12 Q&A with our Vice-Chancellor


“I want Essex to offer a transfo


Vice-Chancellor Professor Anthony Forster discusses his experiences so far and his plans for the future.


What initially attracted you to


Essex? The University’s values, particularly its willingness to dare to be different and not just follow the crowd; the University’s ethos of preparing graduates who want to make a difference in the world; and the University’s research reputation especially in the social sciences and humanities.


What has most surprised you since arriving?


How many committees and procedures there are that stifles innovation and creativity of staff and students. We need to create a more responsive decision-making system, based on a clearer sense of individual accountability and responsibility. We should avoid mistaking the creation of committees – or the number of colleagues on a committee – for effective


consultation, and we need to be better than we are at implementing decisions once we have agreed them. This is in our hands to change and we will…!


What have been your highlights so far?


Meeting students in Freshers’ Week and listening to their hopes and aspirations and talking with Timothy Secret, a PhD student in Philosophy named by the BBC as one of ten academics who have won the title of BBC Radio 3 New Generation Thinkers 2012.


What are your strategic priorities


and how are they being developed? The purpose of our University is excellence in research and excellence in education.


We know what excellence in research is and we have been performing at a world-class standard for many years. Our challenge is to make sure that we offer a truly excellent educational experience to our students.


At the core of this is research-led teaching, which directly connects our research work with the educational experience we offer to our students. We need to make sure we don’t view research and education as a ‘zero sum game’, and allow our students to benefit from being taught by world-class researchers, both intellectually and in terms of their personal development.


In developing our priorities we are working on a new strategic plan and consulting widely with staff, students and alumni.


What do you want students to


gain from their time at Essex? I want Essex to offer a transformative education, where our students feel valued within our community of academic and


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