achieved this through living out our

mission with a commitment, passion and intensity that will help us to

continue “to make a positive contribution to the world” for a very long time

to come.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen, colleagues