My Imaginary University

In the latest episode of the podcast in which notable sector figures are invited to dream up a fictional university we have Professor Adam Tickell, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Birmingham, who delivers a novel idea to improve Parliament, politics and public discourse.

Adam presents us with Democracy University, a very special kind of institution which provides compulsory training for all legislators, who will in future be required to graduate from DU before taking up their elected places. MPs and others receive rigorous training featuring different ways of thinking - from Hobbes to Rawls - well as studying literature and learning how best to evaluate evidence, quantitative and qualitative. 

On this leafy midlands-based campus students enjoy a compulsory and stratified residential experience, mixing with other legislators from across the world. The university offers a home to think tanks from across the political spectrum too, to ensure all points of view are covered in both teaching and research. In addition, access to the internet is severely restricted by a vice-chancellor who enjoys all the powers of an absolute monarch. DU's anthem is, appropriately, an impressive Gil Scott-Heron political epic. I hope you agree it's an excellent episode.

Season 2 of My Imaginary University kicks off with a thoroughly novel creation from Professor Mark Peace, the newly appointed Academic Director of the King's Experience at King's College London. Mark presents Cuckoo University, an incredibly lean organisation with no buildings and very few staff, which is dedicated to enabling students to make the most of the Lifelong Loan Entitlement, assuming full implementation. (For those with questions about where we are with the LLE under a new government they are advised to have a look at this recent article on Wonkhe.)

The university operates in different places at different times, provides intense learning experiences for students - mainly in newly built hotels - and essentially is the lubricant enabling meaningful learning journeys for a broad learner population.

Cuckoo U offers just one degree, focusing on the unifying discipline of Deliverology, and also uses its convening power to bring institutions together to support wider societal challenges.

The university's graduates are exceptionally successful and as VC Mark has a strong pedagogical rather than managerial focus. He is though banning both acronyms and a number of fonts and powerpoint templates. Although doubts remain about the university's name it does have a very heroic theme tune.

Our latest imaginary vice-chancellor is Paul Clark, formerly of HESA and UCL and now an independent strategy consultant.

Paul has created a novel institution which is rooted in the past but with an eye very much to the future. There aren’t huge numbers of students on campus at this super-connected ivory tower of an institution but it does have a large online presence. It's a full service university but with a strong leaning towards the humanities, a huge research budget and a temperate northern European location. The university enjoys a light touch regulatory environment and a campus which combines the tradition of All Souls with the modernity of Apple's Californian HQ.

Paul sees himself as something of a compassionately ruthless VC but is nevertheless extremely supportive of the student experience, even if he is largely in favour of banning most academic dress. It certainly ain't no party and it ain't no disco at this most distinctive of universities.

Time for a further landmark in the My Imaginary University podcast series. It is another live recording but our first at an international conference. This recording was made at the 2024 HUMANE annual conference at the University of Amsterdam and features not one but two imaginary higher education institutions. Our creative presenters are Leon Van de Zande, Secretary General at the University of Amsterdam, and Marianna Bom, Chief Financial Officer at Aalto University in Finland. 
Leon's imagined university is the home of Peace and Quiet, a very non-hierarchical institution where there is genuine parity of esteem between teaching and research. The university is city-based with strong civic engagement, an international outlook and a very laid back Vice-Chancellor. No-one there cares about rankings but they do have a nice social environment, just quieter and more peaceful than most and therapy dogs to support students in all parts of the campus.
Marianna presents Transition U, an institution designed for those 50 and above who have messed up their first career and have time to learn to have another go as well as having plenty of disposable income. It’s not just a university for failures though as students at this start up also go on to great careers (indeed some even offer careers advice to students at the University of Peace and Quiet). The university's symbol is a phoenix rising from the ashes, a very apt image for those seeking to move on from their mid-life crises.
The contrast in the anthems for our two universities could not be more striking with upbeat hits facing off against something a lot more peaceful.
Both imaginary vice-chancellors do a great job of handling questions from the floor, making this a really entertaining episode.

Our innovative creator in the latest edition of the My Imaginary University podcast is sector stalwart and HE consultant at large, Aaron Porter. Aaron's bold university idea is to create an institution dedicated to serving the public sector and educating prospective public service professionals  from nurses to teachers to fast stream civil servants. With campuses based in former department stores in both Blackpool and Belfast the university has struck a novel student funding deal with government in return for its strong public service ethos. Student selection is via a potential-judging personality test and the student experience is very much focused on representation rather than nightclubs. The university also runs an academy for aspiring MPs and councillors and guest lectures from Nadine Dorries have proved to be surprisingly popular. 
As Chief Executive, Aaron is happy to delegate extensively but is always keen to turn up to graduation. Governance across the Irish Sea is surprisingly straightforward, bans have been banned by government order and the university's anthem is very much not one for the kids.

 My guest on this episode of My Imaginary University is Alistair Jarvis, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Partnerships and Governance at the University of London.

Generously supported by a billionaire philanthropist, Alistair's university is based on three campuses on estates by the sea on the south coast of England, Dubai and Nigeria. The three campuses are equal in every way and every student is mobile, studies other languages and all fees are paid. 

The university's campuses really are a special feature: they all have nice beaches and are open, integrated into their communities and offer great food as well as work and 'compulsory volunteering' opportunities.

