THE Independent Autumn 2010

Adayto remember Installing our new Chancellor – Page 6

Interview: Karol Sikora Page 8 Dickens Dinner An invitation to celebrate 150 years of Great Expectations Page 5

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2 Autumn 2010 Contents

3 Welcome Welcome to the Comment 4 From the Vice-Chancellor autumn issue

This year, 2010, has been a good University News 5 one for the university because Great Dinner Expected; for the fifth year running Most Satisfied Students; Buckingham hit the top spot for student satisfaction in the Afternoon Tea at the House National Student Survey. It is a of Lords; At Home with your spectacular achievement and VC; New Faces; Leavers our thanks go to students and staff for the support and effort involved in keeping us at Looking to the Future Number One. 7 Installation of the new The university is changing all the time and experienced a surge in student numbers in September, Chancellor doubling its intake compared with last year. Part of the reason, we think, is our position in the league tables - we entered the league table Feature – Escape from the in The Independent newspaper for the first time this year coming in at 8 Day Job 20th position, and we also appear this year in the teaching training league table, in fifth position. But the rest of our appeal is down to Interview with Karol Sikora, the fact that government-funded universities had to cap their Dean of the Medical School numbers; we are not restricted in this way. With numbers now at 1,200, we have to up our game to meet the UBAA Update needs of students. We need to provide our undergraduates with good 10 A special day for alumni; social and sports facilities and with up-to-date spaces in which they Laying strong foundations can learn and study. This is where you can help. As you will have read in previous issues of this magazine, we have bought a six-acre site on the other side of the river close to Hunter Street for a new campus Alumni News development, and Prebend House is being renovated in stages. New 12 “How I learnt to love halls of residence are needed. The Vice-Chancellor describes how we research” have coped with our accommodation problems this year on Page 4. The law school and libraries will come together on the new campus development, but it will take time - and rather a lot of money. Alumni in the News 13 To help with this initiative, our new Communications Director Lucy Richard Stein; Lost Alumni Hodges is working to bring together the alumni, fundraising and PR functions. There will be challenging times ahead and we will be Alumni at Work approaching you for your support. But, if we can join together, with 13 the UBAA, our alumni, staff and students, we hope to upgrade the Chukwuemeka Anyaene university’s physical infrastructure so that it can compete with other John Paul universities in the UK and around the world. Our new Chancellor, Lord Tanlaw, wants to be closely involved with the fundraising effort Celebrations and we are very fortunate to have his backing. 14 Weddings; Births It is, once again, the time of year when we ask for your assistance with the Annual Fund. We have had great support for this since it began in 2006 and last year, with your help, we managed to raise Obituaries 15 money for a campus radio, equipment for the Wellness Centre and a William Martin; mixer for the SU Music Group. We are setting our sights higher next Shulian Zhang; year and hope to help with the purchase of a multimedia studio and Dr Anabela Bravo; cameras that students can use to record life at Buckingham. We want to buy a video camera to film the experiences of students at the Canon Alan Doyle university. These small films would be used on websites around the world to promote Buckingham in a range of languages. We hope you will be able to help. Anne Matsuoka

Autumn 2010 3 Comment

From the Vice-Chancellor Dr Terence Kealey

A University That Grows. That could almost offers them more of a British experience, mission will always focus on the student be our dictionary definition. but it is also a good thing for Buckingham and the scholar not the share price or the as it reinforces our relevance to the British quarterly report, so we are squaring up Since 2005 our student numbers have scene. to that new challenge with a measure grown at 10 per cent a year, and 2010 of confidence. has seen the same rate of growth. Indeed, The sources of our growth are rooted – September 2010 was almost comical in its paradoxically for an independent university The campus is looking smarter these days. intensity as we were driven to house our – in Her Majesty’s Government. It was Thanks to the much-appreciated donation new students every which way. By the time Tony Blair personally (see his 2010 from the Linbury Trust, the exterior of the new students arrived we had already autobiography A Journey) who appreciated Prebend House is being restored, and signed leases for every available rentable our long-championed view that university because of the pressure on space, fusty residence in town (for some reason, not independence correlates with quality and corners such as the ex-postroom are being every landlord will rent to students) but the who therefore introduced top-up fees into upgraded and occupied. We are now town could not accommodate the size the public sector, which thus reduced the looking with an interior decorator’s eye of our new entry so we had to put new differences between ourselves and at Hailsham House and the Anthony de students up temporarily in mobile homes themselves. And it was the Government’s Rothschild Building: they could be spruced or hotels. Higher Education Funding Council for up. And of course the six acres we bought England that, following on Professor Len – thanks in part to an important donation - No student will have to stay in temporary Evans’s skilled negotiation, admitted us into on the Tingewick Road site remain the accommodation for more than a term, and its National Student Survey. The rest as focus of intense planning as we seek one reason for that is that the Council, our they say is history. to meet the needs of the next decade. governing body, has agreed to buy 14 new four-bedroom houses that are being built on But the pressure to grow will increase. Elsewhere in this issue we describe the an estate in town, which will give us another The British Government will be making cuts installation of our new Chancellor, Lord 56 rooms to deploy. By so doing, as some in its budget for higher education, and Lord Tanlaw, who has succeeded Sir Martin of our alumni may recall, we are reverting Browne’s report is preparing the populace Jacomb, and elsewhere, too, we describe to an earlier pattern by which we housed for significantly higher fees in the public some of the other campus developments. students in Page Hill. We eventually universities, so the benign trends will These are exciting times for Buckingham: replaced those houses with residences on become even more benign. Nonetheless – we’ve won the arguments, we’re winning campus, and again today we have plans such are the plasticities of the market - the markets, now we have to win the real to build new residences on campus. we now face a new challenge from the for- estate to provide our students and staff profit sector, which is looking at the new with the facilities they deserve. The growth in new students has come in opportunities in higher education, so home students. International numbers are we will have to maintain our quality. being maintained, but the growth is in home students. Indeed, the admissions on the Like the for-profit companies we too are first day of this term were two thirds home, independent of the state, but unlike them one third international. This is a wholly good we are also independent of shareholders! thing for our international students as it We are proud to be a charity, so our

