Interview with Professor Graham Baldwin, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) and Ruth Connor, Chief Marketing Officer
UCLan: A global university and local champion with a can do attitude!
Professor Graham Baldwin has returned to UCLan, recently completing his first year as Vice-Chancellor. UCLan has always been close to Professor Baldwin’s heart, and he has long been a champion for the City of Preston. He sees his appointment as a powerful opportunity to promote UClan’s local, national and international relevance. With a new strategy, a restructured External Relations department and a pledge to keep social mobility at the heart of UCLan, the foundations are being laid for a narrative of local resonance and global relevance. We talked to Graham and his Chief Marketing Officer Ruth Connor about UCLan’s future and how they will bring partners, students, alumni and potential donors along with them.
This is a story of a university that is awakening a giant within, and an exemplar of collaboration and leadership, directing the wider civic agenda for good.
Graham, As you reflect on your first 12 months as VC what are some of the tough decisions you have had to make quickly to minimise the long-term impact of the Coronavirus crisis on your organisation and ensure its viability and sustainability?
When I started in October of last year we were already making some fairly tough decisions. Even though the University was financially healthy, we needed to bring staffing appointments and non-staff costs under control. Despite COVID-19, we continued with the cost reductions so we could minimise uncertainty around redundancies.
I’m convinced these tough decisions were the right ones to make. The Vice Chancellors Group (VCG) have worked brilliantly throughout the pandemic on collective responsibility. If we hadn’t worked as effectively as a team, those decisions would have been a lot tougher and the subsequent changes would have been a lot harder to implement. We have never worked as hard and the pressure is still considerable but we’re proud of what we’ve achieved so far for the University.
What is the one thing that has pleasantly surprised you over the past few months about the adaptability of the University and/or your teams and how they have pivoted to deal with ongoing challenges?
Ruth – First, I want to pay tribute to my brilliant team. Their responsiveness and flexibility has ensured we continue to get things done. The team has stepped up to every challenge with true team spirit. They have supported students and colleagues and protected the reputation of the University. How people have behaved has been tremendous.
Graham – The University has an unbelievable “can do” attitude. We are using the concept of ‘One UCLan’ throughout our new strategy and staff have shown great enthusiasm for it. We’ve continued to demonstrate our competitiveness, too. Staff really want to show how we do it better than anyone else, and always put the students at the heart of everything we do.
Graham, everything you are saying reflects an increase in collegiality; that old idea that you are part of something, a community there for the common good.
Hugely! I’m constantly impressed by how we’ve supported the national effort right across the University. Whenever a request came in to do something more, the automatic response was “yes we’ll do that.” We turned the Sir Tom Finney Sports Centre into a Nightingale hospital, made PPE equipment for the NHS, manufactured valves for medical equipment and provided psychological support for the local trusts. The whole University is overwhelmingly proud to be part of a community of support. It sounds strange but there has been huge positivity derived from a tragic situation.
Ruth, in this radically changed global environment, how are you approaching your international development strategy? What are you hearing from international students thinking of coming to study at UCLan?
We’ve had double digit growth on last year’s international student applications and we’re working with UUK to explore every opportunity possible. At one point we even looked at chartering our own aircraft to support students to get here. We ramped up our communications to give students more information, reassure them and give them confidence in us. I’m seeing so much more appreciation of our international partners and students, even in the midst of a worldwide pandemic, still want to join us at UCLan.
It was wonderful to see UCLan sign the Social Mobility Pledge to commit to enhancing opportunities by working with local schools, offering training and apprenticeships, and by adopting fair recruitment policies. How will the University translate this into practice?
Graham – We are a regional University for the City and of the City. But we’re also a university with national and international influence. The Social Mobility Pledge gives us a continued guarantee that we’ll keep doing these things. Social mobility isn’t an aspiration at UCLan, it has been part of who we are for a long time. Our commitment to local opportunities, open access and widening participation demonstrates why we partnered with Justine Greening and her colleagues on this agenda. I truly believe it’s vital to the future of our society and the UK economy.
Graham, you have also reaffirmed your commitment to Preston by signing the Civic University Agreement. What does it mean to UCLan to be a Civic University in 2020?
