London Higher

It's #weeklyroundup time again and its been an epic week. Some brilliant events and engagement, but we also marked the end of an era as London Higher CEO Diana Beech prepares to leave us for her new role at City St George’s, University of London. ✅ Our Research Excellence Network convened at the University of the Arts London's beautiful Chelsea College of Arts campus. I am grateful to Lynne Finn, Research Events Coordinator and Sharon Cole, Director of Research Management and Administration for hosting us in the stunning Red Room. Also great updates and insight from Ben Johnson, Nathan Davies and James Coe that set the scene for a productive discussion on the #LondonGrowthPlan. Some interesting work to take forward now in collaboration with the London Research and Policy Partnership to harness the capital's research capabilities to enhance London. ✅ Jolanta Edwards and Dale Hall were at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, where London Higher was part of the "Building a Stronger Sector through Soft Skills" Event. This brought together industry leads, the Greater London Authority, and others to explore soft skills in the creatives sector, the higher education curricula and gaps and issues. ✅ Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Network met at King's College London to discuss important issues relating to student wellbeing. Thank you to Siân Jones-Davies at Mills & Reeve and Kim Hunt at Thrive LDN for sharing their knowledge and insight. Also brilliant work from my London Higher colleagues Darren de Souza and Anna Maxfield! ✅ I had a great time at GuildHE's Research and Innovation Symposium. I shared a panel with Peter O'Brien, Yorkshire Universities and Mhairi Ambler, Falmouth University, exploring regional R&I collaboration. Thank you to Dana, Dezrika and Rachel for extending the invitation to me. ✅ I attended an engaging workshop held by the Department for Education on Post-16 reform. It was a great opportunity to share ideas with other representative bodies from the higher education sector and support good policy making. ✅ Although it's not quite goodbye just yet, we did hold Diana's official send off. It was brilliant to see so many of our members and sector friends gather to say thank you and offer their best wishes. Thankfully Vice-Chair of London Higher and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Westminster, Peter Bonfield, was on hand to offer a quick team talk ahead of an emotional evening (see pic!).

'London’s higher education sector can continue to drive workforce development in vital growth industries and position London as a world leader in innovation.' Hear from Professor Amanda J. Broderick, Vice Chancellor and President of the University of East London and Chair of London Higher, and Dr Diana Beech, our CEO, discussing the crucial role that #London's universities play to the city's future #economicgrowth. Read more:

We’ve a fantastic line up of members and sector colleagues speaking at our symposium today, jointly hosted by GuildHE Research and the GuildHE Knowledge Exchange Network with GHE Research Director Professor Emile Bojesen from the University of Winchester and KE Network Chair Mhairi Ambler from Falmouth University. In addition to a policy update from our Head of Research Policy Rachel Persad and Policy Manager Dana Gamble, today will feature a R&I regional collaboration panel and a discussion on leveraging specialisms and creating impact from research. R&I REGIONAL COLLABORATION PANEL ✅ Mhairi Ambler (Chairing), Chair of the KE, Innovation and Place Network, Falmouth University  ✅ Peter O'Brien, Director, Yorkshire Universities  ✅ Mark Corbett, Head of Policy and Networks, London Higher LEVERAGING SPECIALISMS AND CREATING IMPACT FROM RESEARCH ✅ Julie Bayley (Chairing), Director of Research Impact and Culture, Northeastern University London ✅ Bryce Lease, Head of Knowledge Exchange, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama - AHRC Impact Accelerator Account and Centre for Performance, Technology and Equity (Expanding Excellence in England (E3) funded centre)  ✅ Lee Miller, Head of Postgraduate Research, Falmouth University - Centre for Blended Realities (E3 funded centre)  ✅ Christian McLening, Director of Research and Development, Arts University Bournemouth - Centre for Plastics Innovation and Curation (E3 funded centre) Today's symposium is held at superb venue Cecil Sharp House. Dr Brooke Storer-Church / Dr Kate Wicklow, FRSA / Ellen Graves / Sunday Blake / Professor Ken Sloan

London Higher member King's College London is supporting a new work experience programme, in collaboration with We Rise, that aims to empower young Londoners to break into MedTech and healthcare engineering. Learn more about the My Life SC1ence programme.👇 https://buff.ly/xKFIOIs #MedTech #London #workexperience

