Tag: University

  • University of Wisconsin–Madison Chancellor to Lead Columbia

    University of Wisconsin–Madison Chancellor to Lead Columbia

    Mnookin will be the fourth leader in three years at Columbia.

    DNY59/iStock/Getty Images

    Columbia University has selected Jennifer Mnookin, a legal scholar and current chancellor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, as its next president. 

    Jennifer L. Mnookin

    University of Wisconsin–Madison

    Mnookin has led the Wisconsin flagship since 2022 and will remain in her role through the spring commencement. Before taking the top spot at UW-Madison, she served as dean of the UCLA School of Law.

    Mnookin will be the fourth leader in three years at Columbia. Since 2023 the institution has been disrupted by student protests, faced $400 million in cuts to federal research funding and agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement with the Trump administration. 

    Mnookin will replace Claire Shipman, the former co-chairperson of the Board of Trustees, who has been acting president since March 2025, when interim president Katrina Armstrong resigned. Armstrong took over for Minouche Shafik, who was the university’s last permanent president and resigned in August 2024.

    According to The Wall Street Journal, Columbia chose Mnookin because of her success navigating polarized politics in Wisconsin and dealing with the federal government. 

    During her tenure, Mnookin launched programs guaranteeing full financial support for Pell-eligible in-state students and for undergraduates who are members of federally recognized Wisconsin American Indian tribes and pursuing their first degree. She also increased the institution’s research spending to $1.93 billion, making it the fifth-highest-ranked institution in the country for research expenditures. 

    Her term has not been without controversy, though. Last July, the institution closed its diversity, equity and inclusion office amid scrutiny into its funding from Republican state lawmakers. In October, the university announced cost-cutting measures after it had federal grants terminated and received stop-work orders on some projects.

    In a statement, Mnookin said her time at UW-Madison has been “life-changing.”

    “It has been a true honor to be a part of the Wisconsin family. I am proud of what we have accomplished together, even in a challenging period for higher education, and I know great possibilities lie ahead for the UW-Madison campus community.”

    Jay Rothman, president of the Universities of Wisconsin, extended “substantial gratitude” to Mnookin.

    “During her tenure, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin brought unbounded energy, resilience and deeply thoughtful leadership to this great university,” Rothman said.

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  • Cornell University lands $371.5M gift, the largest in its history

    Cornell University lands $371.5M gift, the largest in its history

    Dive Brief:

    • Cornell University has booked the largest gift in its history — $371.5 million —  from the founder of PeopleSoft, the Ivy League institution said Thursday. 
    • David Duffield’s recent pledge, which comes on top of $100 million that the Cornell alum gave last year, makes Duffield one of “the university’s leading all-time donors,” Cornell said. 
    • Duffield’s latest donation will create a $250 million Duffield Legacy Fund to help Cornell’s engineering college pursue “strategic opportunities” and a separate $50 million fund to support college priorities under “educational excellence.”

    Dive Insight:

    With over $470 million pledged to Cornell in less than two years, the university is naming its engineering college after Duffield. 

    Duffield co-founded software companies PeopleSoft and Workday. He is worth $12.1 billion, according to Bloomberg. 

    Along with the education and strategic priorities funds, Duffield’s latest gift will also create the Duffield Launch Fund with the remaining $70-plus million. That third fund is to finance investments into immediate priorities of the newly renamed Cornell David A. Duffield College of Engineering. Those priorities include updating the college’s physical infrastructure, bolstering research facilities, and supporting faculty and students. 

    The engineering college will also use the launch fund to pursue research in fields such as quantum engineering, artificial intelligence, health and data-driven decision-making.  

    The legacy and launch funds established by Duffield’s donation will allow the college to “remain nimble, proactive and financially responsible as we advance our values and mission,” Lynden Archer, Cornell’s engineering dean, said in a statement. Archer added that the university will announce more specific plans for the funds later.  

    Cornell’s endowment was valued at just under $11.2 billion at the end of fiscal 2025, according to the university’s latest financials. Over 80% of those funds had donor restrictions tied to them. 

    The university’s endowment was the 18th largest in the nation, according to the latest study of endowments from the National Association of College and University Business Officers and asset management firm Commonfund.

