I am in the midst of another slightly surreal week. It began on Sunday, when I managed both to be in New York and on the BBC Politics Show at the same time. This was a bit of a cheat, in that the TV recording was made on Friday. It provided me with an opportunity to express a little of my frustration with the impact of the government’s efforts to both create a market in higher education and to manage demand. As you may be aware, these policy changes have contributed to an unprecedented reduction in the number of students commencing higher education in England, and miscalculations on student numbers have led to unintended (I believe) restrictions on recruitment in many of the country’s leading universities, including Southampton. There are many lessons for us to learn quickly about the realities of our new market.
I was in New York at the invitation of the US Institute of Medicine, as an invited speaker at a conference on health and literacy held on Monday in the elegant premises of the New York Academy of Medicine. This was one of two invitations I had accepted for this week in my alternative role as a Professor of Public Health. The other invitation will see me in Tallinn in Estonia on Friday and Saturday at an international health promotion conference where I will give an invited plenary speech. I was flattered to receive both invitations many months ago. Participating in these meetings helps to keep me in touch with my academic community, and I felt that they were both manageable at either end of the week.
What I hadn’t taken into account was an invitation at very short notice to join the Prime Minister and Minister for Higher Education on an official visit to Brazil from Tuesday to Friday! This was an offer not to be turned down, and after some rather frantic planning and negotiation, my office was able to accept the invitation.
Returning overnight from New York, I had a rather hectic Tuesday back home and at the University, followed by a second overnight flight to Sao Paulo in Brazil. Similar to my experience accompanying the Prime Minister in April, you quickly discover that the programme tends to be rather flexible, and that much of the benefit comes from informal discussions rather than the formal meetings. The delegation is mostly made up of business leaders from across the spectrum of British industry, including many of our existing business partners. It is rare to get the opportunity to meet with so many senior business leaders (with time on their hands between formal engagements). I was able to establish several new connections for the University on my last trip accompanying the Prime Minister, and hope to do so again on this trip. The delegation also includes colleagues from a small number of UK Universities, and representatives of RCUK, and UUK.
I look forward to letting you know how things work out!