Campus: Higher education leaders on their priorities for the new UK government

What underpins effective research, knowledge generation and innovation? In this podcast, we hear a world-leading biomedical scientist discuss what constitutes effective knowledge exchange and supports translational research that can, ultimately, result in innovations that change the world for the better. Plus, a data scientist outlines the opportunities and risks associated with the proliferation in, but also greater regulation of, online data and what this could mean for future research. Chas Bountra is pro-vice chancellor for innovation of the University of Oxford – we spoke just a week before the University of Oxford was named as the world’s leading university in Times Higher Education World University Rankings, for the ninth year in a row. The university claimed the top spot once more, based on its increased income from industry, the number of patents citing its research and its teaching scores. Chas is also a professor of translational medicine and head of impact and innovation in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine. He is a director at Oxford University Innovations and has previously worked in industry as vice president and head of biology at GlaxoSmithKline and was the director of the Structural Genomics Consortium Oxford from 2008 to 2020. Sara de Freitas is an an author, educator and researcher with extensive expertise in data science and digital technologies. She is honorary research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London and a visiting professor at the Open University and the University of South Wales.

For this episode of the Campus podcast, we talk to Eunice Simmons, who has been vice-chancellor of the University of Chester since 2020, about what works when it comes to widening participation in higher education and how to ensure students are successful in their studies and beyond. She describes how initiatives such as Citizen Student and the Race Equality Challenge Group embed the values of social capital, civic engagement and equity across the institution, and link academic learning to the real world. Her work towards widening participation, which resulted in a joint win as 2023 University Leader of the Year in the Purpose Coalition awards, includes being chair of the board of trustees of Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO). An environmental scientist by training, she also discusses how post-Covid changes to work patterns led to a rethinking of university spaces to boost sustainability and cost efficiency.

Effective teaching sits at the heart of higher education’s mission to advance learning and discovery. But what are the key components which make up top quality instruction? And how can these be achieved in different and often fast evolving educational contexts? It is this latter question which makes defining good teaching so difficult. So, for this week’s podcast we spoke to two academics who have taught and researched teaching in widely varied settings to dig into the nuances of this most admirable of skills. Leon Tikly is a professor and global chair in education at the University of Bristol, UNESCO chair in inclusive, good quality education and co-director of the Centre for International and Comparative Education in the School of Education. Jason Lodge is associate professor of educational psychology and director of the learning, instruction and technology lab in the University of Queensland’s School of Education. He is an expert advisor to the OECD and Australian National Task Force on AI in Education.

What is an intelligent campus? How is technology blurring, or extending, the borders of the modern university? And how do you build belonging when your students could be spread across the globe? In this episode of the Campus podcast, we talk to two experts from leading US institutions – who were both speakers at Times Higher Education’s Digital Universities US 2024 event – about how technology is redefining the university experience. Steve Harmon is executive director of the Center for 21st Century Universities at Georgia Tech as well as associate dean of research in professional education and a professor in the School of Industrial Design. He explains how his university has created “co-learning” spaces where students can gather and interact while benefitting from the flexibility of hybrid learning, and how technology from VR to YouTube supports the “learning to learn” skills that underpin higher education. Lev Gonick is the enterprise chief information officer at Arizona State University and chair of the Sun Corridor Network, Arizona’s research and education network. He talks about the digital infrastructure required to support inclusive digital education at scale, looking to Hollywood-style immersive storytelling to teach STEM, and why it’s vital to align digital goals with the institution’s overall mission.

In this episode, we sit down with two panellists from Times Higher Education’s Digital Universities Asia 2024 event to talk to them in more detail about how their institutions have embraced advancing digital technologies in different ways – and brought their staff and students along for the ride. Julia Chen is director of the Educational Development Centre at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and leads a multi-university project focused on best practice in relation to generative AI. She talks about how her institution is rethinking teaching and assessment in the light of AI advances and supporting faculty in making the necessary changes to their course design and delivery. Helen Cocks is head of digital strategy and engagement at the University of Exeter, responsible for setting the direction and driving engagement for the institution’s digital transformation. She explains how her team has partnered with students and staff to roll out a university-wide digital strategy focused on improving student experiences and upskilling staff. These conversations were recorded live, in-person, at Digital Universities Asia in Bali in July 2024.

