My Imaginary University

The latest episode in the My Imaginary University podcast series stars Vicki Stott, Chief Executive Officer of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. Vicki's imagined institution is very much in a utopian vein with a near unlimited funding stream (thanks to Bill and Melinda) and little regulatory intervention. The university is described as a coalition of mavericks but where everyone has responsibility for delivering social benefit as well as education and research. Remarkably though the university moves to a different brownfield location every 25 years or so once its key local goals have been met but leaving a powerful legacy behind.

Completely contextual admissions, civic engagement in every course, no exams and free lunches for all are other distinctive features of the institution. Leadership is distributed among those staff who measure up to Vice-Chancellor Vicki's severe criteria which include tattoos and creative swearing. Perhaps surprisingly there is a question mark about the place of the students' union although nothing is banned on campus.

It's a fantastic social experiment with massive social, economic and health benefits and one which I am sure will find favour with many (although Vicki's audibly snoring dog clearly disagreed). Finally there is an exciting and highly relevant crowd-sourced Spotify playlist to listen to afterwards.

You can find the playlist, which has some entertaining selections, here.

This episode of My Imaginary University features Heidi Fraser-Krauss who is Chief Executive Officer of Jisc. Heidi offers us a distinctive northern university which has been built by the people for the people. Whilst traditional redbrick in some ways it has a strong research portfolio as well as a substantial adult education programme and is a very open campus. The university town benefits significantly from the vibrant multiculturalism and international make up of the institution.
It's not just the campus which is open though - the curriculum is extremely flexible and follows something akin to the Scottish general degree model. Heidi is a very visible and down to earth Vice-Chancellor - a reluctant one perhaps but with no airs and graces and very closely involved with the students' union too.
Distinctively this university has a strong focus on efficiency with the aim of removing unnecessary complexity from its operations in order to deliver savings for investment in education and research.
No-platforming is banned and constructive debate is encouraged as are student clubs and societies of all kinds, but especially for mountaineering, and are rightly seen as key aspects of student life and belonging.
Finally we learn that the university anthem is the powerfully directive tune which provides essential advice for those studying in the north.

The latest episode of My Imaginary University draws on the creative capabilities of Professor Emma Flynn, outgoing Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise at Queen's University Belfast and shortly to start as Provost at the University of Warwick.
Emma offers us the most remarkable and fantastical institution - a World University which seeks to recognise the huge power of institutions across the globe to understand and change the world and lives. This university aims to convene the best people from all parts of the world to collaborate instead of competing to come up with solutions to the big global challenges.
The university's HQ and principal campus can be found sitting above all national and cultural boundaries: in a very large space station. It is staffed by both permanent staff and visiting or seconded academics and business leaders and Emma believes that its global collaborative approach will be a real catalyst for success.
With a curriculum focused on the UN Sustainable Development Goals and a global research collaborative programme and student mobility scheme it will be overseen by a Nobel Peace Prize winning Chancellor with some astronaut back up.
All in all it is a remarkably out there proposition, which can't fail to take off. And with a genuinely international global anthem from a surprising source it is sure to succeed in this century as well as in the 25th with Buck Rogers.

This episode of My Imaginary University features Alex Usher who is the President of Higher Education Strategy Associates. Alex is an internationally recognized expert on a range of fields within higher education and is the first My Imaginary Uni podcast participant from outside the UK.
The vision for a new institution is a novel one - Alex is keen to create Rustbelt U, an HEI which will be at the forefront of an economic renaissance and leading on the levelling up agenda in a city somewhere rather like Stoke on Trent or similar in the UK, Europe or North America. Wherever the precise location Rustbelt U is a very externally focused, comprehensive and mid-sized university and has a distinctive matrix organisation of academic disciplines. There is a lot of interdisciplinary activity and a significant investment in curricular specialists to support a different approach to academic design and delivery.
There is work based learning at scale too and plenty of international partnerships built around strong thematic research activity. Students have a different attitude thanks to the integration of work into learning but don't all wear ties. The campus experience is, distinctively, built around a high quality food offer. There is food everywhere and it really drives the campus as well as community engagement.
But this is very much a university in and of its community whether that is in Stoke or Gdansk (and there will definitely be an international rustbelt uni network) and focused on driving regeneration in its area. And as Vice-Chancellor Alex will both promote civility on campus and be a "pain in the ass" in driving forward delivery of Rustbelt's mission. We really just can't get enough of this kind of thing.

For this edition of My Imaginary University I invite Iain Mansfield, think tank researcher and former special advisor to several government ministers, to create his ideal HE institution. Iain's imagined university has a long history, dating back to the 1330s, and is a small but perfectly formed collegiate institution based in Stamford in Lincolnshire. The University of Stamford delivers on educational excellence and rigour as well as widening participation and specialises in core science and arts disciplines (plus stamp collecting) with a strong liberal arts leaning - all freshers have to study both maths and history. League table ambitions are relatively modest and the university is relaxed about regulation too.

There are some notable features though including the sovereignty of the academic senate, a de-emphasising of efficiency and a strong sense of vice-chancellorial accountability. Not only this, the students' union is an entirely voluntary activity - no student auto-enrolment here -  and there is a ban on any kind of collective positions on big issues.

Inspiration is provided both by the Chancellor, a resurrected G K Chesterton, and the university song, Sogno di Volare or The Dream of Flight, inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, which really captures the ambition of the institution.

There are certainly some distinctive features at the University of Stamford across every aspect of institutional operations.

