from the principal ....
During the summer the focus has been on the anatomy of change and the new college & school structures are beginning to take shape. Now we must work on the physiology of change - the processes and functions which will help the University grow and develop for the future.
The restructuring of the University has progressed well in the last two or three months and I welcome the new Vice Principals who will lead the colleges, the Deans who will be responsible for the development of the new schools and the College Secretaries who will play a vital role in ensuring continuity at a time of change.
College and school boards are now being set up to ensure that staff and students can participate in University policy and decision making processes, an essential ingredient in tackling the challenges which lie ahead.
The short term anxieties we have about change will be ephemeral and the outward signs of change - the new structures, signposts, headed paper and amendments to the website - are no more than a means to an end. The University was simply outgrowing its previous way of doing things and the real purposes of the changes are:
to ensure excellence in education and research in a rapidly changing and competitive environment
to give clearer definition and authority to the professional disciplines and ensure that they become more outward facing
to enable new partnerships and innovations in the general arts, sciences and visual disciplines
to develop postgraduate activity at a time when "4th level education" is an area of national priority in many countries
to improve flexibility in decision making by devolving responsibility from the centre of the University, strengthening professional and administrative support in colleges and schools, and
to maintain a collegiate approach by ensuring that staff and students can participate fully in setting the direction of the University
Education and research is feeding a worldwide thirst for innovation, increasingly characterised by the removal of geographical boundaries, wider collaborations across disciplines and specialities and a tendency to treat intellectual assets more like capital, as something to be shared and invested, not hoarded. The University is not immune to these changes and we must draw on our increasingly international community of scholars and students to ensure the quality and relevance of our work for the future.
Closer to home, there is likely to be a hiatus in higher education policy and funding as we move through the 2007 elections to the Scottish Parliament and the next spending review but, despite some uncertainty, we cannot allow this to slow the pace of innovation and improvement within the University.
The next two or three years will be an exciting and testing time. New structures are not the answer to the challenges which lie ahead - but thoughtful leadership, good academic stewardship and mechanisms which liberate all the talents of our staff and students and encourage collaborative working will make a positive difference. The 2006-7 academic year promises a great deal and I take this opportunity to welcome our new students and staff and to thank those who are retiring and have contributed so much to the life and work of the University.
Alan Langlands
Principal and Vice-Chancellor
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