Episode 39: From UK universities to Universities UK and back again

In episode 39 of the podcast I am really pleased to be speaking to Alistair Jarvis, Chief Executive of Universities UK. We begin by looking back at Alistair's career journey which started out with a sabbatical role at Kent before moving into a number of roles which catered for his taste in public policy and higher education. These included a stint as director of communications for the now defunct 1994 group and, following that, a period at the University of Birmingham as Director of Communications and Marketing. A return to London beckoned and Alistair joined Universities UK, initially in External Relations and then as Deputy Chief Executive before successfully applying for the top job after Nicola Dandridge left to head up the Office for Students.

Alistair sought to adopt a different approach at UUK, getting the organisation to take clear positions on major issues rather than going for lowest common denominator stances on the basis that whilst not every member would agree with every policy adopted all of the time, most universities would be on board on most occasions. We talk about the structure of UUK, the strength of UUK International and the core aspects of Alistair's role from trying to influence policy through engaging with politicians and policy-makers, engaging with members and all of the governance and regulatory aspects of running an organisation.

Looking at the bigger picture of government's attitude to and attacks on the sector Alistair notes that universities are seen as a big target and observes that a large proportion of the population now has some connection with an HE institution. This means that universities are under scrutiny as never before and we have to be able to explain ourselves as well as finding ways to share the positive impacts of higher education wherever we can.

Finally, we discuss Alistair's new role, starting imminently, as PVC for Partnerships and Governance at the University of London, and note that he will be eligible to join AHUA in the new position.