In the latest podcast in the My Imaginary University series Eve Alcock, Head of Public Affairs at the Quality Assurance Agency, and Jim Dickinson, Associate Editor at Wonkhe, present their vision for a rather different kind of HE institution. This university, whilst definitely a campus operation, provides for students primarily on a short intensive block basis, thereby combining both residential and remote learning provision. It is a quite novel structure therefore which is intended to reinvent the way everyone looks at learning but is very much in line with the current lifelong learning policy trajectory.
The model also envisages strong industry links, community engagement and applied learning which ensures that, as Eve puts it, the "employability stats are through the roof" although the leadership is so confident about their metrics they really do not care for the rankings. The university is also a regulator's dream and committed to supporting students within and alongside the curriculum.
The university enjoys a unique co-leadership model where the Vice-Chancellor and the students' union President work closely together on all the big decisions and the SU is in charge of most non-academic expenditure. Furthermore, students are required to spend time on committee work - it's credit rated too - but any mandatory short online learning modules around free speech etc are banned. As are old-style traditional lectures with no thought given to student engagement.
It's a positive vision for a very different kind of university with a new state of mind. Good times indeed.

In this latest episode of the podcast sector legend Mary Curnock Cook dreams up a challenger institution which is something she wants to turn from imaginary to real. Whilst the branding might need some work, Founders University (FU?) is going to offer a distinctive prospectus for ambitious entrepreneurs, students who want to start their own companies or indeed want to learn about funding others' start-ups.
Mary acknowledges that it will be a tough sell, not least because of the base in Swindon, but believes the emphasis on collaboration, an agile approach to learning and curricular co-creation will really appeal to partners (which is what learners are called here). On offer then is a very different set of business pathways with learning happening in sprints and lots of scrums too. Admission is by pitch combined with other screening but the programmes would be really demanding and guaranteed to lead to positive outcomes. 
VCs would provide funding and the VC would be a CEO to avoid confusion. There will be a Chancellor though. There would be a strong emphasis on partner self-organisation and the principal disciplinary sanctions would be reserved for shirkers who let their teams down. 
It's a bold vision for a very different kind of challenger university and we can certainly see clearly now why Mary's ambition is to make it real rather than imaginary.

In this episode Andy Westwood, Professor of Government Practice at the University of Manchester, creates an imaginary university formed from a distinctive combination of redbrick, plate glass and post-92 universities as well as an FE component. 
Wrottesley-Rummidge University aims to be more than the sum of its parts and presents itself as a university that doesn't know its place but knows its place. It has a tiny medical school but a huge social science offering. The university has a strong civic mission but also has an international profile which is helped by the multinational make up of the local football team. 
The university's federal structure is sufficient to confuse the rankers and it also intends to push back firmly against the various regulatory authorities with the aim of creating a new framework for regulation for the sector.
Music, drink and food are important here and there is a massive students' union building which Andy expects to attract bigger acts than he managed when events manager at Manchester's SU. 
The only things banned at the university are service hubs and in terms of the campus vibe, responding to the suggestion it sounds like Paris in the late 60s, Andy proposes the feel is much more South Bank (another football link) than Left Bank.
Wrottesley-Rummidge is a very distinctive kind of federal university then with an unsurprising anthem given its Midlands musical heritage and a very charismatic chancellor too. It's a really enjoyable and creative effort from Andy.

In the latest episode of My Imaginary University I speak to Douglas Blackstock, former Chief Executive of the QAA about his idea for a novel and non-traditional kind of university. His extremely niche institution, provisionally named the European University for Regulation of Organisations, is handily located in Luton, close to some excellent transport links. 
The core idea behind this new university is that it provides courses, at all levels, for both regulators and the regulated and if Harvard are offering programmes in this area then why not. The two different groups study in two separate buildings and segregation is rigorously maintained by means of a linking corridor and a revolving door. Being located close to Luton airport is key for international student recruitment but also for short course provision (in partnership with the Premier Inn).
Douglas is confident of demand, seeing regulation as always having a consistent market, a bit like funeral directors, and is aiming to ensure genuine participation from students, both regulators and regulated, in dealing with every aspect of the university's own operations, from HE regulation, to student codes of discipline.
Finally, Douglas bemoans the lack of a huge donor to support his vision but nevertheless comes up with a strong range of potential university anthems.

The latest episode of My Imaginary University sees Ben Tucker, Partner at Minerva, creating an exciting new university, some distance from the UK, in Kerala, India. Originally titled Preposterous University things quickly got a little more serious and Kerala Leadership University was founded with a very broad based curriculum and a strong widening participation ethos as wells as big fund-raising ambitions. 
It's a functional rather than a glitzy campus - no lazy rivers here - and there is an ongoing debate about students wearing uniform. It's also a pretty egalitarian place with a triumvirate (or possibly quadrumvirate) in charge instead of a heroic vice-chancellor and the university has an intentionally unruly senate. There is little regard here for league tables and no distinction between academic and professional services staff.
The student experience is a positive and community-focused one and the university is ready for both a rolling programme of student-determined bans and expected demands for free condoms. The Keralan environment is believed to be an open and progressive one although the support of both local politicians and donors might be tested by the idea for an annual Karl Marx day.  Ben suggests a couple of alternatives for university mascots and offers some uplifting options for the big university anthem to be played at graduation.
KLU certainly represents a novel approach to higher education and I'm sure you will enjoy hearing about Ben's imaginary university.