    With 26,561 students in fall 2025, Cornell’s endowment dollars per student came to around $420,000 — well under the $500,000 per student threshold that triggers the minimum endowment income tax created in last year’s massive Republican tax and spending bill. 

    A post last year from the conservative American Enterprise Institute listed Cornell as among the colleges that “may not be on the hook for the tax right now” but could be later “if their endowment growth continues to outpace growth in enrollment.”

    AEI researchers projected that Cornell’s endowment tax liability would jump from $0 in 2026 through 2028 to $14.8 million in 2029 and $16.2 million in 2030. 

    While off the hook for the endowment tax (for now), Cornell is set to pay the government $30 million over three years per a deal it cut with the Trump administration in November. That payment is in exchange for the administration reinstating $250 million in federal research funding and ending its civil rights investigations into the university.

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  • Higher education postcard: University of Sunderland

    Higher education postcard: University of Sunderland

    Greetings from Sunderland!

    By the 1850s Sunderland’s main industries were shipping, coal and glass. And in common with other industrial towns, the need for colleges to teach beyond basic school level had been felt and addressed. There had been a mechanics’ institute, which had failed; and then the creation of a school of science and art, funded through the government scheme. There’s a most learned discussion of the Sunderland School of Science and Art in this article by W G Hall from 1966 – it was published in The Vocational Aspect of Secondary and Further Education and drew upon Hall’s Durham MEd thesis.

    But the School of Science and Art was wound up in 1902. For the reason that the town council had in 1901 created a technical college to meet the town’s needs. The technical side of the School of Science and Art was transferred to the new college after it had been running for a year; the art side was hived off into a newly established Sunderland School of Art.

    The technical college was absolutely geared to the town’s industrial needs. Alan Smithers reports that in 1903 “heavy engineering and shipbuilding industries in Sunderland tried an arrangement whereby apprentices were released to the local technical college for six months each year over a period of several years.” While this was not the very first sandwich course – which may have been in Glasgow or in Bristol, 60 or 25 years previously, depending – it was a new model for technical colleges, and was soon copied in Wolverhampton, Cardiff, and at the Northampton Polytechnic, London.

    From 1930 students were able to study for degrees: in applied sciences, from Durham University; in pharmacy, from the University of London. And in 1934 London also recognised the college for the BEng degree.

    In 1969 the technical college, the school of art, and the Sunderland Training College (which had been established in 1908 and which operated from Langham Tower) were amalgamated to form the Sunderland Polytechnic. Educational innovation continued, with the country’s first part-time, in-service BEd degree being offered.

    In 1989 the polytechnic – along with all others, it wasn’t just a Sunderland thing – moved out of local authority control to become a self-governing corporation, following the 1988 Education Reform Act. The Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette ran an eight page supplement on Monday 3 April to celebrate. Features included:

    • a foreword from the Polytechnic’s Rector, Dr Peter Hart. (You can see a picture of him below, sat at his desk. 1989 and no computers. Sic transit gloria mundi.)
    • a sport-council funded project to promote inclusion of people with disabilities in sports
    • the polytechnic’s autism research
    • a photo of the polytechnic’s switchboard operators, with their new computerised system which enabled direct lines to extensions within the poly
    • the polytechnic’s knowledge exchange work
    • a picture of an Olympic athlete (Christina Cahill, fourth at the Seoul Olympics women’s 1500m) joining student services
    • the faculty of technology
    • an article written by the dean of the new faculty of business, management and education
    • pharmacy and art
    • the Japanese language centre at the polytechnic
    • a charity based at the polytechnic looking at medicines for tropical diseases.

    There’s a variety of stuff here, and what strikes me is the fact itself that the local paper regards the poly as a local amenity. There was clearly a felt connection between the local paper and this very big local institution, and pride at what it did.

    Image: Shutterstock

    In 1992 the polytechnic became the University of Sunderland. It now has campuses in London and Hong Kong as well as in Sunderland, and since 2018 has had a medical school.

    Alumni include Olympic athlete Steve Cram and current Guyanese President Irfaan Ali.

    Here’s a jigsaw of the postcard – it’s unsent and undated but I would guess it is from before the first world war, as it was printed in Berlin.

