King's College London (KQC) newsletter
WESTF E D ARTS TO JOI WITH KING'S King's College and Westfield College have recently issued the following statement: 'The Principals of King's College and Westfield College have agreed to recommend to the Governing Bodies of their Schools that the acknowledged strengths of the Faculties of Arts of the two Colleges should be unified within the new institution to be formed from the amalgamation of King's College, Queen Elizabeth College and Chelsea College. Westfield College will continue to retain its individuality and its distinctive character as an academically balanced residential campus. It is firmly believed that this development is not only compatible with the long-term plans of King's (KQCI, but will add significantly to the academic strengths of the institutions and of the University of London.' More precise details of plans for unification will emerge as discussions continue. DEVELOPMENT AND FUTURE OF THE UNIVERSITIES A Special Supplement on recent reports. This edition of the newsletter concentrates on some recent speeches and reports which have bearing on the future development of the universities. The Chairman of the UGC addressed a joint meeting of the UGC and CVCP in March and the text of his speech is given. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the DES recently visited King's to speak to an annual meeting of University Information Officers, as did the Chairman of the CVCP Advisory Committee on Public Relations: their texts are reproduced. The Jarratt Committee have recently published their findings on efficiency within universities and an outline of their recommendations is given. The many views expressed in these reports should be of interest and perhaps provide an insight into the way in which universities can plan for their future.
The '!on Pe~er Brooke, MP (standing) and the Principal of King's College at the openmg session of the annual meeting of University Information Officers held at King's in April.
CVCP meet Sir Keith Joseph The Chairman and Vice-Chairmen of the CVCP met the Secretary of State, Sir Keith Joseph on 30 April 1985. Vice-Chancellors told Sir Keith Joseph he could not expect universities to go on doing more and more for less and less. The universities have been through a period of considerable turbulence. What they now needed was consistency of policy from the Government and sufficient resources to make it effective including provision for a reasonable level of academic salaries. It was vain to suppose that policies such as the switch to science and technology, selectivity and rationalisation could be effectively pursued with a continuing and severe decline in grant. Mr Maurice Shock, Chairman of the CVCP, said the Jarratt Report had given the universities a 'good housekeeping' seal of approval but they wou Id nevertheless heed the recommendations directed at them. He urged the Government to pay attention to the recommendations directed at it since failure to do so would be bound to constrain the ability of universities to plan effectively. The Secretary of State raised his concerns about freedom of speech and assembly in universities. Vice-Chancellors told Sir Keith that they utterly condemned any disruptive activities within universities which denied the right of speech to invited speakers, whatever their political persuasion. But the universities had no power to deal with serious breeches of law and order which were often caused by imported groups with no connection with the university. Vice-Chancellors, however, assured Sir Keith that the issue was being given careful consideration and that they would do all within their power to uphold the principle of free speech. Vice-Chan:ellors also brought Sir Keith up-to-date with the work being done by the Reynolds group on the monitoring of academic standards.