News
happens within our health faculty, is vital, and other areas, for example policing, offer the same opportunities. We need to be clear that we’re representing the region and therefore we need to reflect its characteristics. Our course portfolio has to be relevant and appropriate.
How do you see the Browne proposals and the CSR impacting on the university?
We currently have three main sources of funding—HEFCE, the TDA and the NHS—a breadth of funding that is relatively unusual. The new proposals could have serious implications. We must position ourselves as well as we can and this is undoubtedly a responsibility of the Board. The days of block grant funding are coming to an end and, in future, the power will be in the hands of the students. I don’t have a problem with this, but it will be a different world. We must offer courses that are attractive to students, as they will drive the demand. The situation in which universities will find themselves will emphasise the importance of the student experience and there are areas in which we need to do better. Accommodation, technology—there is a whole agenda that the Board will want to develop so that we can become a university of choice. We must focus on the right courses and do them well reducing our reliance on clearing., Of course, until the funding proposals are finalised there is still a lot of uncertainty—but it’s certainly going to be a challenge.
What have you identified as the three main priorities for the Board over this academic year? 1. We have to continue to strengthen the university’s finances— good, effective management of our resources is required.
2. Support for the new management and academic team is vital. The senior team has gone through a period of intense change and, with a number of new members, it needs to come together effectively.
3. The university has been through a difficult time and the external context is going through unprecedented change. We need to define very clearly the way forward. Under the Vice Chancellor’s leadership we have started a review of our strategy (something envisaged at the time the first strategy was written) and specific actions will be defined in a new Business Plan.
Describe your vision for the future of the university. The university will be recognised as being excellent at what it does. Having said that, we need to be very clear about what it is we do—we need a clear academic identity that offers a particular student experience, for example good teaching, a variety of types of learning access, studying in a great part of the country. Also, we must develop the academic team who will increasingly build our reputation for research. Ultimately my vision is for a university that feels comfortable with itself and is happy to move forward. In that context we should be proud of where we’ve come from and equally proud of where we’re going.
University appoints new senior managers The university has appointed four new members to its senior management team.
Sandra Jowett
Sam Twiselton
Professor Sandra Jowett will take up her post as Pro-Vice Chancellor (Academic) in January 2011. Sandra moves to Cumbria from the University of Chichester, West Sussex where she has been Pro-Vice Chancellor External Relations, Research and Employer Engagement since 2008. Sandra brings with her in- depth experience of the HE sector built over the last eleven years.
The new Dean of the Faculty of Education is Sam Twiselton, formerly Associate Dean in the same faculty. Sam brings extensive experience within the teacher training sector and has already been heavily involved in reshaping ITE programmes at the university.
The university’s new Director of Human Resources is Janet Whitworth. Janet joined us on 15 November. She comes to us from the Health Service where she was Director of HR for two large Primary Care Trusts in Lancashire. Janet lives in the region
Janet Whitworth
Michael Berry where she and her husband farm beef cattle.
Michael Berry will join the university in the New Year, as Director of Estates and IT, from Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen where he has been Director of Estates and Property Services for the past five years. A qualified architect, Michael previously held posts at London Metropolitan University.
Our Vice Chancellor, Professor Graham Upton said: “Each of these new senior management team members brings a wealth of experience and professional ability to the University of Cumbria. I know how much they are looking forward to working with everyone here and I am sure they will make sizeable contributions to the further development of the university.”
Full senior manager profiles may be found at
www.cumbria.ac.uk/aboutus/theuniversity
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