4 Autumn 2010 University News Great Dinner Expected

Charles Dickens was the most popular British novelist of Victorian times. He remains popular and is responsible for some of English literature’s most engaging characters including the story of Pip in his masterpiece Great Expectations, which was published in instalments in the weekly magazine edited by Dickens called All the Year Round. There is unlimited parking available at audio-files of key articles will help to bring To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln’s Inn on Sundays, and no congestion the material alive. birth of this masterpiece, the University of charge for driving into Central . Buckingham Press and Dickens Journals Date: Sunday, 28 November, 3-9 pm Readers of The Independent are warmly Online have organised a Gala Dinner. It will invited to join guests from the academy, arts Venue: Lincoln’s Inn, Old Hall, Old Court be held on 28 November at Lincoln’s Inn, and media for the celebration, raising fund Room and Grounds one of the ancient Inns of Court in which in the process for Dickens Journals Online. Pip and his friend Herbert take lodgings Programme: Presentation, Guided Tour of in the novel. The dinner itself will be in the Founded in 2007, Dickens Journals Online Lincoln’s Inn, Champagne Reception, three- Old Hall, described in Bleak House where is creating a scholarly web-based edition course Great Expectations themed menu, “Michaelmas Term lately over… the Lord of two hugely successful weekly magazines raffle, charity auction of rare 19th-century Chancellor” sits “in implacable November edited by Dickens between 1850 and 1870. books and prints; toasts by guest speakers weather”. These weeklies were Household Words Bookings: Contact [email protected] and All the Year Round and the aim is All alumni and Friends are invited to the or Dr John Drew 01280 814080 to complete the task by February 2012 event in what will be a perfect setting for to celebrate the bicentennial anniversary Tickets Nominally £150 but Independent our Dickens celebration. of Dickens’s birth. readers are eligible for a reduction to £115. A full afternoon and evening of presentations The full price includes life-time enrolment The online edition will be free, accessible to and delectable refreshment is planned, as a Friend of DJO and named sponsorship all readers, from scholars to schoolchildren, combining improvement with entertainment of a weekly magazine in the online edition and will offer new resources to help us in time-honoured Victorian fashion. You will understand and put in context the For more information go to be treated to a themed Great Expectations wonderfully rich contents of these neglected www.buckingham.ac.uk/djo menu! journals. Notes, essays, video-clips and

Most Satisfied Students – Five Years in a row The University has once again topped the table for Student Satisfaction within the National Student Survey conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Government’s Higher Education Funding Council. Buckingham students gave an overall 95 per cent satisfaction rating, with St Mary's University College second on 94 per cent and the Open University, Oxford University and St Andrews all on 93 percent. Dr Terence Kealey, Vice-Chancellor of Buckingham, said: "To achieve top place again in overall satisfaction indicates our lack of complacency about our performance over the last five years. During this period student expectation has increased, as has the awareness by other universities of the importance of caring for students. We will continue to address every aspect of the survey to ensure that our students continue to enjoy the best experience available in the UK. Students joining the University through Clearing later this week can be assured that we will continue to put the interests of students as our top priority."

