TH E UN IVERSITY OF G R EENWICH
THE UNIVERSITY OF GREENWICH’S PURPOSEFUL APPROACH IS HELPING STUDENTS TO ACCESS OPPORTUNITIES IN THE HEART OF LONDON’S ECONOMY; WHILE ALSO UNLOCKING TALENT THAT IS HAVING A POSITIVE IMPACT ACROSS THE GLOBE, INCLUDING WITHIN INTERN ATION AL DEVELOPMENT. HERE VICE CHANCELLOR JANE HARRINGTON TALKS SOCIAL MOBILITY WITH THIS IS PURPOSE.
Capital gains and global impact Q
// Tell us about your vision for the university - and the role it plays in driving social mobility.
A
// Greenwich has really genuine roots in social inclusion, which I think is really important. We’re located in Greenwich, but also in Avery Hill, in London, and in Medway in Kent. This gives us huge opportunities for really developing a fantastic modern University. I’m refreshing the strategy [at the time of writing], but we’re talking about being the best modern university in the UK. I don’t want us to try to mirror somewhere like Oxbridge, that’s not what we’re about. What we do need to be able to do is to shout about what we are and why that’s so important to the country. So, our purpose as educators is to be a positive force for change, building knowledge, creating opportunities and changing lives for the better. If you put that in context, 49 per cent of our students are from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. A huge proportion are the first in their family to go to university, and
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over 70 per cent of them are commuter students, living at home and coming to the university every day. It’s a very diverse community and that brings with it these huge opportunities to mobilise that community and really shout about what we stand for. It’s very much focused on professional and technical education, and giving people life chances that they wouldn’t have had without that education.
Q// Is it really important that local communities in Greenwich and Medway really understand the role the university can play in unlocking potential and giving back to the community? A// Absolutely. I’ve started some work with all of the higher education and further education, colleges and universities in the region alongside the local council and the chambers of commerce, to look at what businesses need in terms of rescaling and upskilling in the current climate. For me, it’s all about partnerships, because universities I don’t think can or should sit in isolation in their region. They’re very much a part of the