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  • University of Pennsylvania rebuffs EEOC demand for employee records

    University of Pennsylvania rebuffs EEOC demand for employee records

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    Dive Brief: 

    • The University of Pennsylvania has rebuffed the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s demands for detailed employee records as part of its investigation into whether the institution has a hostile work environment for Jewish employees. 
    • Penn said it has provided nearly 900 pages of information to the EEOC, including employee complaints of antisemitism, according to Tuesday court documents. However, the Ivy League institution has refused to produce lists of employees that would “reveal their Jewish faith or ancestry” or their participation in Jewish organizations. 
    • The EEOC and other agencies have launched similar probes against other high-profile universities. California State University system leaders complied with a similar record request from the EEOC by handing over contact information for 2,600 employees at the system’s Los Angeles campus — a move that drew a lawsuit and fierce backlash. 

    Dive Insight: 

    Penn has requested that the federal judge overseeing the case deny the EEOC’s request to enforce its subpoena for the employee records and other information. 

    The EEOC has requested that Penn turn over the names of employees who have filed complaints about antisemitism and the membership rosters of the university’s Jewish organizations. 

    The agency has also demanded the names and personal contact information of employees who work in the Jewish Studies Program, along with the staff and faculty who participated in anonymous listening sessions and a survey conducted by the university’s antisemitism task force. The EEOC additionally requested notes from the listening sessions and de-anonymized responses from the survey. 

    “The EEOC insists that Penn produce this information without the consent — and indeed, over the objections — of the employees impacted while entirely disregarding the frightening and well-documented history of governmental entities that undertook efforts to identify and assemble information regarding persons of Jewish ancestry,” the university said in the court documents. 

    Penn said it has already given the EEOC information about employee complaints about antisemitism, but it did not hand over the names of the workers who made those complaints and objected to their information being disclosed. 

    The university also gave the agency a list of Jewish organizations, a public directory of employees in the Jewish Studies Program and an anonymized analysis of the feedback from the antisemitism task force’s listening sessions and survey. 

    Additionally, Penn proposed sending a notice to all of its employees about the EEOC’s desire to hear about their experiences with antisemitism and information about how to contact the agency directly. 

    “That comprehensive offer eliminates any possible justification for mandating compilation of the requested lists,” Penn said. “Indeed, it reflects the obvious fact that even employees who are not Jewish may nonetheless have information about acts of antisemitism.”

    In late September, the EEOC moved to enforce the subpoena just hours after the university made that proposal in a meeting with an agency official to enforce the subpoena, according to Tuesday’s court filing. 

    The investigation was opened into Penn in December 2023, during the Biden administration. At the time, Commissioner Andrea Lucas, who was appointed under the first Trump administration, filed a charge and cited a “reason to believe” that Penn had engaged in “a pattern or practice” of harassment against Jewish employees. 

    The Trump administration has continued the investigation. However, Penn said in Tuesday’s court documents that the EEOC hasn’t made a specific allegation against the university about workplace antisemitism. 

    “Rather, premised on the unspecified suspicions of a single Commissioner, it asserts a hostile work environment for Jewish employees based only on unidentified news reports and claims of students about their experiences as students,” the university said. 

    The EEOC, meanwhile, argued in court documents Tuesday that it must work with Penn to gain the contact information of “likely victims and witnesses” and that its subpoena for employee records is no different than the information it demands in other investigations. 

    “Penn refuses to respond, thereby stalling the EEOC’s investigation,” the agency said. 

    It added that the university’s “proposal to inject itself as a filter between Penn employees and the EEOC” would result in the institution being aware of which workers were participating in the investigation and risk retaliation. 

    Several higher education and campus groups – including the American Association of University Professors and Penn’s local AAUP chapter, as well as the American Academy for Jewish Research and the Penn Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty —  have filed court documents to oppose the subpoena’s enforcement. 

    In filings Tuesday, they suggested that the EEOC could take Penn up on the offer to send a notice to all employees along with EEOC contact information. The agency could also invite submissions through a hotline or “rely on the extensive information Penn already has produced,” they said. 

    They further expressed alarm at the EEOC’s demand for information like the home addresses of members of Jewish campus groups. 