Autumn 2010 5 University News

AFTERNOON TEA AT AT HOME THE HOUSE OF LORDS WITH YOUR VC There is something very English about A sunny September evening saw 21 afternoon tea, especially when it’s current students and members at the ‘Mother of Parliaments’! of staff converge on the Vice- Chancellor’s garden to enjoy Each year the Alumni Office holds tea and scones. an Afternoon Tea at the House of Lords to say thank you to the Twice a year, Dr Terence Kealey, numerous people who have Vice-Chancellor of the University, supported the University and the and his wife open their house and Annual Fund throughout the year. gardens to all those who are on This year 50 alumni, students and staff campus during the break between were able to attend and as well as a chance terms and is an excellent opportunity to to catch up with old friends and to make new ones, it was an chat about the issues of the day and enjoy the food and the late excellent opportunity to bend the ear of the new Chancellor, summer sunshine. Lord Tanlow. This time we decided to provide tea and scones, rather Finally, thank you to the former Vice-Chancellor Lord Luce and Lady than the usual wine and cheese, so that the students could Luce who very kindly hosted the event which allowed us to enjoy experience an English Afternoon Tea. The conversation was, Afternoon Tea by the River Thames serenaded by the Scottish in many cases enlightening and everyone went away after bagpipes. an enjoyable two hours.

position, recruit more students and Leavers NEW burnish its reputation worldwide.” The University is hoping to revamp the Bow-ties FACES alumni magazine to make it more user- friendly - and to explain better how the University is changing and how you, as and alumni, can be involved. We hope you will tell us what you think of the Bicycles magazine. Buckingham has plans for growth. We told you in the July issue You may not normally expect a Finance about our ambitious plans for the six- Director to wear a bow-tie or to ride a bike acre site across the river behind Hunter but Chris Wilkes, who retired from the Street and we have other proposals for University at the end of June did both. the future. We think it is vital that our When he arrived 13 years ago, Mr Wilkes students have an up-to-date Learning found a university in decline with student Resource Centre, new teaching spaces After a lifetime in journalism, Lucy numbers plummeting from 1000 in 1996 to and a decent social venue – and we 600 in 2000. He introduced economies and Hodges has been appointed to the new need your help! post of Communications Director with has left behind a university that has turned overall responsibility for publicity and Ms Hodges has worked for a number of the corner. fundraising. For the past 11 years she national newspapers including In his leaving speech, Mr Wilkes said he has worked for The Independent and The Telegraph and has seen massive had secretly always wanted to be a lion- newspaper where she specialised growth and change in the university tamer. And he got his chance. After leaving in writing about higher education and world. She understands the importance he visited South Africa for a safari in Kruger edited the paper’s weekly Education of honing Buckingham’s message and Game Park supplement. communicating it to the widest possible audience. Having lived in East and West “I am excited to come to Buckingham Africa and the USA, and having spent a at such a critical point in its history,” year teaching in northern Nigeria, she she says. “With the university expanding appreciates Buckingham’s position as and the government emphasizing the a global university and the value that importance of independent universities, overseas students bring to the campus. Buckingham is able to make its mark as never before. I am hoping to help You may contact her on the University to improve its competitive [email protected]

6 Autumn 2010 The new Chancellor

After Lord Tanlaw's installation, Honorary Degrees were conferred on Julian Barbour (Doctor of Science), Trevor Beedham (Doctor of Science) and Alexander McCall Smith (Doctor of Letters).

Julian Barbour studied mathematics at company which is based in London the and obtained Looking to and employs more than 1,000 people a doctorate in theoretical worldwide. He has the distinction of physics in Germany appearing in Management Today’s list of the before becoming an the Future top 100 entrepreneurs of the last four years. independent researcher in 1968. His work has At his installation Lord Tanlaw “We need entrepreneurs at Buckingham,” been on foundational called on alumni to return to said the Vice-Chancellor Terence Kealey in issues in dynamics. He Buckingham his address. “Thanks in no little part to the believes that time and motion are relative help we received from Sir Martin Jacomb, It was a beautiful day on Saturday, and his work has concentrated on this this University is flourishing as never before 4 September, the perfect day for the issue. installation of the new Chancellor, Baron and educating more students than ever before, and we’ll appreciate some Tanlaw of Tanlawhill. The sun shone as the Professor Trevor Beedham worked at entrepreneurial expertise from Lord Tanlaw academic procession wound its way into the London and Westminster Hospitals and as we finance and manage our expansion.” the church of St Peter and St Paul – and it in 1981 was appointed was still shining when they emerged an hour In his speech, Lord Tanlaw recalled consultant in obstetrics later. Lord Tanlaw (formerly Simon Mackay) the words of Buckingham’s first Vice- and gynecology to the is a life peer who sits on the Cross Benches Chancellor, which, he said, still stand for Royal London Hospital. in the House of Lords and is the fourth today’s students. There will be demands After working with the Chancellor of the University. He succeeds upon the students themselves that are North Thames Deanery Sir Martin Jacomb who retired in March nowadays all too rare. It will be made clear and the Royal College of 2010 after 12 years. Previous Chancellors that at the University as later on or at work, Obstetricians and Gynecologists’, he have been Lord Hailsham and Baroness achievement is the reward of effort. became clinical director in 2003 and then Thatcher. deputy medical director at Barts and the It was hard to imagine, he said, that today’s London NHS Trust, from which he retired Lord Tanlaw’s connection with Buckingham beautiful campus was once a collection in 2009. In 1984 he became an apothecary goes back to the creation of the University of derelict buildings which included two and was elected Master of that livery in 1974, so his installation is a sign of how pigsties, a dairy, an old barracks, some company. closely the University remains attached to its cottages, a wooden woolshed with a roots. In fact the new Chancellor reconnects preservation order, the vehicle weighing Alexander McCall Smith, who is best the University to its roots because he is one office and a greenhouse. Now the University known as the author of the No. 1 Ladies' of the few survivors of the original governing can look to the future with confidence with Detective Agency series, body. His donation of £1m, when a gift of the development of the Tingewick Road was born in what is now that size was a lot of money, enabled the site. fledgling University to get off the ground – Zimbabwe and was and since then he has helped to lead the Lord Tanlaw called on alumni to return educated there and in growth of the University through his to Buckingham at intervals and to make Scotland. He retired from chairmanship of the Buildings Committee. a contribution to the future development the post of Professor of The student recreational centre, Tanlaw Mill, of the University. Medical Law at the University of to concentrate on his writing was named after him. After the ceremony, students, staff and career. He has written more than 60 books, alumni, as well as representatives of the As a young man Simon Mackay worked for including specialist academic titles, short local community, repaired to the Beloff lawn the family firm, Inchcape. Later he became story collections and children's books. He for a delicious lunch. Many thanks to all a Liberal working peer and created has written two Edinburgh-based series, those who made the event such a success. Fandstan Electric, a railway and engineering The Sunday Philosophy Club, and 44 Scotland Street, as well as an online daily serial for The Telegraph newspaper, called Corduroy Mansions.

