Interview with Professor Pamela Gillies, CBE, Principal & Vice-Chancellor, Glasgow Caledonian University and Jillian Watt, Director of Development Glasgow Caledonian University Foundation
Glasgow Caledonian University: Powering social innovation and supporting graduates through philanthropy and purpose to deliver on the Common Good.
Social innovation and delivering on the Common Good has been at the core of Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) for over a decade. The creation of the MINT programme, through a generous gift from honorary graduate Sir Alex Ferguson has provided guidance, support and mentorship for the graduating class of 2020, connecting them with business leaders and alumni. Driven by the passionate leadership of their Vice-Chancellor Pamela Gillies, GCU have recently launched a Common Good campaign to extend MINT to 3rd and 4th year students and are preparing for their critical role around climate justice in Glasgow’s COP26 later this year.
Glasgow Caledonian University is well known for its mission as the University for the Common Good. By 2030, you want the University to be recognised as a world-leading University for social innovation. Can you tell us more about this ambitious strategy?
Pamela: To become a world leader in social innovation is ambitious, but we’ve spent the last 10 years building the strong foundations of socially innovative activity. We have been in the top 50 Universities in the world two years running for our social impact, but perhaps have not communicated these achievements as much as we should have.
We use social innovation to promote inclusive societies, healthy lives, and sustainable environments in everything we do. The activities we are engaged in cross all of the disciplinary areas that the UN Sustainable Development Goals relate to. To solve complex problems in society, it’s vital we use a cross-disciplinary approach.
Widening access to Higher Education lies at the heart of our strategy. For example, our Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing in Dhaka is a social business. It has so far trained 500 highly qualified nurses for Bangladesh, and the project has taught us a lot about how to work with rural communities in delivering health. Another example is the amazing community laboratory hub that we have developed in one of the poorest parts of the city of Glasgow, to look at how nursing and social work can come together to improve quality of life and reduce inequalities in poor areas in the city. What we’ve learnt here will become a regeneration project across Europe. It’s about crossing the disciplines to come up with local solutions that we can then scale up to a national and global level.
Our work in partnership with Mary Robinson is ground-breaking. We’re looking at climate change, safe energy, safer water, climate justice at home and across the continent of Africa.
When I look at these examples, I’m confident that as a University, our education and research delivers real and vital social benefit and social impact.
Has the Pandemic adjusted your thinking about what needs to come next. You have a 2030 strategy, and with Glasgow as the host of COP26, there are opportunities for you to showcase what you are doing. Has anything had to adjust as a result of coming out of the Pandemic?
Pamela: Incredibly, no. The pandemic has shown inequalities in society drive unequal outcomes for the population in relation to the Covid pandemic We will have a much stronger lens going forward through which to look at inequalities and vulnerable populations. Our HIV Aids research is looking at developing preventative pharmacological solutions in partnership with other universities with big science and pharma bases. We have been at the forefront of understanding how to work with vulnerable groups and how to develop socially and scientifically innovative responses. People are inventive and the digital arena has transformed everything we do. Our applied research focus provides real life demonstrations of how these interventions work and then we scale up to increase the impact.
Current graduating cohorts have not been able to experience graduation days or say farewell to their lecturers and classmates, not to mention the degree of uncertainty over their employability. Can you talk about how GCU supported the class of 2020 through the MINT programme, led by a donation from Sir Alex Ferguson?
Jill: Back in March when COVID reached the UK we knew there would be a long-term impact on students, and new graduates. We designed MINT, (Mentoring, Internships, Networking and Talks) with the Class of 2020 in mind but quickly realised that this was something we would deliver for longer. The programme brings our alumni and honorary graduates together and builds on the support that the University already offers new graduates.
Over 1,250 alumni and friends have volunteered to be part of MINT. 250 graduates have completed a six month mentorship with an experienced graduate and this year we’ve opened it up to third year and fourth year students. We’ve already had 500 applicants, so we know the demand is there. The internships were kick-started by Sir Alex’s generous gift with the idea that there would be match funded opportunities, helping to incentivise businesses to recruit new staff. Over 50 graduates have been placed or completed an internship and over a quarter have been kept on full-time. The networking and talks have supported alumni to grow their connections, and they’ve learnt from industry about the impact of COVID in their sectors, and what it’s likely to look like in future.