This episode of the Campus podcast comes at a time when many UK universities are changing leaders. A total of 30 institutions have either had a new leader start or have begun the process of finding a replacement in 2024, according to a Times Higher Education analysis last month. So, what are the skills and experience that underpin good leadership and how do you prepare for a senior role? Our interview is with Shân Wareing, the new vice-chancellor of Middlesex University in northwest London, arranged after she posted on LinkedIn about the five things she focused on in her first day in the role. In that post, she listed sense-checking the mandate she had first pitched, identifying the key people to meet, understanding the underlying issues, how to make decisions “stick”, and seeing the life of the university. As she explains, the clarity of that road map comes from over 20 years’ leadership experience in roles such as deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Northampton and pro vice-chancellor of education and student experience at London South Bank University. But her acuity comes from other sources, too. She offers fascinating insights into how to put a career together, the skill that is more important than confidence, and finding joy in what you do.   Our conversation took place in May, when she’d been in post for just over a month.

With frozen tuition fees, falling international student enrolment and the very real possibility of a university going bankrupt, the UK’s new Labour government has inherited a sector in crisis. The need for fast action is apparent, but where should priorities lie? Two higher education leaders share their perspectives on what the sector needs in the short and long term.  For this episode of the Campus podcast, we talk first to Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, about universities’ valuable opportunity to make a first impression, where Labour might turn for advice on higher education and how the sector may “tilt” in a quest for balance and stability.    Our second guest, Chris Day is chair of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities and vice-chancellor of Newcastle University. He details what is at stake for a sector amid a funding crisis, job cuts and department closures – and where new revenue streams might come from – as well as hope that the 4 July election has brought a chance to reset the sector’s relationship with Westminster.

One way to future-proof students in our globalised world is to improve their cross-cultural communication skills. With students and academics more mobile than ever, the ability to reach across divides – be they language, culture, religion, economic or location – will be in demand whatever the workplace. These skills offer a path to belonging, innovating, being effective and thriving in higher education and industry. For this episode, we talk to two very different experts in cross-cultural education; one works in medical and healthcare communication in Hungary and the other teaches creative writing and other media in the mountains of Central Asia. They share their advice for creating a classroom that supports language learning and understanding, how teaching can adapt to maximise the benefits of an international student cohort, connecting practical clinical skills with functional language, and how language learning itself creates more empathetic communication. Lucy Palmer is a senior lecturer of communications and media based at the Naryn campus of the University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan. She is also a former foreign correspondent and a successful memoir writer. Katalin Fogarasi is an associate professor and director of the Institute of Languages for Specific Purposes at Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary.

Will the UK general election offer a ray of hope for the beleaguered university sector? On this episode of the Times Higher Education podcast, two policy experts give their take on opportunities that 4 July may bring and how a new UK parliament might tackle hot topics such as international students and research funding. Our questions include what is on higher education’s wish list for the new parliament, and how might university leaders demonstrate the value of their institutions to policymakers? Over two interviews, we also tackle “blue sky” research funding, the future of skills training, how immigration policy might shape international student flows, and whether higher education will be a priority regardless of who wins the race to Whitehall. Nick Hillman is director of the Higher Education Policy Institute and worked as chief of staff for David Willetts when he was minister for universities and science from 2007 to 2013. Diana Beech is CEO of London Higher. Her policy experience includes being a policy adviser to three ministers of state for universities, science, research and innovation.

For this episode of the Times Higher Education podcast, we talk to award-winning author, cultural historian and literary critic Alexandra Harris about the research and writing practices behind her new book, The Rising Down: Lives in a Sussex Landscape (Faber, 2024). Alexandra is a professorial fellow in English at the University of Birmingham in the UK. Her books include Romantic Moderns: English Writers, Artists & the Imagination from Virginia Woolf to John Piper, which won The Guardian First Book award and a Somerset Maugham award, and Weatherland, which was adapted into a 10-part radio series for the BBC. This conversation explores what a literary scholar can bring to the study of local history, the power of place, and how “trespassing” researchers can find new insights in familiar records of everyday and celebrated lives.