For more information on the Honorary Graduates go to https://extranet.buckingham.ac.uk/ alumnet/graduationHon-10-2.aspx

Autumn 2010 7 Feature ESCAPE FROM THE DAY JOB The specialist Karol Sikora, outspoken Dean of the Medical School, talks to Dominic Randall

What attracted you to study How did you become Dean of the How are the plans for the and cancer in particular? Medical School and what attracted Undergraduate Medical Programme you to the position? progressing and when do you hope I was attracted to medicine at the age of to have the first intake 10 - I liked science and read about biology I first spoke with the VC Terence Kealey of students? a lot. I was particularly inspired by Louis five years ago. There is clearly a need for Pasteur who of course was not a doctor. medical schools - the world is changing so We are in constant discussion with My father died from cancer when I was fast. It definitely will happen and we won't the General Medical Council and the 16 and it left an indelible impression on be the only one in Britain. There is a huge Department of Health. We will start the me. It's a truly fascinating disease. So when demand for high quality medical education first B.Med.Sci programme in 2011 and I went into medical school at Cambridge to train a new cohort of far more person hopefully the first clinical entry in 2013. I knew what I wanted to do right from the responsive physicians. Medicine today faces considerable start. There is a lot of work involved in challenges. How do you see our What achievement has given setting up a new School. How did programmes meeting these? you greatest pleasure? you go about identifying which We have a good set of enthusiasts working programmes to run and which Building the new cancer centre at with us to overcome the challenge of hospitals you would work with? Hammersmith! I still do a weekly clinic there being something very different to the and I find it therapeutic - I no longer have to We've been in discussion with over 30 establishment. Through their efforts we do the tedious administration of course. hospitals. The NHS and private sector are hope to create something radically different. constantly changing. All recognise that the How has cancer treatment What is your vision for the Medical future depends on innovative approaches improved over your lifetime and School and where do you see it in to medical education. We are beginning what do you regard as the greatest five years time? to identify a handful of providers that will challenges in cancer therapy? become UB Healthcare Partners for the I see it as a place where we teach students Cancer is a growth disorder of our own delivery of teaching across a wide to see patients as valued customers not cells - the enemy within. Identifying the socio-economic background. as bags of DNA with a hospital number. rogue cells and selectively destroying them Treating the whole person not just the The first intake to the Clinical MD is the greatest challenge. It's rather like disease is the hallmark of the well educated programme is due to graduate dealing with terrorists in society. Inevitably physician whatever their speciality. Some shortly. Apart from the qualification it's an uncomfortable process. But of the old values have been lost as we have itself, what do you hope they will treatment with surgery, radiotherapy and become super-specialised. We can bring take away from the course? drugs has improved dramatically. I've them back. been a consultant for over 30 years and A much greater depth of knowledge of In view of the economic downturn, have seen amazing changes. The next internal medicine and the ability to provide do you think that NHS budgets 30 will be even more dramatic as our far better care for their patients as human should be protected? understanding of the molecular processes beings. that result in cancer are better understood I don't think they can be - it's all a and even more smart drugs become smokescreen to fool the voter. All politicians available. struggle with healthcare. They know it's of great concern to people. But our NHS is