    “Singling out organizations and individuals for such an invasion of privacy based on their actual or presumed religious affiliation would be deeply troubling under any circumstances,” they said. “It is particularly chilling in light of the persecution that often has followed the compilation of lists of Jews in particular.”

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  • WEEKEND READING: The one strategic role almost every university underestimates – and why it matters now more than ever

    WEEKEND READING: The one strategic role almost every university underestimates – and why it matters now more than ever

    This blog was kindly authored by Caroline Dunne, Leadership Coach, Change Mentor and former Chief of Staff.  

    For many Vice-Chancellors, the challenge is one of bandwidth. Leading a university today is equivalent to running a major regional employer – complex multi-campus operations, often turning over hundreds of millions of pounds, under intensifying public and political scrutiny. In this environment, strategic support is not a luxury; it is a prerequisite for strong, steady leadership that can hold the line between urgent pressure and long-term ambition.

    Within this context, one critical role remains under-recognised in much of the sector: the Chief of Staff.

    Drawing on insights from interviews conducted in the first quarter of this academic year with Chiefs of Staff and senior Higher Education leaders across the UK, this piece explores the strategic value of the role and why, in a period of profound turbulence, now could be the right time to put more “Chief” into the Chief of Staff.

    An untapped strategic asset

    Outside higher education, the Chief of Staff is a well-understood part of modern executive infrastructure: a senior adviser who expands the horizon of the chief executive, drives alignment, absorbs complexity and enables organisational agility.

    Inside higher education, the role is far more variable. In some institutions, the role is positioned as a strategic partner to the Vice-Chancellor; in others, it is mistaken for an ‘executive assistant-plus’ or folded into a different portfolio. Reporting lines, authority and remit differ widely, sometimes limiting the role’s ability to deliver its full strategic value.

    What emerged consistently from my interviews is this: the absence of a portfolio is the Chief of Staff’s greatest strategic advantage. It enables the role to traverse boundaries, ‘keep things moving in the grey areas’ and view institutional issues through an enterprise lens rather than a single-portfolio perspective.

    As one interviewee described it, not having a portfolio makes you:

    A free agent with an aerial view.

    Greater understanding of this untapped role is overdue. Paradoxically – and perhaps counterintuitively in a resource-constrained sector – it is precisely in this context that a well-positioned Chief of Staff becomes most critical to institutional success.

    Five modes of strategic influence

    In a sector facing systemic pressures, where, as one respondent put it, “driving change and transformation… is like pushing a boulder uphill”, the Chief of Staff plays an important catalytic role – shaping thinking, absorbing complexity and helping the organisation respond with coherence rather than fragmentation.

    I conducted 11 interviews which revealed five modes of strategic influence that a Chief of Staff brings to university leadership:

    Sense-making: turning complexity into coherence.

    Not being tied to a portfolio gives the Chief of Staff a rare vantage point. They see the connections, gaps and risks that others – focused on their own areas – may miss.

    A seat at the top table, even without formal membership, brings influence through insight rather than authority. Chiefs of Staff challenge assumptions, sharpen strategic issues and help Vice-Chancellors translate vision into coordinated action.

    One interviewee captured the essence of the role well:

    “We help make things happen, but we belong in the background.”

    Alignment and flow: moving decisions through the system.

    Universities are structurally complex, often siloed and prone to initiatives moving at different speeds in different directions. Chiefs of Staff surface dependencies, shepherd decisions through the right governance bodies, and ensure that decisions, conversations and projects maintain momentum.

    As one Chief of Staff noted:

    We make sure everyone is rowing in the same direction – even if they’re in separate boats.

    Trusted connectivity: the organisational glue

    Nearly every interviewee emphasised the relational character of the role. Chiefs of Staff build trust across formal and informal networks, read the room, join dots, create spaces for candid conversations and offer a safe space to rehearse potentially difficult issues.

    Much of their impact is intentionally invisible. As one Chief of Staff reflected, the

    most significant unseen impact is behind-the-scenes relationship building.

    Another colleague added:

    Real mastery is knowing when to be visible and when to be invisible… knowing how to master ego.

    Influence in universities is exercised as much between meetings as it is within them.