Interested in how the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals align with higher education? Read our most recent blog by Anna Maxfield, Policy and Networks Officer at London Higher, to find out more! https://buff.ly/wyxCfcB #sustainability #highereducation

What an amazing week last week was for London Higher . The NHS has been in the news. I attended the London People Board considering leadership and opportunity. Followed by the Clinical Expansion and Reform Stakeholder Group with Mark Radford. Whilst I was busy doing this, a number of the team were at the PIE Live European Conference. This included Diana Beech speaking on two issues - female leadership in higher education and our Study London campaign and the contribution students make to the capital. We had a team awayday and farewell to Diana. (She leaves at the end of March, suddenly it is upon us). And I caught up with Liz Hutchinson who will be joining us soon as our new CEO. I’m excited about her arrival and she’s already in thinking mode! And my week culminated in a visit to Shinfield Studios with a number of our members working on the creatives agenda. My thanks to Robert Van de Noort CBE DL at Reading University for hosting and supporting. We discussed creative and industry collaboration and initiatives. A short rest for the weekend, and now plenty planned for this week.

Following the launch of the London Growth Plan, our CEO, Dr Diana Beech, has shared her thoughts on international education in the UK capital and beyond. 📢 "By formally recognising international education as a productive export sector, the London Growth Plan paves the way for investment and promotion of London as a welcoming and inclusive destination for international talent." Read the full piece on The PIE: https://buff.ly/BNZcjod #London #international #londongrowthplan

This #WeeklyRoundUp marks the start of my final chapter at London Higher as Thursday was the last time the current team came together as a whole. I was glad to mark the occasion with a team 'away day', trying my hand at pottery painting for the first time and enjoying a sit down meal with my wonderful colleagues. They somehow managed to thoroughly embarrass me though with some lovely speeches and reflections on our time together supporting #LondonHE - complete with a beautiful cake (as pictured)! I shall however save my own response until next week when I get to say 'cheerio' to our members as well... Other events this week include 3 days at The PIE Live Europe conference, where I spoke at 2 separate sessions on (i) the importance of raising female voices in HE leadership alongside several other inspiring women and (ii) explaining how we are contributing to the destination marketing of London through our Study London campaign. I was also pleased to support friends at Universities Wales as they launched their own international education strategy - and I've been proud to be on the advisory panel for it over recent months. Last night, I think I gave my most high-stakes 'state of the nation' presentation to my future employers by speaking to the Council and executive team at City St George’s, University of London. I am delighted to see Andre Spicer already fleshing out my working theory of the 'boxing in' of UK universities on LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/eFx_MA-U (It seems there's an academic paper in the making here?!) I've also been busy writing. You can read my reflections on the role of international education in the London Growth Plan in my latest edition of 'Beech-side views' in The PIE News: https://lnkd.in/e5Mkpre8. I am also pleased to publish a piece in 'On London' alongside Professor Amanda J. Broderick of the University of East London on the importance of London's universities to economic growth: https://lnkd.in/eRNvGWD9 Finally, to respond to speculation that the Government may be considering pegging the Graduate Route to higher salary thresholds, we have paired up with the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry to send a letter to the Secretaries of State for Education and the Home Department to advocate for preserving the current terms of this important visa route. You can read our joint advocacy letter here: https://lnkd.in/eS-DUfkq For now though, I am ending the week with my final 2 days of lectures for my Master's course at Bayes Business School where more teary farewells await as my cohort convenes for the final time... (There's only so many goodbyes I can take this month!) 😭 #OutAndAbout #MemberValue #DreamTeam #Universities #HigherEducation #Intled

It was fantastic to hear from our CEO, Dr Diana Beech, speaking on panels at The PIE Live Europe Conference this week about female #leadership and destination marketing. 🎉We were also pleased to see several of our members represented at the conference, including: -Brunel University of London -City St George’s, University of London -The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) -London Metropolitan University -London South Bank University -UCL

'By reaffirming its commitment to the graduate route visa, the government can send a strong message that international students are welcome and can both benefit from, and contribute to, the exciting growth opportunities in London and across the UK. ' Our CEO, Dr Diana Beech, and Karim Fatehi OBE, Chief Executive Officer of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry have written an open letter to the Secretaries of State for Education and the Home Department urging them to maintain the #GraduateVisa Route in the forthcoming immigration white paper. ✉️ Read the letter in full: https://buff.ly/GnRWx5r