8 Autumn 2010 Mountain retreat: Karol Sikora climbing above Lake Como cutting back by 20 per cent whatever the services into a free market just like any What do you do to relax? rhetoric from the centre. Efficiency savings other consumer good. Choice and My wife is an extremely keen hill walker. are difficult with a public sector, over competition leads to value and innovation. She has escalated this somewhat. I bureaucratised monolith such as our much It’s just like evolution in biology where realised this to my cost when I was two loved NHS. To listen to our politicians you'd we see mutation and natural selection. thirds of the way up the Matterhorn with think it was a religion. Medical Darwinism is the only way forward. all sorts of gadgets I'd been given as The World Bank knows it but the World As treatment and medical Christmas presents over the years such Health Organisation clings to old socialist equipment becomes increasingly as crampons, a harness and an ice axe. models of equity. New providers which are expensive is it reasonable to expect I have a fascination for railways - just look global in scope will arise for cancer, heart taxpayers around the world to pay? at the beautiful arches by the University. disease, arthritis and many others. They What are the alternatives? You can even see the remains of the old will deliver the best care, locally priced with platforms of Buckingham Station behind All countries - rich and poor - are huge economies of scale. I've been the Chandos Road car park. Railways are struggling. New technology, aging accused of suggesting a McDonalds’ type a fascinating glimpse into societal trends. populations - a good thing as longevity of operation for cancer care - but what's They are also evolving far faster than the is one of the benefits of modern medicine - really so different? It's all about effective NHS. I could spend a day walking along and huge consumer demand could lead logistics. the forgotten railways nearby looking for to financial meltdown. I believe the only signs of our industrial heritage. way forward is to liberate the delivery of

Autumn 2010 9 UBAA Update A special day for alumni

A moment of déjà vu swept over me as the Vice-Chancellor and Having sorted out the alumni from the other guests, we moved the other professors of the entered the on to the more serious matter of the AGM. I am delighted to church for the Installation of the new Chancellor, Lord Tanlaw. All announce that three new directors were elected to the Board – of a sudden I was nervously making my way toward Lord Hailsham Christopher Doe, Christopher Gibbs and Phillipp von Both all of to receive my degree and I have to say that, rather comfortingly, whom are bravely volunteering to help us take the UBAA to the nothing has really changed. next level. The directors of the UBAA and other alumni had been invited One topic that the Board considered extremely important yet highly to attend the Installation and share this special day – a perfect debatable was the matter of the conflict or potential conflict of occasion for hosting the second Annual General Meeting of interest of two of the directors, both of whom are the the fledgling alumni association. It was fitting also University representatives on the UBAA Board. that one of the founders and first In summary, if an issue arises at a Board benefactors of the University should Meeting that involves the University lend his support to the founding and some members of the UBAA members of the UBAA. consider that it conflicts with the purpose and general Lord Tanlaw kindly gave business of the UBAA, up the whole of this the University lovely Saturday representatives afternoon in should not September to be allowed to vote be interrogated or participate in in a highly any discussions informative on that issue Q & A session. otherwise they This was will be in breach followed by of their duties a panel of as directors of diverse the UBAA. The personalities alumni voted to debating the allow a waiver hot topic for those “Government directors Intervention – in such a situation Friend but this will be or Foe”. Our revisited at the panellists were Allison next AGM. Phillips, OBE, an Independent Member of Now on to the fun part! the Thames Valley Police The UBAA was delighted to Authority; Patricia Morgan, host drinks and a dinner for the author and Visiting Fellow of the alumni at, rather appropriately, the University; Sara Sutcliffe, Legal Director Old Tanlaw Mill. Guests were abIe to of the British Olympic Association and Martin indulge in copious amounts of some wonderful Ricketts, Professor of Economic Organisation and Portuguese wine, courtesy of Iuri Cortez and David Dean of Humanities at the University – the outcome, after what Rios, two Business Enterprise students – we wish them every proved to be a very lively debate, on balance, falling into the “Foe” success in their new venture. side of the equation. The audience, which consisted of other Finally, those of us who were still upright staggered into the visitors to the University, threw themselves passionately into the marquee for the Students Party – another feeling of déjà vu discussions and could quite happily have carried on for several struck me as it seemed that we had indeed come full circle. more hours! Lorinda J Long All Smiles: the UBAA Board pictured with Lord Tanlaw at his installation Vice-Chairman, UBAA The UBAA Board Members, Left to Right: Alex Johns, Suzanna Tomassi (Chairman), Lorinda Long (Vice-Chairman), James Baker, Marian Okunola, Lord Tanlaw (Chancellor), Anne Matsuoka

