Confidence and optimism at Commemoration Day
Published: 16 June 2011
As the Principal conferred degrees on our honorary graduates, he shared with the assembled audience some of his confidence and optimism for The University of Glasgow going forwards.
Commemoration Day, Bute Hall, 15 June 2011
Lord Provost, Lord Dean of Guild, Deacon Convener, Chancellor, Honorary Graduates, distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen It is my very great pleasure to welcome you all to the Bute Hall and the University of Glasgow.
It is also my great honour to add my congratulations to our newest graduates and to welcome them as alumni to the University. I would like to take this opportunity to say just a few words about Glasgow, where I believe we are placed and what the future holds.
And what better place to do it, but the Bute Hall? This magnificent setting captures something of the vision, belief and confidence of our Victorian forbears. They obviously felt inspired to create a bold and impressive statement in the name of education. It’s also a reminder of our tremendous heritage and of that vision and commitment to the ideals of a University, encapsulated in the Papal Bull of 1451. This ideal has been the beating heart of our University for 560 years. It’s what sustains Glasgow to this day.
And it is our challenge and our opportunity, to take what we have - this great institution - and push forward and into the future ensuring that its reputation continues to burn bright, and brighter still. Of course, I don’t need to tell you times are difficult. All of us, whether as individuals, businesses, in the private or public sector, or in the city itself, are facing up to the financial challenges before us. And Universities are no different. Glasgow is not immune!
So what has been our response? It has been said that ‘No problem is so big or complicated that it can’t be run away from’. I want to make it clear today that our response is quite the opposite. Glasgow is meeting our challenges head on, and in a range of ways, that will enable us to better grasp the opportunities that lie ahead. I believe that this University is poised to take the next and decisive steps to realise our vision for the future.
Let me summarise the grounds for my confidence and optimism. I’ll give you four reasons.
Firstly: we took a strong grip of our finances and we are now seeing the benefit. We could have delayed; we could have waited like the characters Vladimir and Estragon in Waiting for Godot. You remember the Samuel Beckett play: like them we could have been peering down at our hat, looking down at our shoes. Waiting for something to turn up and to collectively shout ‘We’re saved!’
We could have taken more time, spread the pressure and difficulties over a longer period. But there are times when taking quick, and decisive action, enables you to get ahead of the curve, and to your advantage. And so we sought, through cost savings and income generation, to make a difference. And we succeeded. And that matters.
But why? Well we always have to contend with the old, sometimes prudent, sometimes stultifying, adage that ‘Every time there’s a good suggestion, someone brings up the budget.’
Because of what we have achieved – we can take this adage and apply the positive, strategic spin. Because of what we have achieved our financial outlook for the years up to 2014-15 is good. We have turned our finances around. We actually have the resources to invest in our strategy. We don’t have to shelve it – we can and are making it happen. The University of Glasgow has taken the tough decisions. We have worked through the pain to achieve the gain that I am certain we will deliver.
Secondly we also have our new strategy Glasgow 2020: A global vision in place. I believe this is critical. In addition to the broad aims for academic excellence and financial sustainability, the strategy also explicitly highlights our academic investment priorities. We know which academic areas we will invest in. As I’ve already said, we are already starting to deliver our investment program across all the Colleges. In the Arts and Humanities, from Scottish Studies, to the Creative Arts, to History to Modern Languages. In Social Sciences, from Health and Wellbeing to Business and to Education. In Science and Engineering from Computing Science to Statistics to Physics to Chemistry. In Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences from Cancer Sciences to Cellular Signalling. I could go on. These are just examples.
When Universities unveil new strategies, some reinvent themselves, detach themselves from their roots, and claim they are on a different, fantastic journey. But Glasgow University has been on a fantastic journey for 560 years. This is just the latest chapter.
And what matters to me is that we stay true to our tradition as a broad-based civic University. A University for the City of Glasgow that has a real weight and reputation in Scotland, in the United Kingdom and – crucially - on the international stage. As was the case when this Bute Hall was built. And yet it is a University that remains rooted within our local and civic community. As I said recently to new student recruits: The City of Glasgow is the University, and vice-versa. One cannot exist without the other. Our fantastic journey begins in Glasgow, and ends in Glasgow.
And thirdly, we’ve reaffirmed why we matter. It’s good to remind ourselves of this. Earlier in the year, the University commissioned an independent impact study and the outcome of that was summarized in the document ‘The University of Glasgow: Enriching Scotland’. It produced an evidence based case for the ways in which the University contributes to this country across a whole range of areas: to the economy, to health and wellbeing, to culture. It was and remains an invaluable exercise – and one we have used to reassert the broad and far reaching value and contribution the University makes to Scottish society and our community.
Finally, there can be opportunities on the horizon that quicken the heart, excite the mind, and offer possibilities and potential for a step change and a thrilling new chapter in our individual or institutional histories. Such possibilities don’t come along that often. But there’s one such possibility before the University now! Let me share it with you.
We have recently acquired, and will have possession of the Western Infirmary site by 2015. To be honest, there has been a bit of a Waiting for Godot syndrome around this as well. People have talked about the University acquiring the site for at least 20 years. But not now. That has all changed. The waiting is over, the site is ours and from 2015 onwards it is ours to develop.
This has to be as big an opportunity, as exciting a challenge as the move of the University from the High Street to Gilmorehill nearly 150 years ago. It’s a fantastic chance to reshape the campus, create an estate that discards the worst of our 60s build and replaces it with new, fit for purpose environmentally and economically sustainable buildings that I hope will enhance this space in our city and be a worthy addition to the iconic Gilbert Scott building.
For this City it means a marvelous economic opportunity. During a decade of economic uncertainty, this University will drive a major capital development totalling hundreds of millions of pounds, which will be one of the engines of employment and growth in Glasgow.
So I really do feel that the next 10 years offer this University tremendous scope to forge ahead.
On a day like today its right then, that we remember and celebrate the past, that we reaffirm that what we do as Universities really does matter: for we can, and do transform lives.
It’s right too that on this day we celebrate this University because it’s not just a great University with a great past but one with a really great future.
We face the future with excitement and optimism because we haven’t been waiting around. We got on with the task on hand. Through restructuring and financial control we have laid the foundations, we have carried out the ground work, and, through our strategy, we know our direction of travel! We’re well set to move forward and we have new and wonderful opportunities just around the corner.
So this is a day to reassert our sense of history and our sense of destiny and I’m glad that we have been able to do this together. I’m glad too that as we move forward the University of Glasgow can count on, as it always has done, such distinguished graduates and such good friends. Our journey becomes your journey too.
On behalf of the University I hope you will continue to travel with us and be part of the success which lies ahead.
Anton Muscatelli,
Principal
First published: 16 June 2011
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