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reflectIONS 50 years of changing the world REFLECTIONS 50 years of changing the world 5 11 19 The global University The visionaries The evolving campus 29 39 47 Student life Embracing the future Towards new horizons For more about the history of the University of York and our 50th Anniversary celebrations visit www.york.ac.uk/50 5 THE GLOBAL university The 3Sixty demonstration space in the Ron Cooke Hub The global university ad Lord James lived to see his cherished progeny reach its 50th Anniversary Hin 2013, the first Vice-Chancellor of the University of York would have been deservedly proud. As one of Britain’s youngest universities, York has risen from modest beginnings to the very top rank of higher education institutions in the country and the wider world. Top of the league In 2012, two international league tables of the most successful young universities ranked York as number one in the UK and number six in the world: a fitting birthday present. “In just 49 years, the University of York has managed to forge a powerful global reputation as a strong research-led university, and it performs very well against the world’s elite heritage institutions,” said the Editor of the Times Higher Education Rankings, Phil Baty, when he announced the league table results in 2012. These elite heritage institutions include the likes of Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, and Harvard and Stanford in the United Professor Brian Cantor States, all of which have centuries of tradition and experience behind them, and are backed by significant levels of private funding. and food scarcity to eliminating poverty and “The world’s leading For York’s current Vice-Chancellor, delivering modern healthcare and welfare universities – and York is one Professor Brian Cantor, this success: “stems systems in the emerging new economies.” of those – face big challenges from the hard work, dedication and ability of When Professor Cantor was headhunted in the next decade. There are all our staff and students over many years. It is for the Vice-Chancellor’s position at the start massive problems for human their commitment to the pursuit of excellence of the new millennium, he was told that one society and we have a duty and inclusivity in teaching, research and of his key tasks would be to raise the profile and responsibility to play a knowledge transfer that has enabled us to of the University on the global stage. “Under role in finding solutions to achieve this leading position in the world.” my predecessors, Berrick Saul and Ron Cooke, those problems – whether York had established a reputation as one of they are of poverty and Meeting the global challenges the most consistent, top performing, British deprivation, climate change universities in both teaching and research. and global warming or But he is not complacent: “Over the last ten The challenge was to extend that reputation food security and years we have worked hard to establish the to the wider world,” he said. conflict resolution.” University of York as a world-class player. We But why go global? “For a modern are there now. The challenge in the coming university to be successful it has to compete Professor Brian Cantor decade is to consolidate and strengthen our on a global stage,” said Professor Cantor. Vice-Chancellor position by maintaining our focus on excellence “Economic growth in countries such as in teaching and research. I believe it is our Brazil, Russia, India and China is creating a reputation for research that leads people from huge middle class with an insatiable appetite all over the world to come to York. They want for higher education. These students are to work with us in meeting and overcoming incredibly mobile and, through the internet, some of the most pressing challenges facing they are also well informed when it comes humankind today – from global warming to choosing where to study. 7 “The same is true of industry, which is both commitment to excellence, inclusivity, global and highly mobile. Business is looking sustainability and internationalisation. for research partners around the world and A strong focus on excellence in teaching Times Higher Education will choose them according to the best fit with and research has, of course, run through Awards their strategic goals. Competition for students York’s history like a golden thread. Likewise, 2012 – The University of York and business partners will only intensify over the close relationship between the research the coming decade, and York needs to raise activities of staff and the teaching of students, was ranked first in the UK its game if it is to continue to rank among has also been a hallmark of the York approach. and eighth in the world in the the best in the world.” “Our teaching and learning will be Times Higher Education world Nearly a quarter of the University’s informed by our research activities and based rankings of universities less academic staff and students come from outside on the particular interests and expertise of than 50 years old the UK, from 132 different countries. Business the staff. While using modern technologies, 2012 – Outstanding Support partners include global brands such as IBM, we will continue to place a high value on for Early Career Researchers GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Rolls-Royce academic contact with students,” states the and Unilever. York is a founding member University Plan. This latter point highlights 2011 – Outstanding of the Worldwide Universities Network, another feature of the York experience – a Engineering Research Team, comprising universities from the US, China, pedagogy in which seminars and tutorials member of the Widening Australia and South Africa. play a very important role in the education Participation Initiative of the Today the world student population is of young people, even in a world where Year partnership estimated to be around 100 million and the smartphones and social networking are kings. 2010 – University of the Year money spent supporting them and their “At York, we believe that the best higher research is thought to be as much as £2 trillion education is a residential, lived experience 2009 – Outstanding and is growing at six to eight per cent per in a vibrant, intellectual environment,” said Contribution to Leadership annum. York’s Development Plan in 2003 Professor Cantor. Development and its University Plan 2009/19 underscore 2008 – Outstanding Employer the need to compete successfully in this Qualities of leadership Engagement Initiative international arena. One of the most important reasons for York’s remarkable rise to global pre-eminence can be traced to the leadership qualities of its Vice-Chancellors, and the teams they have assembled around them. Each, in their own way, has had a distinctive vision for where they wanted to take the University. “But having and articulating the vision is only the beginning,” said Professor Cantor. “The vision has to be worked through and shared with colleagues. One of the great things about York is that people work together. An independent study of British universities found that York has the strongest institutional culture – people see themselves as members of the wider University rather than just their department or research unit. This creates a shared approach to achieving the vision.” “At York, we believe that the “Ultimately success will depend on recruiting Interestingly, the University’s very first best higher education is a the best students and staff worldwide, Vice-Chancellor, Lord James, noticed this same attitude almost half a century earlier residential, lived experience delivering world-leading research and when he was forced to make difficult spending in a vibrant, intellectual providing an excellent environment in which cuts. “I received the support of my academic environment.” students can learn,” the University Plan states. colleagues who were prepared to put the Professor Brian Cantor Research-based teaching interests of the University before those of their Vice-Chancellor own departments,” he was later to write. To become a magnet for top-flight students, “I was initially surprised and always gratified researchers and teachers from around the by the fact that one was rarely deafened by world, the University Plan reinforces York’s the sound of the grinding of axes.” 8 Re-engineering York Going with the grain for the 21st century By working with the grain of this ethos, In the early 2000s, Professor Cantor Professor Cantor said he learnt that “if you and his senior colleagues worked with get enough people behind you, you really can move mountains.” In this case, it meant that Vice-Chancellor Professor everyone throughout the University to Brian Cantor and Head of the the University was able to double in physical re-engineer its approach: extending the Department of Archaeology subject mix to include professional and size and more than double the scale of its Professor Julian Richards accepted creative arts departments; re-engaging with activities over the last decade. In ten years, the Queen’s Anniversary Prize from alumni worldwide to create an extended the University increased the number Her Majesty the Queen and Prince academic and professional family network; of students from 8,000 to 16,000, without Philip in Buckingham Palace in 2012, the fifth time the University has forging international partnerships with losing the collegiate and friendly character that defines the personality of York. Over the won the award. Past prizes have other universities, research institutions, gone to Computer Science, the government agencies and NGOs across the last decade, the University’s turnover trebled Centre for Novel Agricultural world and embedding the notion of using and a healthy surplus was created in a way Products (CNAP), the Centre for the University’s intellectual riches directly that would have won the approval of any Health Economics (CHE) and the to create economic value and to enhance thrifty Yorkshire person.

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