Issue 14 - University of Winchester

Venta magazine - Issue 14 - New Year 2006The University of Winchester was shortlistedrecently for the top award of ‘HigherEducation Institution of the Year 2005’ in aninaugural national competition organised bythe Times Higher Education Supplement.The other finalists were Dundee, Leicesterand Manchester.The winner – Manchester – was announced ata black tie dinner at The Dorchester Hotel inLondon. As well as an impressive line up ofjudges the Prime Minister even made a prerecordedstatement where he noted thesignificant achievements of all the finalists.“The University of Winchester has moved farand fast over the last few years,” commentedthe Vice Chancellor, Professor Paul Light. “We’redelighted that this has been recognised in ourreaching this shortlist.“The award is for ‘the University that hasadvanced its reputation most substantially overthe past year’ – and this is ground we werepleased to fight on.“Manchester University has a turnover of £500mplus and has just achieved the biggest universitymerger in the sector’s history. However many ofthe greatest university institutions in the worldare very small; our ambition is to compete noton quantity but on quality to show that inhigher education, as in many other spheres,small can be beautiful,”.The awards were more than a year in theplanning and are designed to highlightexcellence across the full range of highereducation institutions.Fond Farewell …New BeginningsThe University of Winchester is thriving! Inleague table terms, we have entered the fray togreat effect, and our new name is becoming afamiliar and recognised one around the sector.Three months after we became a university theSunday Times University Guide listed us in the‘Top ten modern universities’. It fits us in onesense, as the ‘newest of the new’, but certainlynot in another. Founded in 1840, we’re still oneof the ‘oldest of the old’ institutions.A prestigious accolade we all but won inNovember was the Times Higher’s first award of‘Higher Education Institution of the Year’. Froma strong field of entries we made the shortlist offour, but were pipped at the post by theUniversity of Manchester - a mere 20 times oursize.We are certainly doing our bit to establish thatsmall is beautiful though! The first survey ofgraduates’ levels of satisfaction showed clearlythat the graduates of smaller institutions weremore satisfied with the quality of teaching andeducational support they received than weregraduates of large ones. The University ofWinchester was in the top 25% of all universitieson this measure too.Our student recruitment position looks strong,and our finances are in good shape. We’vecompletely refurbished and redeveloped TheStripe lecture block recently and are just aboutto embark on the £9m University Centre project.This will not only radically reshape andenhance the heart of the King Alfred Campus,but will provide the Student Union withfacilities second to none – and about time too,I hear many of you exclaim!For me, the achievement of university statusgave closure to a ‘five year push’ and offered anobvious time for me to hand over to a new ViceChancellor. Professor Joy Carter, currently ProVice Chancellor of the University of Glamorgan,has accepted the post and will join theUniversity after Easter 2006. Joy will be the firstfemale head of the institution in its 165 yearhistory and I’m sure will make a considerableimpact on the way ahead for our newuniversity.I’m also delighted to be able to announce thatProfessor Carter will be joined by our firstChancellor, Mary Fagan, who is currently LordLieutenant of Hampshire. Mary has been a verystrong supporter of the development of theUniversity of Winchester ever since theinception of the idea in the mid 1990s.I will thus be leaving the University in goodheart and in good hands. I look forward tojoining the alumni of the University, andfollowing its development through the pages ofVenta in years to come!3