10 Autumn 2010 Laying strong Foundations

Even though all UBAA elected members are positive about them and more reunions The UBAA Forum entitled “Government working pro-bono, we have been very busy are planned in the near future, so please Intervention – Friend or Foe?” was a bees. We have been working hard to create keep your eyes open for further details. thought-provoking debate and I would the foundations for the Association. like to publicly thank our speakers for their One of the aims of this Board is to raise support. Both, the Q&A session and the During the past year there have been six funds. This is why the UBAA is proudly Forum left us with a lot to think about and board meetings, one AGM and alumni supporting the project of raising money I hope we will have further opportunities gatherings in London, Colombo, Beijing, towards a new Campus Radio Station, to talk about the University and the way Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok with the which is part of the Alumni Annual Fund. forward. focus on creating Alumni Groups in these We don’t currently ask for any money for countries. the UBAA but we have asked people to It is our belief that events such as this support the AAF project. will help to strengthen the role of alumni, In addition, each UBAA board member has increase networking opportunities, enhance been talking to staff members to identify As you may remember, it was originally fundraising and improve outside awareness ways in which UBAA can contribute to the intended to hold the second UBAA AGM of the University. We have plans for the development of the University. at the House or Lords. However, the next few months. We are hoping to organise announcement of the Installation of the In April we hosted the first in a regular series further seminars and social gatherings, and new Chancellor opened up the opportunity of year-specific alumni reunions in London. we look forward to seeing more alumni to hold what turned out to be an The first reunion was for those who participating in them. The UBAA was unforgettable joint event in Buckingham. graduated between 1983 and 1986 while created by alumni for alumni and we need We were delighted to be a part of this and the second one covered 1985 to 1991. your full engagement and support now. we appreciate the support given in these Those who attended the reunions were early days. Suzanna Tomassi UBAA Chairman (Pictured above) Autumn 2010 11 Alumni News “How I learnt to love research” A Masters student explains why his fears about his course were unfounded

I started the programme with experienced and, of course, would be reservations because my background essential research for those writing about was in technology and while I had the British Army during the late 19th and a number of professional early 20th Century! Having done an air qualifications, I lacked a full power subject, perhaps I should have university education. In the joined the club next door, event, owing to the nature the RAF Club. of the programme and the That leads me to the research itself. qualities of its tutors, this It was immensely enjoyable. My supervisor was not a problem. was splendid here not only suggesting It started with aspects that I might research but Professors Saul essentially, dragging me back to the David and Gary research questions when I wanted Sheffield explaining to explore topics that were interesting how to undertake to me but not strictly pertinent. historical There were three submissions. The first research and write was a practice essay answering one of the historical theses. questions set by the University based on This was a necessary step given research into set books. The second that some of us had last formally formed 20 per cent of the final mark. touched history in the 1950s or early 1960s It gave further practice writing academic when we finished our GCE ‘O’ levels. papers and helped clarify thinking about We enjoyed a first-rate series of lectures. the sources, content and structure of the The subjects chosen by the ten guest thesis. Finally, there was the thesis itself. speakers were varied; some were excellent. Remember the problem of constraining With so many members of the programme essays at school and college? Well, being of mature years, successful in their obviously with 40,000 words there would chosen fields, the question sessions were be no problem. Not so! A variation of interesting. Phrases that I will always Parkinson’s law applied – “The words in To All Alumni remember include “You bring a whole new a paper will always expand to exceed the This publication is for you and if you meaning to the phrase mature students”; permitted size of the paper” and very would like input into the next issue, “I have read your book on [a famous soon it became necessary to start some please send comments and ideas to person] and had it been on my desk as significant pruning. Also, after over 40 Anne Matsuoka a patient’s notes I would have had him years of writing business reports, I found [email protected] sectioned”, and from one of the guest the University did a valiant job teaching speakers: “I have been warned that you are me to write academic papers. The next publication we produce will not the usual group of graduate students”. Finally the health warning: I found historic contain more information, updating you The willingness of the speakers to continue on where Alumni are these days and research addictive. What started as a the discussions afterwards over dinner what they are up to. year’s extension to one of my hobbies has was another definite plus. taken over. I am doing more academic Please Note: The dinners took place in the Cavalry research next year and one day I will find Copy for next issue required by and Guards Club in Piccadilly. It has that document that rewrites history. 1 February 2011 undoubtedly changed since Queen A Satisfied MA Student www.buckingham.ac.uk Victoria’s reign but the ambience of that time can be easily imagined. It has to be

