In a series of interviews this week, Professor Alison Richard, the new Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, spoke about the importance of building up a solid and comprehensive bursary system at Cambridge that would attract the best and brightest students from all backgrounds.

In her inaugural address delivered on 1 October, she spoke about values, leadership and change. She reflected on the following values of the University and the changes needed to sustain them:

  • An over-riding commitment to excellence
  • An emphasis on the interdependence of teaching and research
  • A celebration of the unique collegiate system and its centrality to the university as a whole
  • A responsibility to contributing to the world - not just in economic terms, but environmentally, and culturally
  • A determination to support access initiatives for students, staff and scholars alike

On the role of the Vice-Chancellor, she articulated the importance of listening, but also stressed the need to lead the University towards strategic targets:

"Choosing to do things is not necessarily easy, and choosing not to do them is really difficult. But failing to choose at all is a disaster.

"It is the Vice-Chancellor's responsibility to ensure that intelligently conceived planning processes are in place and moving forward throughout the University, informing the direction of the University as a whole even as they chart the course of its many parts."

On planning and development, she stressed the importance of investing in staff as well as infrastructure and administration. She also urged the University to consider student funding:

"We must think hard about the future size of our student bodies, and about the support necessary to continue attracting the brightest and best undergraduates and postgraduates students, regardless of background."

The University deficit and the national educational debate meant that Cambridge also had an urgent duty to marshal its resources, gain support from alumni, and be decisive about investments and future directions. A clear funding strategy nationally was also incumbent for the success of the higher education sector as a whole.

"I welcome the current national debate about fees and other strategies for financing higher education. The greatest danger, in my view, is that of resolving the issues inadequately or not at all, for either would have devastating long-term consequences for the world-class stature of this University."

She also emphasised the crucial role the Colleges played in teaching undergraduates and creating a strong academic community. However, demographic change and the explosion of knowledge had created different patterns of working that must be incorporated into a forward-looking Cambridge culture.

Making Cambridge more accessible was also a priority:

"Now more than ever, it matters that Cambridge be a community accessible to all people. You might interpret this merely as a statement of political expediency at a time of strong government emphasis on increasing the number of talented but disadvantaged students at Cambridge and other leading universities. But I care deeply about this issue, not just access for school-leavers coming into the student body but also for women and minorities in the front ranks of scholarship."

On a final note, she stressed the importance of trust as a core value. Addressing the University's Regent House, she said:

"As Vice-Chancellor, I gladly put my trust in you. I would not be standing here today were it otherwise. I believe my first and abiding task is to earn your trust. But in some measure that trust must also be your gift, and as I pledge myself to earn your trust, so I ask you to offer it."

The Vice-Chancellor's term of office runs for seven years, up until 2010.

The full text of Professor Richard's inaugural speech, Values, Leadership and Change, can be seen at:
www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/v-c/inauguration/speech.html

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