Million Plus

The university sector has changed dramatically since the 1990s. Malcolm Gillies, Vice-Chancellor of London Metropolitan University, talked recently to Central Lobby about the future of UK higher education and the ‘fearsome’ toll rhetoric about immigration is having on foreign students.

He discusses what universities have to do to stand out from the crowd, compared to 50 years ago, and why it is more important than ever that they define a clear mission about why students would want to go there and what is expected of staff.

He refers to the mission of London Metropolitan University, avowedly an access university and has been since 1848, explaining why their role is to "provide education for the whole community, provided people have adequate qualifications or background to succeed." 

Malcolm Gillies also makes it clear that they are ensuring "students who maybe don’t come from a family where people have previously gone to university now have an opportunity to do so and with that gain further opportunities in their private lives and in their careers."

Read the full interview with Central Lobby, here.