12 Autumn 2010 Alumni in the News

Richard Stein Alumni (History, Politics at Work and English Chukwuemeka Anyaene John Paul, will be remembered by many alumni as an Literature 1984) active member of the Amnesty Society, Nigerian Society, and a member of the Richard Stein, President of the executive thaw has come and we are in catch-up Catholic Youth Society. Since leaving search firm Global Sage, was quoted on the mode.” He went on to say “The [job] offers Buckingham he has become the front page of the New York Times (Sunday, are not near where they where in 2006, but Executive Director of Stella Maris Group 11 July, 2010) commenting on the current there is still a war for talent”. He confirmed of Schools and Managing Director / levels of recruitment taking place on Wall that corporate clients had offered Chief Executive of Patemax Projects Ltd Street. compensation packages worth more than which is well known for construction and $1 million annually to 12 candidates remodelling in the Federal Capital He was quoted as saying “Everyone in recent weeks. Territory in Nigeria. thought the ice age had returned, but the He has recently been involved in the “Nollywood” Film Industry as Co- Executive Producer of the film “Ije The Journey” featuring Genevieve Nnaji & Lost Alumni Omotola Jalade. Ije tells a tale of Chioma, a child growing If you know how to contact the following, please email the up in the Nigerian countryside, who Alumni Office at [email protected] warned her restless sister, Anya, about Mr Ibrahim Abu Sharar (MSc Mr Andrew Macdonald of Boisdale the trappings of the American Dream. Transformation Management, 2004) (BSc Business Studies, 1988) Now ten years later, Anya is accused of killing three men in a Hollywood Hills Mr Jose Banus (BSc Business Studies, Mr Kamer Nahar (BSc Economics, 1987) mansion, one of them her record 1987) Mr Brendan O'Flaherty (BSc Business producer-husband. Chioma travels from Mr Jose Carranza (BSc Business Studies, 2005) Nigeria to Los Angeles, and with the help Studies, 1988) of a young, unproven attorney, discovers Miss Victoria Palmer (BSc Business that the dark secret her sister wants to Mr Edmund Dang (BSc Accounting and Studies, 2005) keep hidden might be the only thing that Financial Management, 1990) Mr Nicholas Read (BSc Business can win her freedom. Mr Andreas Edvinsson (BSc Business Studies, 1993) Studies, 1998; and MSc Service Mr Algernon Sanders (BSc Business Management, 1999) Studies, 1993) Mr John Fallon (BSc Business Studies, Mr Graham Talbot (BSc European 1992) Business Management with French, 1999) Mr Jietao Gao (BSc Accounting and Miss Marijke Uhlenbroek (BSc Finance, 2005; and MSc Computing, 2006) Business Studies, 1985) Mr Gary Hallam (MSc International Hotel Mrs Yajna Vadamootoo (BSc Business Management, 1995) Studies, 1996) Mr Filip Ivanov (BSc Business Mr Thomas Wamwea (MBA Busines Economics, 2005) Administration, 20020 Mr Yoram Janowski (BSc Economics, Miss Qi Yang (BSc Business Studies 1992) with Information Systems, 2005) Mr Christopher Kamanga (MBA Miss Si Zhao (BSc International Hotel Business Administration, 2003) Management, 2001) Mr Fernando Laguna (BSc Economics, 1991)

Autumn 2010 13 Celebrations Weddings Births Alexander Richard Philip Jones Johanna Jones (LLM 2004) and Richard F. Jones Jr. are delighted to announce the birth of their son Alexander Richard Philip Jones on June 3, 2010 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Saad Al-Maliky (English Literature 2010) Saad Al-Maliky and his wife Batool Al-Mayahy had a baby son on 7 August 2010. He is a brother for Nooralhuda, Mohammedmusa, and Mohammedissa

Matthew Green (International Hotel Management ’99) Congratulations Guido von Rohr (Business Studies 1994) to Matthew Guido and Christina von Rohr (Politics and History 1999) are delighted to announce the Green and birth of Maria Sylvia and Cecilia Marie, twin sisters to Konstantin, and Antonius. Guido Jonathan Lyon said that “this peaceful quartet lasted for who were married about two nanoseconds” in Ottawa, Léonie and Justus Kleyser Canada, on 15 Philipp C. Kleyser, (LLM 2001) and his wife Amelie are delighted to announce the birth of October 2009. Leonie on 15 July 2010, a brother for Justus, This ceremony who was born on 24 May 2009 was followed by a blessing and party for family Mateo Paternina Inigo (Business Studies1990) and Ana and friends in Peternina are proud to announce the arrival of Mateo in January 2010, Jersey on 24 a brother to Yago. July, 2010

Leonid von Both Philipp von Both (Business Studies 2001) and his wife Stephanie are proud to announce that their third son, Leonid, was born on 19 June 2010 at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.

14 Autumn 2010 Obituaries In memoriam On these pages we remember former students and staff of Buckingham. The Independent makes every effort to accommodate fitting tributes, and friends, family and former colleagues are welcome to submit obituaries to [email protected]. Occasionally, however we may have to edit the entries.

William Martin a student of from Buckingham talked about their Business Enterprise died tragically experiences of William as a friend. After the young at the age of 20 on 27 service William was buried in a beautiful September, 2010. Our hearts location overlooking St Austell Bay. go out to his friends and family. The burial was followed by a gathering of At a memorial meeting held on campus, his family and friends at Porth Avallen Hotel Dr Jane Tapsell, Dean of the Business during which the Buckingham students He was always School, said “We were only privileged to handed to William's mother and father smiley, happy and know William for a short time, but during a folder and CD of their memories. ‘ that time William has made a lasting Alexander Burgess, a friend and fellow never had a bad impression on us all; both as a student and student at the Business school, wrote: thing to say about a friend.” She went on to say “William had just completed his third term at the “Will was one of the best mates anyone anybody University. A term in which the description could have had. used by one of his lecturers of ‘A Star’ did He was always smiley, happy and never not seem over zealous; Indeed, William was had a bad thing to say about anybody. an extremely bright and well liked young man and was thought to have an equally He was a keen and focused student, a bright future ahead of him.... Sadly this young entrepreneur and was dedicated was not meant to be.” to succeed. ’ William’s funeral was held on 8 October He will be truly missed. He is truly a legend near St Austell in Cornwall. In addition to and will never be forgotten.” readings and the Eulogy, several students

