MAKING A DIFFERENCE

MAKING A MEASURABLE DIFFERENCE

THE UNIVERSITY OF YORK IS A SHINING EXAMPLE OF A RUSSELL GROUP INSTITUTION THAT HAS FULLY EMBRACED SOCIAL MOBILITY FOR THE BENEFIT OF ITS STUDENTS, REGIONAL COMMUNITY AND ITS OWN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT. RT HON JUSTINE GREENING TALKS TO KIRAN TREHAN, PRO VICE CHANCELLOR FOR PARTNERSHIPS AND ENGAGEMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY, TO FIND OUT MORE.

SPOTLIGHT ON KIRAN TREHAN AND UNIVERSITY OF YORK

WE’VE GOT TO MAKE SURE WE CREATE “ AN INCLUSIVE AND WELCOMING CULTURE

QJG// From your perspective, coming to York and now putting your strategy into the university, how have you approached that work and what has it involved?

AKT// Social justice is firmly established as one of our founding principals, so it’s not unsurprising that the University of York is already committed to social mobility. We already deliver a significant amount of work in this area. For me this work is absolutely critical because it’s in our DNA, it’s part of our roots and the legacy we want to leave as we move forward with our next 10-year strategy.

Q// Where do you feel you’ll be focusing most within that strategy?

A// There are three areas that we really want to make a difference on. One of them is around widening participation. It’s critically important for all universities, but at York we’re taking an active approach to engaging and working with our local schools and colleges, but also extending our reach more widely through our communities to develop the aspirations. We’ve done that through running a whole series of events and workshops. One recent example is the Big Deal. [This] was about developing business and enterprise skills through our access and outreach activities. We delivered online to 13 to 15-year-old pupils across the country, to really support them in understanding what it might mean to develop an entrepreneurial business. There were 300 pupils involved in the competition, we had a final, we showcased them through a whole series of videos and they got exposed to the world of enterprise and businesses. Partly that was to inspire participants to pursue their career goals, but also for them to realise their potential aspirations. That’s one concrete example of the kind of work we’ve been doing. The second has been around the attainment gap. It isn’t just about raising the aspirations, we’ve got to make sure that when we do get students from these communities into our universities, that we create an inclusive and welcoming culture. So I’ve been working on an initiative with our students union, and with our access and outreach teams, in relation to creating and making space. That’s ensuring that the spaces we have at the university and the images, photographs and artistic work we have, are reflective of the students who have both passed through our doors, and the students that are coming in. It’s really important that students from diverse communities see people that look like them, because all the research has shown that role models are really important as part of that process. We’ve been working really hard around decolonising the curriculum, and because we have such a long and established history, particularly in relation to the work that we’ve done on social justice, that’s given us a really good start.

Q// Many of the universities involved with the Social Mobility Pledge are non-Russell Group universities. What does it mean for York as a Russell Group university to be really throwing itself into the work of the Social Mobility Pledge? What are some of the challenges and opportunities that come with that?

A// I think it’s absolutely essential that Russell Group universities are at the forefront of this agenda. Our mission at the very start of this is a university for social good. We were founded on the principles of access, equality and education for all. Universities, particularly Russell Group, are leaders in their field. They’re places of curiosity and places where research in this area has a long-established history. So we have to put that research to work, and attract the very best of our students. One of the things that I’m most proud of is the fact that we’re moving away from simply a deficit model, i.e. the problem lies with the other, and we’re working collaboratively. I think it’s really important that we take an institutional-wide approach, and that we make diversity and inclusivity everybody’s business – [including] our regional partners and local authorities - and [make it] an anchor institution in the university. Not only does this make good business sense, it’s the right thing to do.

LET’S MAKE A MEASURABLE “ DIFFERENCE

Q// And the university grows because of it. We know within business that diversity leads to better decisions and better organisations and there’s no doubt that it’s the same for universities. This is about an enhanced learning environment for your students by having a more diverse student body that can draw on a far wider range of experience.

A// I absolutely agree. All of the research that’s done in industry shows that when you have a richness of diversity, it not only increases diversity of thinking and ideas, but it also leads to an increase in return on investment. And so I think having that collective richness is great learning – for our students and our staff. It also helps regenerate economic growth for our communities. All of those things together are so, so critical. When we think about the whole agenda, particularly in levelling up, what I was really pleased about in the work that you’ve been leading Justine, is that you’ve been really clear and purposeful about what the levelling up agenda means. This isn’t more of the same of what we have been doing, it’s about grasping the nettle, and saying, ‘let’s make a difference but let’s make a measurable difference’. This isn’t just an add-on to what we do, this is central to our processes, our systems and our operations.

Q// In terms of working with business, I know you do a huge amount of work in reaching out, not just to the big companies in your region, but the SMEs as well. Can you tell us a little bit about the work of the university in connecting up the talent you’re developing to those opportunities outside of the university once they’ve graduated?

If I take our vision statement, a university for public good, and then articulate how we embed that in our core principles - equality, diversity, inclusion, collaboration and working across institutional boundaries - we do that in terms of the mentoring opportunities we offer our students, the placement opportunities and also through our volunteering scheme. The volunteering scheme is really powerful because that is both led and engaged with by the students. It’s both ethical and empowering education working at its best, and has lasting legacy. We’re making sure that our students have exposure and opportunity that’s agile and aligned to our desired position and our mission as a university for public good. Shared purpose is really, really important as part of that process within the context of our teaching and learning. We want to produce students who are both global and ethical leaders when they leave.