It goes hand in hand with our status as a big regional player. In 2001 Preston became a City and the University played a critical role in that achievement. We are the largest employer in the City. We’re building a £53m University Student Centre and Civic Square which will attract more people and business and will hopefully be a significant part of City and Civic life. Our close relationship with the County Council helps us influence and support activities well beyond the City, but I can’t state strongly enough how important the relationship between the University and the life of the City is. We’re constantly looking to become a more influential part of our local community, driving things for the benefits of the City as well as our students. We know we can make the City a more attractive place, helping international and domestic recruitment. The ambitions and great work of the University aren’t always recognised outside of our hinterland, so as an influencer, we’re helping put the City on the map.
Universities who don’t have the name of the place they sit in may have a slightly harder job to do in projecting their importance and influence. If you’re called ‘the City’, that may have a reputation of its own, and it may become a bit easier?
Graham – I was previously at UCLan, many years ago. During clearing somebody rang up and said “oh, University of Central Lancashire – where’s that?” And I said “Preston” and they said “oh yes, where’s that?” We are helping to change the landscape and the reputation of the City we’re proud to be at the heart of.
Ruth – It’s about demonstrating our local relevance and working in partnership for a better future. We knew we had some work to do on Preston’s reputation and our new Preston narrative showcases our approach to partnerships, colleges, local and regional schools, the Health Trusts, and local authorities. An example of where we’ve put this into practice is the exciting work we’re doing with the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership on a joint approach to post-COVID economic recovery.
UCLan is in the process of developing its university strategy, your first as Vice-Chancellor. What role do you see your alumni network playing in supporting and engaging around the social mobility agenda and your civic role?
Graham – It’s true we’re under-formed in our alumni work. There’s a long way to go but it’s vitally important. Our Alumni, who we have been able to reach and share with them our work to support the national effort, have been very engaged and very proud of what we have achieved, however long ago they were here at UCLan. My previous organisation started off in a similar place, and over the years we were able to grow engagement across the board, from people who had graduated 40 years ago to those fresh out of the doors.
We have fantastic examples of positive impact at UCLan. When the sector realised the financial impact of international students not showing up this year, we developed an alternative narrative around asking for additional Financial support for Universities. We said “look what we are all doing for key workers, these are the people who are critical to the future.” It enabled us to ask for support for students on programmes such as nursing and medicine with additional places offered. We also graduated our Doctors and nurses earlier so that they could get on to the frontline and help with the response to Covid. That’s the sort of narrative that gets people behind their university. You mobilise your alumni with these kinds of stories and they want to come back.
C&C Comment: We like the sound of that and one of the things that we have observed working particularly closely on this with Ruth’s team, is that all that you’ve said is true but doesn’t happen by accident. You have to invest to empower the alumni community to feel pride and ownership. You’re trying to seed the idea that they’ve got access to you. That they haven’t left UCLan, they’ve joined it but maybe they don't feel that just yet.
We understand that UCLan has identified philanthropic activities (e.g. fundraising) as an area of focus and priority for the Vice Chancellor’s Group. What role do you see yourself and your senior team playing in leading on this agenda?
Graham – my role is to get fully behind fundraising. As Robert Wayman the Senior Advancement Manger during my time at Solent said, “if you don’t ask, you don’t get.” We need to reach out to our friends and partners and tell them about what we’re doing now and their role in helping us do more, be that a direct donation or introducing us to the right networks. It’s about building on that sense of pride we discussed. I was once told that the problem with philanthropy at UCLan is “you don’t spend enough time in smoke-filled rooms”. Thankfully that era has passed, but we’ve never been that type of University. Our fundraising is built on relationships with people who are proud to be part of our story.
Of course we need to do more to cultivate our donors and supporters, for example, when I host dinners with donors, we need to be more confident in clarifying what we want from them and I think that’s vital if I’m going to fully support Ruth and her team.
Core to fundraising success is the articulation of a compelling case for support. Why should your key audiences support UCLan?
Ruth – We believe in where there’s opportunity, it creates success. There will always be an opportunity for you at UCLan, whatever you are, whoever you are. We are absolutely dedicated to widening participation and we have the strength and purpose to achieve it. Everything we have done over the last six months shows impact and success in helping us articulate that purpose. We very much believe it can be done really simply and succinctly.
Graham – Without being a bit corny, we’re here to transform lives. We’ve got so many effective examples of our transformative role, and I’d use this alongside the real world nature of what we do which differentiates us from some of the local competition. We’re the largest provider of medicine and allied health training and education in Lancashire and South Cumbria. Our innovative, dynamic and real world approach is really building resonance at the moment.