    Strategic counsel:  second pair of eyes

    Vice-Chancellors face relentless external demands. Chiefs of Staff help maintain strategic momentum by offering:

    • operational realism
    • political insight
    • institutional memory
    • horizon scanning
    • a safe environment to test ideas

    Several described themselves as the “second pair of eyes” – seeing risks early and raising issues before they land.

    We clear barriers, trial new approaches, and give leaders the space to act confidently without being swamped by operational detail – enabling principled, well-understood risks.

    Steadying influence: calm in a volatile environment


    With no portfolio interests and a broad institutional view, Chiefs of Staff help manage tension within senior teams, support leadership transitions and create calm judgement in moments of pressure.

    As one interviewee said:

    A Chief of Staff can help calm the waters – up and down and sideways.

    Another added:

    When an institution is facing uncertainty, you need someone with no skin in the game – someone invested in the success of the collective.

    “A Chief of Staff takes it to the finish line – but you’re nowhere near the ribbon.”

    The point is clear: the role is not about visibility. It is about capacity, coherence, relationships, pace and judgement.

    In a sector where senior leaders are stretched, where decisions carry political and human consequences, and where the pace of change is only accelerating, the question for institutions is no longer whether to invest in a Chief of Staff – but how to position the role for maximum effect:

    • reporting lines that enable influence
    • clarity of remit
    • proximity to decision-making
    • and a mandate that embraces both people and strategy

    As the higher education sector faces continued uncertainty, one thing is clear: well-positioned Chief of Staffs are not a luxury. They are a source of resilience, coherence and leadership capacity – precisely when the sector needs it most.

    In developing this piece, I am deeply grateful to the colleagues who generously contributed their insights including:

    Dr Giles Carden, Chief Strategy Officer and Chief of Staff, University of Southampton

    Dr Clare Goudy, Chief of Staff, Office of the President and Provost, UCL

    Thomas Hay, Head of Vice-Chancellor’s Office, Cardiff University

    Jhumar Johnson, former Chief of Staff to the former Vice-Chancellor at the Open University

    Dr. Chris Marshall, Chief of Staff and Head of the Vice-Chancellor’s Office, University of Wales Trinity Saint David

    Mark Senior, Chief of Staff (Vice-Chancellor’s Office), University of Birmingham

    Rachel Stone, Head of Governance and Vice-Chancellor’s Office, University of Roehampton 

    Luke Taylor, Chief of Staff to the President & Vice-Chancellor, University of Manchester

    Becca Varley, Chief of Staff, Vice-Chancellor’s Office, Sheffield Hallam University

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  • Emirates Aviation University graduates to feed directly into aviation industry

    Emirates Aviation University graduates to feed directly into aviation industry

    The graduates were conferred by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman and chief executive of Emirates Airline and Group, and chancellor of EAU. Addressing the ceremony, he highlighted the growing importance of digitally skilled professionals as the sector undergoes rapid transformation.

    Held at the EAU campus in Dubai, the latest cohort brings the university’s total number of graduates to more than 26,500 – with the institution reporting a 94% employability rate, underlining its role in supporting the aviation industry’s evolving talent pipeline.

    “As the industry enters a new era driven by digital transformation and innovation, the next generation of talent will play a defining role in charting its course,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum.

    “The graduates of EAU embody this momentum in the industry. They are equipped with the insight, resilience, and ambition needed to navigate an increasingly complex global landscape. Their achievements reflect our commitment to supporting an industry that remains vital to the world’s progress and prosperity. We extend our warmest congratulations to this exceptional cohort as they begin their journey into the future of aviation.”

    The ceremony was attended by senior Emirates Group executives, EAU leadership and faculty, alongside graduates’ families and guests, as graduating students celebrated their completion of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees across aviation management, aeronautical engineering, aircraft maintenance engineering, logistics and supply chain management, aviation safety and security, and other key disciplines that support the aviation ecosystem.

    The graduates of EAU embody this momentum in the industry. They are equipped with the insight, resilience, and ambition needed to navigate an increasingly complex global landscape
    His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Airline and Group

    “This year’s graduating class reflects the depth of talent nurtured at EAU,” stated Professor Ahmad Al Ali, vice chancellor of EAU.

