Comment 009 November 1985

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King's College London (KQC) newsletter

WELCO E TO THE EW SECRETARY DESIGNATE Myles Tempany retires as College Secretary at the end of this year and at the fIrst meeting of the new College Council his successor was announced. Mr William Charles Slade, BSc, ACMA is appointed to the post of College Secretary as from January I 1986.

pyramid structure 01 indu try is ba ed on a broad foundation of support taIf leading up to a pinnacle of relatively few governing and controlling personnel. In universities the pyramid is turned on its head. There arc a very large number of highly qualified, articulate, professional people with relatively few staff supporting them. There is much more informed opinion here and university managers mu t harness this properly. Generally speaking, indu try and univer Hies do not communicate as they should. There are great benefits in learning about each other' need - the balance must be right though - the tail mu tn't wag the dog and we mustn't be tempted to try and overmanage our universitie .' DEMO STRATING OUR WORTH

Bill Slade is already well known to many members of the College. He fust came to Chelsea College in 1975 as Finance OffIcer and became College Secretary there in 1978. He has worked closely with the offIcers and committees responsible for the structure and realisation of the merger and for two years now has been completely involved with planning for the new College. "I am very, very pleased" he says Uto be able to see the merger through. I have, in effect, spent two years of my life working towards it and to be able to continue working for its success and development is very gratifying: I am quite thrilled about prospects for the future and greatly look forward to joining such a distinguished tradition." the culture is different and the general outI DUSTRY AND U IVERSITIES look and behaviour differs, in terms of the tasks to be done the gap is not so wide Prior to joining the world of university ad- "Techniques used in industry are often ministration, Bill Slade worked in industry. said to be inappropriate to universities. He is a qualified' accountant and has had This is not totally true. Universities are a extensive experience in the steel, cement huge resource. Such a massive investment and telecommunications industries. Do in people must be managed and industrial universities and industry have anything in management techniques are relevant. There common? Bill Slade believes that although are, obviously, essential differences. The

One thing Bill Slade i in no doubt of i that univer Hies will increasingly be required to Justify them elves and their performance will be measured. " We must be more willing to expose the things that we do well and to show ourselves as more acce sible place of work. Money will remain tight and this money must be applied to bring the best results. We must identify our strengths and capitalise on them and must see that the criteria by which we are measured are the right ones. King's has undergone a healthy process of elf-examination and has pinpointed key areas of growth. We must follow up bard on our Academic Plan and concentrate on being as successful as we can possibly be, each of us trying to do better the many things we already do well. We are a powerful, large institution offering a distinctive array of opportunities. There will, of course be problems and our biggest impediment in future planning is sites. The creation of a single campus will make all the difference in the world between being good and being the best. I believe we must succeed in acquiring Cornwall House - it will tax our persuasiveness and will require substantial investment, but it is cardinal." THE WAY FORWARD Realising the efficiencies of scale open to us, reviewing our work practices and building on the progress already made are ways in which Bill Slade sees the immediate way forward. "It is", he stresses, "the belief in our capabilities that will drive us forward and our energies must be directed by that belief - that way we surely will succeed."

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