Business mentors for vice-chancellors
Business mentors for vice-chancellors
The business expertise of university vice-chancellors is being enhanced under a national scheme which involves matching 25 heads of universities and higher-education colleges with mentors from the most senior level of business,the professions and the public sector. They will exchange business advice and expertise and will act as sounding-boards for innovative ideas. Margaret Hodge,minister for lifelong learning, said: "Universities are becoming complex organizations, getting their money from an ever-broadening range of funding sources and fulfilling a widening agenda. Their contribution to the nation's prosperity is vital and so investing in developing strong leadership and management skills is important. Every year, universities up and down the country provide the private, public and voluntary sectors with some of the world's highest-quality graduates. This is testament to the excellent work of vice-chancellors in leading and managing their businesses. In return, we should be encouraging more senior leaders from the business, professional and public sectors to offer back their expertise, further strengthening links between higher education and other sectors. Universities are very powerful drivers of technological change and can have a significant impact on the development of their local economy. It is right that they should forge stronger links with businesses and local communities. These new mentoring partnerships will help in this agenda."
Digby Jones, Confederation of British Industry director-general, commented:"Industry and higher education can learn a great deal from each other. Many UK businesses are already working closely with universities. Over half the firms that responded to the 2001 CBI employment-trends survey had links with higher-education institutions. The mentoring scheme should strengthen these links further by allowing vice-chancellors and senior business leaders to share ideas and expertise."
