VC's Voice

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In addition to graduation ceremonies last month for the many students (mostly postgraduates) who obtained degrees from the University, there was a ceremony in the evening of Friday 30 January for students receiving certificates and diplomas.

Universities have to develop new forms of provision in response to changing social needs. Changes in student funding are reducing the number of full-time mature students. The significant reduction in mature student entry to Sussex is particularly regrettable, because we have in the past had a high proportion of mature students. Their presence greatly enriches the University, and is one of the main ways that we fulfil our mission of service to the local and regional community.

The development of part-time programmes is one response to the challenge of finding new ways of widening access to higher education. But part-time programmes cannot be created by simply taking full-time programmes and spreading them more thinly: part-time provision has to be designed to meet the specific academic and practical needs of part-time students.

Many students look for postgraduate programmes that will contribute to their continuing professional development. That is a challenge that forces us to think innovatively, and moves us away from the traditional style of course design towards a much more responsive mode. In the traditional mode, academics decide what kind of courses they would like to teach, put these courses 'on the books', and wait for the students to apply and register. But continuing professional development programmes have to be designed to meet the specific needs of students, their employers, and their potential employers. The very phrase 'on the books' may be outmoded thinking.

We now have a number of programmes designed to meet the needs of specific student groups. USIE's MA in School Effectiveness was developed in partnership with West Sussex County Council. CCE's Certificate in Advocacy and Empowerment has been designed with and for Body Shop International. Two groups of students graduated last month from new diploma programmes: the Postgraduate Diploma in Policing Studies developed by SLS in partnership with the Sussex Police, and the Postgraduate Diploma in Contemporary European Studies, designed by SEI for the training of young professionals from Central and Eastern Europe, and supported by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. We need to develop further this kind of initiative.

We say we are an Equal Opportunities employer. Are we? 56% of our students are female, as are 56% of our non-teaching staff. Between 1990 and 2000, the proportion of female teaching faculty has gone up from 19% to 28% and the proportion of female staff in senior non-academic positions has gone up from 0 to 26%; in both cases a welcome movement in the right direction. But the proportion of female professors has risen from 5% to only 11%, and the number of women in senior academic management (Deans, Directors, Pro-Vice-Chancellors) has fallen from two to one. We need to do better. Everyone involved in making senior appointments (including those consulted about the appointment of new Deans) should be conscious of the issue.