Ruth, I know that you have come through a major restructure as part of the ongoing savings and ensuring the right structures are in place for UCLan. You have a large remit with a large department at UCLan. Why is this the right structure for UCLan?
Firstly, we need to create a clear and consistent external voice for the University. We’ve learnt more in the last six months about communications to our students, colleagues and external stakeholders than ever before and having clarity and honesty in our messaging.
The decision to bring in a central leadership approach, combined with more stringent brand and reputation management, alongside listening and acting on feedback, has helped us achieve that consistency. There’s also been a step change in the appreciation of Marketing and Recruitment across the university. People can see us working together, refreshing the brand, producing more effective communications, supporting colleagues and working hard to understand and optimise student journeys to keep them engaged beyond graduation. We’ve proved this is the right structure, the right team and why External Relations in the right name. People know who to go to and see the benefit of working with us.
Graham – If I can add, bringing those areas together exemplifies the ethos of ‘One UCLan’ and batting for the University. Working as one team has brought real clarity of effort and better results. During clearing you saw far more unity between Marketing and Comms and Admissions and Recruitment because they are now part of the same entity. Marketing is often a much-maligned part of a University. Everybody feels they should have a view on it. But the feedback that Marketing got on the new brand has been absolutely fantastic. So much more appreciation of the amount of effort and quality of outcome than previous structures have enabled. We’ve got more control as a University because our efforts have been pulled together. The results are showing higher levels of satisfaction with marketing, better integration between our international and domestic recruitment and student numbers are up. We are relentlessly pursuing collective responsibility. One UCLan, One Vice-Chancellor’s Group, we’re all part of this - we all drive the business.
We touched earlier on the value of universities and how often they are not given the credence that they should have by Government or by communities. We have seen so many experts - whether it’s been the race for a vaccine, economic regeneration or widening participation - participate in the dialogue. What do universities need to do to create a greater understanding of the value that they add and what does the HE sector need to do to strengthen the greater voice of universities in the UK?
Graham – That paradox of university experts routinely called on for comment and insight but actually being maligned has been going on for a long time and we need to work to change the political and media narratives. It’s currently moving in the right direction with the recent exam situation and lots of evidence to the unique benefits of a university education still being hugely sought after.
The big COVID headline for universities was the potential loss of international students, with universities on their knees and desperate for more money. As a sector we need to come together better than we do now. Sometimes we don’t help ourselves and go out a little too quickly with a negative take on things instead of focussing on the positives. Through the clearing period it has been evident that our international students do want to come to UCLan.
What we can do as individual universities is get out there, work in partnership, collaborate and ensure that the message is consistent and continuous. It has to be repeated again and again and again, so that’s what we’ve been doing. Luckily, that same anti-University feeling isn’t felt locally but we still feel it at a national level at times.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Is there anything you would have done differently in how UCLan has responded to the needs of students and staff during COVID-19? What is the most valuable lesson you have learned?
Graham – Communication. Clear, regular, frequent, consistent communication is absolutely core to an effective response. If you look at the university sector at a national level, that’s what we need. We’re striving to increase the amount of comms that are evidence based and clear. That’s the biggest lesson and the thing I would take forward into the future. You can’t do enough of it.
Ruth – That’s exactly it.
Graham, Higher Education across the globe has been impacted significantly due to COVID-19 what do you believe to be the one major change we will see across the HE landscape in the next 3 years?
Graham – Increased flexibility across what “university” means for the future. Flex in delivery methods using better digital technology. Flex in where studies can happen as travel will be reduced. We need to look at how we can flex the university calendar and help students with increasingly flexible start arrangements. We need to adapt and be adaptive if we are going to improve the student experience. If you want to start in May you can start in May. I am a firm believer that students want to engage with their university. I don’t see the demise of the campus as students do want peer to peer, and peer to expert interaction. We will all have to operate in a much more flexible way.
We also started daily 5pm VCG meetings back in March as a short-term tactic but actually we fill them almost every evening because there is so much that needs discussing and deciding. They’ve been invaluable in bringing people together and giving us a platform to make decisions. You wrestle with every decision, and each one you make leads to another 12 questions there’s never a dull moment!