Simon Bradshaw (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
major_clanger) wrote2007-02-27 10:01 am
major_clanger) wrote2007-02-27 10:01 am
Imperial Issues
The Guardian carries an interview today with Prof Richard Sykes, Rector of Imperial College. Although they don't call him that - he'd referred to throughout as the 'head', almost certainly because the fact that the senior academic at IC is a rector rather than a vice-chancellor is almost certainly one of the things that Prof Sykes wants to change about the place.
I'm aware that many people at IC are not that keen (to be diplomatic) on Prof Sykes' plans. As an IC alumnus myself I regret the loss of many traditional structures that he has swept away, such as the Constituent Colleges. But it's hard to disagree with some of his points, be they IC-specific (sixty-five people reporting directly to him under the structure he inherited?) or more general (pop-science GCSEs, or the current government's obsession with getting half the population into university). And I fully sympathise with his frustration about IC's lack of recognition. When I put IC top of my UCCA form, my headmaster was horrified; I was going to dent my schools Oxbridge admissions statistics!
I'm aware that many people at IC are not that keen (to be diplomatic) on Prof Sykes' plans. As an IC alumnus myself I regret the loss of many traditional structures that he has swept away, such as the Constituent Colleges. But it's hard to disagree with some of his points, be they IC-specific (sixty-five people reporting directly to him under the structure he inherited?) or more general (pop-science GCSEs, or the current government's obsession with getting half the population into university). And I fully sympathise with his frustration about IC's lack of recognition. When I put IC top of my UCCA form, my headmaster was horrified; I was going to dent my schools Oxbridge admissions statistics!