    “Our programs are developed in close alignment with the evolving needs of the aviation and technology sectors, ensuring our students graduate with industry‑relevant expertise and a forward‑looking mindset,” he added.

    In addition, as part of the Emirates Group, EAU integrates industry exposure into its academic model. In 2025 alone, the Group trained 130 EAU interns, while more than 3,000 students have completed placements at Emirates and dnata over the years, gaining practical industry experience alongside their studies.

    Of the 379 graduates, 296 completed bachelor’s degrees and 83 completed postgraduate qualifications. The cohort included 121 UAE nationalists, with 28 engineering students fully sponsored by Emirates Engineering. 20 students were recognised for outstanding academic performance across disciplines.

    EAU also highlighted its emphasis on experiential learning, with students presenting engineering and artificial intelligence projects through the NextGen Leaders Program and Dubai Airshow 2025, offering exposure at one of the world’s leading aerospace events.

    Founded in 1991, EAU is the education arm of the Emirates Group. It has established itself as the leading university for aviation studies in the region.

    The university offers a comprehensive range of undergraduate, postgraduate, and research programmes in aeronautical engineering, aviation management, logistics and supply management, AI & data science, aviation safety, and aviation security studies. EAU also provides a one-semester internship programme with the Emirates Group for undergraduate students.

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  • Transform or be transformed: why digital strategy is now central to university survival

    Transform or be transformed: why digital strategy is now central to university survival

    This blog was kindly authored by Professor Amanda Broderick, Vice-Chancellor & President of the University of East London.

    Across higher education, there is a growing realisation that no cavalry is coming over the hill. Government support arrives with one hand while being withdrawn with the other, and universities are being asked to do more, for more people, with fewer resources. The choice facing the sector is stark: we must transform, or be transformed.

    At the University of East London (UEL), we have been on this journey for some time. In many ways, it was almost serendipitous that the University reached a point of existential pressure years before similar headwinds struck the rest of the sector. That early crisis forced us to confront difficult truths, make bold decisions, and learn quickly what genuinely works. As we approach the final quarter of our ten-year strategy, Vision 2028, our transformation is evident. We have seen a 25 percentage point improvement in positive graduate outcomes (the largest in England), an unparalleled rise in NSS rankings, a move from 90th to 2nd in the country for annual student start-ups, and a financial sustainability strategy which now places us as one of only 15 universities in the country without any external borrowing, whilst delivering a £350m investment programme.

    One area underpins each of these elements of our transformation: digital.

    When we launched Vision 2028, digital transformation sat at its core – not as a technology programme, but as a strategic enabler. Our ‘Digital First’ approach was designed to ensure that the entire UEL community has the tools, confidence and freedom to innovate and develop continuously. That philosophy has shaped everything we have done since.

    We have migrated from on-premises data centres to a cloud infrastructure, becoming the first UK university to be fully cloud-based in 2019. This has improved resilience, reduced environmental impact, and transformed how we use big data, from student retention predictive modelling to generative AI personal learning assistance to business intelligence and management information. We have invested in innovation spaces that allow students to build their own compute environments, redesigned our website to offer a more personalised browsing experience, and strengthened our digital architecture to mitigate downtime.

    Sustainability has been a constant consideration – reducing data centre usage and re-using compatible hardware wherever possible. We have also made key software available anytime, anywhere, and consolidated multiple CRM-type environments into a single solution.

    But digital transformation only matters if it serves a purpose. At UEL, that purpose is careers.

    How can we prepare students for future careers if we do not embed digital skills throughout their education? That question underpins our Mental Wealth and Professional Fitness curriculum, co-designed with employers to ensure students develop future-ready digital capabilities alongside cultural capital, confidence and professional inter-personal behaviours. Introductory modules are paired with sector-specific specialisation depending on course, with Level 3 and 4 modules already covering AI and digital tools for industry, digital identity and professional networks, data literacy, visualisation, and data ethics. Employability is not an add-on at UEL; it is embedded throughout the learner journey – which means that in-demand digital skills are too.

