Million Plus

Professor Liz Barnes CBE, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Staffordshire University, reflects on how universities can focus on responding to local needs while striving also to be a force for good nationally and globally. 

"Staffordshire University, a Civic university, seeks to address local challenges working with schools, employers and local authorities. We have serious issues of deprivation and our student population is reflective of the challenged environment with over 40 per cent of our students presenting with multiple indices of disadvantage. However, I like nothing better than telling the stories of how we have changed lives – too many case studies to share, but a highlight is the students that have graduated that previously lived on the streets. We have a duty to change future prospects of people in our forgotten towns: ‘Talent is spread evenly across the country, opportunity is not’. Where you live will affect where you get to in life."

The full article can be read here.