In educating future socially conscious global leaders the university has a strong access mission, recruits world-wide on the basis of potential and has also just decided to launch into the online realm. However, it remains without a name or an anthem so is running competitions to come up with suggestions for both. Let's hope they are sensible ideas.

This episode of My Imaginary University stars Johnny Rich, who is Chief Executive of the Engineering Professors' Council and of Push, the independent university guide, among other roles. Johnny is proud to be the Vice-Chancellor of Camford University, a post he was appointed to some years ago with a bold remit to change the ancient institution.
As VC he has instituted a radical approach to contextual admissions and the university is now using AI to support identification of potential, including deploying an alternative version of dating software to help with selection. The university has also adopted a radically holistic student experience which is employability focused and concerned with developing rounded graduates with the ingredients of knowledge, skills and broader character attributes including values.
Students can see the mix of ingredients they need for their chosen career path and engage with an exciting and innovative curriculum which includes real world projects involving local businesses - no town and gown divide here - and student-led elements throughout.
Johnny, although he might don a mortar board every now and then, is not the kind of VC, or 'vision captain', you will find wearing a tie. Camford benefits from its rich history as well as being cutting edge and indeed has the most haunted university building in the world which just happens to  be home to a research centre dedicated to proving it isn't actually haunted.
Nothing is banned here except a closed mindset and the university is dedicated to helping graduates build their social capital with the strong support of alumni. Finally we learn that the university's anthem, as voted for by staff and students, is a really revolutionary tune by a very popular contemporary artist.

This edition of the podcast stars Professor Julie Sanders, Vice-Chancellor and Principal at Royal Holloway, University of London. Julie offers a novel concept, Greenworld Univerisity, a constellation of campuses based on the notion of green world spaces in Shakespeare or spaces of possibility. Her university has a very broad offering - not just Shakespeare - and provides huge flexibility in learning patterns for students who can enjoy the right to roam academically and expect a transformative experience.

Greenworld University has quite a porous structure and also brings in broader support including from the wider community. Many things are green including the campuses whether on leafy or post-industrial sites or indeed online. Research is very fluid too and integrated with education - there are opportunities for collaboration and mobility for staff and students across sites and in and out of industry too.

We also learn about governance, which is distributed across the half a dozen sites in the UK and the others further afield, and the importance of belonging, conviviality, food and spaces of encounter at Greenworld. Distinctively, the university focuses less on competitive sport and more on the shared experience of frequent dancing although there is no space for prima donnas. Cross-national and inter-generational learning is important too, including in student accommodation and in the wider university spaces and there will be plenty of time for Julie, as VC, to interact with staff and students instead of in meetings.

Finally, in an inspired touch, we learn that the Greenworld University anthem is a very fitting tune for those seeking to dream impossible dreams.

This episode of My Imaginary University is rather longer than usual and follows a slightly different course to previous editions. My guest this time is Professor Sir David Eastwood, most recently, until his retirement, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham but someone with over 25 years of senior leadership in the sector.

David explores some of the history of higher education, starting with medieval universities and their surprising employability focus before moving on to the development of the University of Birmingham and subsequent civic institutions. Noting that many universities now are looking to rediscover a civic mission, recognising that this is not at odds with sustaining an international outlook, we also explore the changes in university governance which used to have a much greater civic input. 

We explore the pioneering interdisciplinary approach of Keele from 1950 and the distinctive success enjoyed by the University of Warwick following its very different approach to dealing with the 1981 university cuts. Noting the importance of scale for university success David observes that creating a substantial challenger university is always going to be difficult. Nevertheless, he is prepared to try and moves on to outline his imaginary university which he is confident he can make succeed within the current UK HE environment (assuming a massively generous endowment). Whilst he loves the undergraduate offer this would be an exclusively graduate university with a strong research base. 

The university will offer some big set piece events including major presentations by visiting lecturers with the aim of elevating public debate. And it is going to offer some distinctive musical choices from Beethoven to Mahler. It's a great long view of universities through the ages and a novel idea for an extremely well funded imaginary graduate institution from someone with the experience to deliver.

This episode is a bit of a landmark in the My Imaginary University podcast series. For the first time we recorded the podcast in front of a live and indeed lively audience at this year's Wonkhe Festival of Higher Education at Senate House, University of London. My imagineer this time is Amatey Doku, Senior Consultant at Moorhouse Consulting and he presents us with a genuinely novel package of higher education innovations.
Amatey holds up a black mirror to higher education with his creation of Bandersnatch University, derived from a TV show from a few years ago with a variety of viewer-driven endings. Amatey sets out a really bold vision for his strongly student-oriented university based on five campuses in a number of higher ed cold spots which are a bit different from the norm but each with a huge atrium to host the very important Wednesday night dinners which bring the whole community together.
We learn about the typical week for every student, coaching, individual study, novel learning sessions and a big end of week show and tell session. The university is not concerned with league tables but prospective students find the model very attractive and fans of Call of Duty can find a home here too. Other novelties include committee meetings which last no more than 15 minutes, compulsory plates for catering and rotating famous and yet unmemorable presiding officers at graduation in lieu of a chancellor.
I hope you will agree it is a landmark episode in more ways than one.