    Our ambition extends beyond our enrolled students. We want to spread transformation across our communities so that opportunity is not confined to campus. Click Start, delivered by Be the Business and the University of East London in partnership with the Institute of Coding, is a powerful example. This four-week course equips young Londoners aged 18–30 with digital marketing and data analysis skills, delivering more than 90 hours of teaching alongside industry-recognised certificates from Google and Microsoft. Since June 2023, more than 230 young people have completed the programme – 41% women, 88% from ethnic minority backgrounds, and 70% from East London. Graduates have progressed into jobs, apprenticeships and further study, with some joining UEL itself and others using the programme as a springboard to transform their lives elsewhere.

    This ethos of applied, inclusive innovation is reflected across our courses and underpinned by active research centres and innovation hubs, from our UK Centre for AI in the Public Sector and Centre for FinTech, to our Child Online Harms Policy Think Tank and Intelligent Technologies Research Group. Alongside our industry partnerships, this cutting-edge research ensures that what students learn remains relevant, responsible, and future-focussed.

    When a student’s whole experience is designed as digital first, technology stops being a blocker and becomes an enabler. It supports our shift from a ‘university-ready student’ model to becoming a ‘student-ready university’. UEL’s Track My Future app exemplifies this approach, bringing academic, careers, and support services into a single personalised platform. Putting students’ own data into their own hands and providing a digital route-map to university life, daily active use regularly exceeds 40,000 interactions – clear evidence that digital tools can strengthen engagement and belonging.

    Compared with when I joined UEL in 2018, the scale of the digital transformation today is unmistakable. This is what purposeful digital transformation looks like: not technology for its own sake, but a platform for inclusion, resilience and impact. In a sector facing relentless pressure, that is not optional – it is essential.

    Kortext is a HEPI Partner. Professor Amanda Broderick is speaking at Kortext LIVE on 11 February 2026 in London. Find out more and secure your seat here.

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  • Higher education postcard: Teesside University

    Higher education postcard: Teesside University

    In August 1856, Joseph Constantine was born in Schleswig-Holstein (then Denmark, later Germany, famously questionable) to British parents: his father, Robert, was an engineer working on the Schleswig-Holstein railway. Joseph went to Newcastle Grammar School and in 1881 moved to Middlesbrough. There he set up in the shopping business, and did very well for himself.

    He was obviously imbued with a passion for Middlesbrough. We learn from the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer on 2 July 1930 that:

    Mr Constantine was an active member of the Tees Conservancy Commission, whose work was closely associated with Mr Amos, the general manager. It was to him that Mr. Constantine first broached the idea, in June 1916, of doing something substantial for Middlesbrough. The idea that should connected with higher education was his own, but it was Mr. Amos who suggested that a visit should be made to Armstrong College Newcastle.

    Mr Constantine was greatly impressed with the good work of that institution, and made up his mind to provide the youth of his own town with similar educational facilities. It was is the office of the Mayor, then Mr Joseph Calvert, that Mr Constantine disclosed his proposal and the terms of his gift. The prolongation of the war prevented Mr Constantine from seeing the fulfilment of his dream, and the changed conditions made the gift of £40,000 inadequate for the scheme. But the generosity of Mr Constantine’s widow and his family in giving the same amount, enabled the building of the college to be accomplished.

    On 6 November 1922 (we read in the next day’s Leeds Mercury) the Middlesbrough Education Committee met, and in order to progress the scheme for a college, constituted itself, with representatives of Joseph Constantine (who may by then have been frail: he died six weeks later), as the governing body of the new college. A site had by then been bought, but commencing the build had run into difficulties. The governing body hence formed a sub-committee to look at other colleges to get ideas for buildings.

    In April 1927 the Town Council awarded the building contract – £65,000 – to Messrs Easton, a Newcastle firm (one alderman objected, arguing that the tender should go to a Middlesbrough firm which had bid at only £100 more). Building work was completed in time for the first students to be enrolled in September 1929. Constantine Technical College was born (Joseph Constantine was, apparently, against the college being named for him, but was persuaded by the mayor).