The relationship with Sir Alex has built over a period of time and we know that major gift fundraising is not “an event” but a culture. How has GCU developed a strong culture of major gift fundraising?
Pamela: The first thing to recognise is the contribution Jillian and her team in the Foundation have made because they came up with the idea of the MINT programme. It brought together a lot of activities that Jillian has fostered, nurtured and nourished for many years, and she coalesced them into this brilliant initiative. Senior level relationships with major philanthropists do not develop overnight. They take a long time to create, and they have to be authentic. Through the MINT programme, Jillian has shown that our supporters and donors want to be involved. Whether it's the lovely Martin Compston from Line of Duty, or our incredible Chancellor, Annie Lennox, or Alex Ferguson, it’s the Sunday lunchtime chat on the phone, taking that extra half hour, it’s the early evening phone call to ask “are you OK?”, “how are things going?” They want to be emotionally engaged, and they always talk to me about GCU’s strong sense of purpose.
On the back of the MINT programme GCU launched The Common Good Campaign to support students in the midst of a pandemic. What have been the highlights of the Campaign and what are your future ambitions?
Jill: Having only launched the campaign in November there have been three key highlights. Firstly, our calling campaign with our alumni, donors and honorary graduates. We’ve built these relationships over a number of years and many are now great friends of the University and we wanted to ensure that they were okay, this was important to us as many of them continue to support GCU and participate in our events.
Secondly, working with Santander Universities, retailTRUST, Hammerson and so many other amazing donors. Their willingness to adapt funding, and quickly, enabled us to ensure students who needed it the most received support. The developing MINT and subsequently our Campaign with the support of people such as Brian Williamson an honorary graduate and entrepreneur and a valued member of the GCU community. It was important to us that the Campaign was inclusive and so we adopted a ‘donate, participate, and volunteer’ model. With over 1,250 people already supporting it and the Campaign being commended in the Scottish Parliament it has clearly struck a chord.
Finally the most important highlight the impact the Campaign has had for 500 new GCU graduates and students to-date. Whether supporting students to gain access to their own laptops instead of sharing with family or that a new graduate has secured permanent employment through their match funded internship. Going forward MINT will become part of our core Alumni Engagement Programme and we will be extending the Campaign into 2021/22 to build on its early success.
Universities have wonderful alumni communities which are significant in terms of their numbers and voice. What has been your experience with GCU’s alumni community over the last 12 months, and what will alumni programmes look like in a post pandemic world for GCU?
Jill: We are a relatively small alumni relations team and we’ve always had to be strategic on where we focussed our efforts. These new ways of working have enabled us to be more connected, reach a far wider audience and develop a real sense of community building.
Over the past year we have been far more creative with the delivery of our activities, making sure there were real ways we could support our alumni and give them ways to get involved and support us, such as launching a business directory. We wouldn’t typically promote graduate businesses but knew many were struggling, and people wanted to support local enterprise. Coming out of this it’s about continuing to think about the mutuality of the alumni relationship. We want to leverage that support and see how we can embed alumni relations further into other areas like Marketing and Recruitment. We want to take a more integrated approach.
For many universities, the financial future looks challenging right now. Commentators are saying some universities may not survive or be forced into mergers. Do you see an increased role for development and alumni engagement, and if so, what would that be?
Pamela: Development teams are absolutely critical. If your institution is not sustainable financially, you are not going to attract philanthropy from serious donors, or from alumni. If you do not have a university that is confident with a strong sense of purpose, and an ability to deliver, you really can’t shore up financial shortfalls through your philanthropic and development arm. Philanthropy in universities has to be a long-term goal because the transformative nature of education is in itself a long-term process. Universities are anchors in their communities and they really do transform lives, business opportunities and public sector services like the NHS, whether it be through 5,000 of our students and staff volunteering to go on the COVID frontline, or through our research. Short-termism doesn’t have a place.
