Principal's Column

...a life in the week

I am out and about at the moment, visiting different parts of the University and meeting a good cross-section of staff and students. In the last week alone I have:

• heard at first hand about the concerns and positive ambitions of staff in the new faculty of education and social work at Gardyne Road as they come to terms with the nitty gritty of merger
• discussed how the dental schools in Glasgow and Dundee might lead the debate on the future of Scottish dentistry
• had a glimpse of the new postgraduate programmes in law and congratulated their team on a record intake of first rate students
• understood a little more about future directions in experimental psychology visited the new innovative product design laboratory and the interactive media design studios and met the excellent new teams appointed to lead this work.

For good measure I have been involved in discussions about novel approaches to commercialisation of our life sciences research and taken the first steps in building on our excellence in surgical technology research by creating a new centre for medical instrumentation, technology and bioengineering. I am also looking forward to hearing more about faculty plans for the future development of arts and social sciences.

In other words, I have been dealing with the normal warp and weft of University life. I have a privileged passport to every part of the University and a clear understanding of just how hard everyone is working to move things forward. I am impressed by the progress that is being made.

Surprisingly, I have been able to do all this without paying much attention to the soap operas at Holyrood or Westminster. Of course I was interested in the First Minister's comments on schools and the main tenets of the education and lifelong learning report although not so concerned about the sterile posturing that increasingly surrounds the debate on student tuition fees. Of course, we need to keep our political antennae finely tuned but only to the extent that external events might influence our own institutional responsibilities - to enable learning through expert teaching, to foster world class research and to contribute to the economic, social and cultural life of Scotland. If we can continue to be successful in our own right, we will be able to cope with changes in the external environment without breaking step.

For the record, I am passionately opposed to the introduction of student tuition fees although I do envisage major structural change in the higher education sector over the next five to ten years. The University of Dundee will be well positioned to cope with such change and, if there is a moment when I think we might lead the debate rather than just follow it, I won't hold back. In the meantime we must keep doing the right things, right!