    It offered what we would now think of as both further and higher education, including University of London external degrees. By 1931 it was appointing its second Principal: Dr T J Murray was appointed from the Smethwick Municipal College, on an annual salary of £900, rising to £1200. ICI was offering scholarships for degree students and the students’ guild was organising its third charity rag, starting on 2 July and lasting for almost two weeks. The events list (from the South Bank Express, 18 June 1932) looked – mostly – good:

    • Saturday: motorized treasure hunt
    • Monday: students night at the Gaumont Palace, including a male beauty chorus and a female beauty competition (the latter open to all girls in Teesside over 16 years old)
    • Wednesday: opening of the amusement park by the beauty queen
    • Thursday: rag dances, three held simultaneously in Middlesbrough, Redcar and Stockton
    • Friday: boxing
    • Saturday: rag day, street collection, parade and jazz concert
    • Monday: mock civic night (presumably some sort of debating competition?)
    • Wednesday: sports day

    The college continued to develop through the 1950s and 1960s. It expanded, as can be seen by the relocation of its art school. In the 1960s there was some agitation for the creation of a technical university for the north east, for which Constantine College must have been in the frame. But these hopes were dashed in 1967, with the Secretary of State confirming that no funds would be available.

    The college renamed itself as Constantine College of Technology before becoming the Teesside Polytechnic in 1969. The local college of education was incorporated in the 1970s, and in 1992 it became the University of Teesside (this is the point where, as I wrote about last week, it was in partnership for a while with Durham University for the creation of University College Stockton). In 2009 it was renamed again, as Teesside University.

    Teesside is one of the few universities to have a biological organism named after it. Pseudomonas teessidea is a bacterium which can help to clean contaminated soil, and was discovered by Dr Pattanathu Rahman, then a Teesside University microbiologist.

    Here’s a jigsaw of the postcard – unposted but I guess dates from the 1930s, not long after the college was opened. Unposted, but there’s still a message:

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  • University of Arkansas rescinds dean offer after lawmakers object to legal advocacy in trans athletes Supreme Court case

    University of Arkansas rescinds dean offer after lawmakers object to legal advocacy in trans athletes Supreme Court case

    Last week, Emily Suski, a law professor and associate dean at the University of South Carolina, was named the next dean of the University of Arkansas School of Law. But on Wednesday, her offer was rescinded after state legislators reportedly objected to her signing a “friend of the court” brief that made legal arguments in support of trans athletes.

    The following statement can be attributed to FIRE Legal Director Will Creeley:

    The University of Arkansas’ shameful capitulation to political pressure betrays its commitment to Professor Suski and threatens the rights of all who teach, study, and work there. The message to every dean, professor, and researcher is unmistakable: Your job hinges on whether politicians approve of your views. 

    Political interference in academic decisionmaking must be rejected. When universities make hiring decisions based on politics, left or right, academic freedom gets weaker and campuses grow quieter.

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  • Indiana University Cancels MLK Celebration Dinner

    Indiana University Cancels MLK Celebration Dinner

    The Black Student Union held an annual dinner, first convened in 1969, honoring Martin Luther King Jr., that has been canceled this year.

    Indiana University in Indianapolis canceled a dinner in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. hosted annually in January by the Black Student Union, Mirror Indy reported. This year’s would have been the 57th consecutive annual MLK dinner, which was first convened in 1969.

    Officials in the Division of Student Affairs told the Black Student Union the event was canceled at the end of the fall semester, citing “budget constraints,” according to a letter the Black Student Union executive council posted on Instagram.

    “For months prior, we had been diligently seeking guidance and confirmation on whether the dinner would be approved, funded and supported,” the executive council wrote. “This is not just about a dinner. This is about the erosion of Black traditions under vague justifications. This is about institutional decisions being made without Black voices at the table.”

    In a letter to campus Tuesday, IU Indianapolis chancellor Latha Ramchand said, “The MLK Dinner is not going away—rather we are in a moment of transition,” and described a new task force that will “help us reimagine our affinity dinners and related events.” The task force will complete its work by April 10, she said.

    In their response letter to the Division of Student Affairs, the Black Student Union’s executive council questioned whether the current political climate may have influenced administrators’ decision to cancel the dinner. The university in May closed its diversity, equity and inclusion office, which included the Multicultural Center and the LGBTQ+ Center; student organizations within the office were transferred to the Office of Student Involvement. A student with the Queer Student Union told Mirror Indy that the Harvey Milk Dinner, typically held in October, was also canceled this academic year. 



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