As we emerge from this phase of the pandemic, and with still so much unknown, how are you planning with your team to create a vision for philanthropy at GCU?
Pamela: The 2030 strategy was a consultative process with staff and students, and Jillian and her team played a key role. I think the important thing we have done is to rename the Development function as a Common Good function. Philanthropy lies at the heart of our mission and is one of the leading engines for delivering the Common Good. I am hugely impressed by the team and Jillian’s leadership. Any development work we do has to be part of the fabric of the University. The most important part of the work with alumni is creating that strong sense of purpose. That doesn’t happen overnight. It takes years to build.
What would be your one piece of advice to alumni and development professionals across the UK who may be struggling to demonstrate their institutional value?
Pamela: We’re trying to develop distributed and collaborative leadership across the University. It wasn’t like that in 2006 when I arrived, it was very top down. We are creating an environment where everybody gets involved in the most important decisions the University takes.
Trust your storytelling instincts. As long as the stories about your University are authentic and you build upon your emotional intelligence then the Development Team will be at the heart of the key decisions that the institution makes. That’s why we have the ‘Common Good’ Foundation, led by Jillian. Our mission is for the Common Good – the two things are inextricable; you don’t find that in many Universities.
The current environment has strengthened the Common Good message for GCU and that the integration of activities and the Development team demonstrates institutional value. What are some of the things that you and the team will be able to move forward on that perhaps before the pandemic would have been a bit more of a challenge?
Jill: We are lucky because our Principal and Executive recognise what we’re doing is about much more than raising philanthropic income. If success is only measured by income, you’re missing the point. We have been heavily involved in the 2030 strategy and are working with the Deans and the Directors on where philanthropy and alumni relations can and will play a role. It’s about engaging with your key stakeholders around your story and harnessing their support and enthusiasm.
Higher Education across the globe has been shaken over the last 12 months. What do you believe will be the one major change across the HE landscape in the next three years?
Pamela: The big thing is we are a Civic University. As anchor institutions in our societies, we must get more adept at demonstrating the value of our education, research, and knowledge transfer to the wider society, and population. We must embrace the digital environment and think about how we package our propositions, whether they be educational or research-based. Higher Education will use a more blended approach, and in-work learning and upskilling will continue to become more popular. Universities genuinely have a critical role to play but they need to be more explicit about how they measure their own impact, including big initiatives like the UN Sustainable Development Goals, gender equality, anti-racism, and promoting social capital and solid values.
In the future, universities may move away from trying to claw up five places in a very popular league table and realise that they need to transform the way they do business to deliver social benefit and impact in different ways in an ever-changing landscape.
What is the one thing that excites you about the year ahead for GCU?
Jill: The pandemic has made people re-assess and re-evaluate priorities and possibilities. People are thinking about their health, the environment, what more they can do and how we can all build back better in a fairer and more sustainable way. To me, that encompasses GCU’s strengths. The University for the Common Good is about making an impact in our communities. We are ready to be front and centre in helping build back better. That’s what excites me - we are already making an impact and this is where we can continue to contribute.
Pamela: What would I love in the coming year? To be at a graduation in the Royal Concert Hall where we can give each other that physical hug and celebrate our students’ success. That always raises a smile on our faces. It’s seeing our students graduate, with all the skills and the passion and the energy to make change happen. When he received his Honorary Degree, Sir Tom Hunter said, “There are two kinds of people in the world, there are drains who just absorb everything into them and then there are radiators who give out their warmth, love and energy to the world.” He said to our students, “You need to decide what you are going to be in life”. I always look forward to seeing our students as radiators because it is the most exciting thing in the world to see them succeed.
The second thing is our plans around COP26. We’re hosting our World Forum on Climate Justice, bringing people from all over the world to look at climate justice, health, and inclusive societies. We will for example be working with partners such as the Miracle Foundation, examining the role of orphanages post-COVID, around the world. They have been emptied of children, so what has happened to those children and how do we ensure justice for them in the face of the most extraordinary climate changes?
This is our great chance for the world to see what GCU and the city of Glasgow has to offer.