Shulian Zhang On 28 September, 2010, Shulian Zhang (1979 – 2010) died unexpectedly from leukaemia at the tender age of 31. After completing her MBA at Buckingham in 2004, Shulian achieved an MSc with Distinction at the Manchester Business School and was half-way through her PhD at the same university when a swift illness took her away from us. She left behind a two-year-old daughter, a loving husband Veselin Bandev (MBA 2004) and countless friends around the world. Always eager to help, Shulian had infectious enthusiasm for life. Her artwork – inside bottle painting - was just one example of her passion for excellence. An amazing mother, wife and friend, she will be remembered as one of the kindest people, someone who brought smiles and happiness to everyone who knew her and who definitely left the world a better place than she found it. A section of the Christies charity has been set up in Shulian’s name to support further research into leukaemia treatment. Please logon to: http://hopefunds.christies.org/funds/shulianzhang

Autumn 2010 15 Obituaries In memoriam Canon Alan Doyle (Dphil ’94) shortly afterwards in the diocese of Sodor and Man – where he met Barbara. After Professor John two curacies on the Isle of Man, he became chaplain to a School in Southern Rhodesia. Clarke recalls On returning to England he was appointed to the benefice of Chaddeslay Corbett, a smart and in the Diocese of Worcester, becoming a magistrate and Canon of Worcester well educated Cathedral. clergyman whom Alan’s thesis, on Clerical Justices in the Diocese of Worcester, is a fascinating piece he taught of work and reveals much about Alan himself. He was able to prove that the in 1994 conventional picture of the 18th century clergy – lazy, self indulgent and rather One day in the summer of 1994, I was indifferent to religion – was wide of the standing in the car park of a hotel near mark. The clergymen he worked on were Buckingham. I had arranged to have lunch hardworking, deeply religious and above all with a former student, who had just sailed ready to shoulder the responsibilities of the through his D.Phil viva: no corrections, no magistracy. Alan was in no doubt that he rewrites, everything fine. As I waited, I was following in their footsteps. Clerical noticed a group of young men – obviously justices are a rare breed nowadays and junior executives, sharp suited and very Dr Anabela Bravo many clergymen feel that it is not ‘yuppie’. A large, bright red BMW, the latest It is with very great sadness that the appropriate for them to sit on judgement on model, came in to the car park – rather fast University reports the loss of our friend and the laity, much less to impose punishments – and ground to a halt. The yuppies were colleague Dr Anabela Bravo, who finally on them. Alan would have none of it. He impressed and gathered round, clearly lost her struggle against cancer and died believed that the Church and State needed wanting to get a better look at the car and peacefully on Thursday 15 July in Lisbon. each other. He strongly believed in an to catch a glimpse of its driver – surely a She was only 47. Anabela was a Post- Established Church – not perhaps a more successful version of themselves. The Doctoral researcher working in the fashionable point of view today but one door opened and the driver emerged - a Psychology Department and she had been that Alan defended very ably. He also tall, handsome man, but grey haired and a member of staff at Buckingham since believed that the clergy should be smart, probably rather older than the yuppies had October 2008. (perhaps that explains the BMW) well expected. Some looked decidedly puzzled. educated and socially accomplished. Psychology Senior Lecturer, Dr Philip Fine, Then, as the driver turned towards me, they I think I rather shocked this man of the said: “Anabela first contacted me about must have seen the black vest and the dog Reformation by pointing out that his ideal coming to Buckingham in July 2007, having collar. People sometimes doubt the truth of was not far removed from that of the successfully gained funding from the popular sayings, but jaws really did drop Society of Jesus. Portuguese government. She was due then. The driver was Canon Alan Doyle. to start here in January 2008, but was Alan kept a straight face. Smiled sweetly For three years, Alan drove over to diagnosed with cancer in December 2007. at the yuppies but, once inside the hotel, Buckingham from his home at Great Her treatment set her back 9 months, but it had a wonderful fit of giggles. Malvern almost every week. If he did was successful enough that she started her not make a wide circle of friends in Alan, who died in June 2010 at the age research in Buckingham in October 2008. Buckingham, those who did get to know of 82, was a remarkable man, but first and Although she was never 100 percent well him always looked forward to his visits. foremost he was a clergyman. Barbara during her time here, she was still able to Angela Brown used to give a very good idea Doyle tells me that, when he was a little boy spend much of the following 14 months of her estimate of my visitors by her choice he improvised a pulpit, standing on top of carrying out research which she presented of coffee cups. The best china always came a pile of books to deliver his first ‘sermon’. at a conference in New Zealand in out for Alan Doyle. Alan Doyle was a good Alan was educated at Colwyn Bay December 2009. She then returned man, a clever man, a delightful man – and Grammar School in North Wales and then home to Lisbon for more treatment.” it was a great privilege for me to work joined William Deacon’s Bank. He served in with him. She will be very sadly missed. the RAF in World War II and was ordained

16 Autumn 2010