Examination of Witnesses (Questions 458
- 459)
WEDNESDAY 21 MARCH 2007
PROFESSOR TIM
WILSON, MR
RICHARD BROWN
AND MR
RICHARD GREENHALGH
Q458 Chairman: Can I welcome Professor
Tim Wilson, Mr Richard Brown, and Mr Richard Greenhalgh. First
of all, let me welcome you and say, as I was saying in private,
that this is a very important inquiry for us looking at the sustainability
of universities over the long-term, not over the short-term, and
we need expert opinion and advice on this, so we are very grateful
to the witnesses for coming in. We usually give our witnesses
a couple of minutes, not much more, to say something about what
we are doing and what you can contribute—how you see it
from your point of view. You do not have to—you can plead
the Fifth Amendment, say nothing and answer questions—but,
if you would like to, Richard, would you like to start?
Mr Greenhalgh: Perhaps just to
say why I hope I can contribute to this discussion really. As
Chairman of the CIHE I am in involved either as Chairman or on
the boards of three businesses, on the one hand and, on the other
hand, I am Deputy Chairman of the QCA and a Fellow of Templeton
College, so I feel I have got my feet, as it were, on, I will
not say, both sides of the fence because I think the important
thing about this discussion today is that we are all on the same
side of the fence. It strikes me that the important report which
we produced recently on international competitiveness of the UK
in terms of higher education just illustrates the real strengths
that we have in our system but also areas where there can be improvement.
I think business needs are simple to define in general terms and
also more difficult to define in detail, but essentially employers
want a supply of competent, and a growing number of outstanding,
people. Some employers, in addition, want research collaboration
where the ingenious mixes with the practical and some employers
also want partnerships with higher education to develop employees
often now in life-long learning and sometimes in executive education.
Those basic principles, I think, apply across the whole sector.
There are differences between SMEs and multinational companies
in degree, but those principles still apply there. We have now
had in front of us, and we are going to discuss it, I am sure,
the Leitch Report, which starts to put some targets and some numbers
to those principles, and in the CIHE, where we have got vice chancellors
and chief executives together, we will be, in the next few years,
absolutely focusing on how we reach those targets, because that
is the real question, "How do you execute?", not, "What
is the target?"
Q459 Chairman: Richard.
Mr Brown: Just to remind you,
Chairman, the Council for Industry and Higher Education is a partnership
between business leaders and academic leaders, so it is appropriate
that I am flanked by both, reflecting the partnership nature of
the organisation.
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