Cardiff University, Uni View column

It’s nearly two months since I took up my post as Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University.

I was drawn to Cardiff because I could see the importance of the university to this small, ambitious, progressive country. We have huge potential – and a huge responsibility – to use our expertise, curiosity and knowledge to make life better first and foremost for the people of Wales, as well as for the wider world.

We have an exceptional community, full of talented people, who really care about the future of our University and making a meaningful contribution to society.

I am really enjoying getting to know our staff and students. I said recently in a staff message that I don’t think our staff know just how good we are. Cardiff seems a naturally modest institution, and we need to get better at celebrating loudly our successes.

That said, I am taking up the Vice-Chancellor role at an existential moment for universities. Our financial situation is, frankly, unsustainable. Home tuition fees no longer cover teaching costs.  Student expectations of us have grown. Not only have home fees remained the same for the last ten years or so, the unit of resource available to fund each student’s education and experience has declined. Increasingly we subsidise the cost of research from our own budgets.

It leaves universities like Cardiff – and the sector as a whole – in a challenging position. We are very lucky to have a strong and vibrant community of international students who bring diversity and different perspectives to our classrooms. Increasingly though, universities are seeking to grow rapidly the number of international students they educate, driven by the high fees these students pay.

International markets are incredibly turbulent post-pandemic and the UK government’s rhetoric on immigration makes the UK an increasingly less popular choice for international students who are welcomed to the US, Australia and Canada.

We have staff who are making the case for better pay. We are in the midst of a cost of living crisis. Our students are looking to us for support and to help to protect them from this crisis; but we’re also seeing our own cost base rise on everything from food to energy.

The way universities have worked for the last few decades is now in question.

When you take over a senior leadership role like Vice-Chancellor, many look to you for the answers to our greatest challenges. I’ve been clear with our community that I don’t have all the answers, but what I do have in abundance is some of the best minds to draw on. That’s why in my first few days as Vice-Chancellor I launched Y Sgwrs Fawr – The Big Conversation.

This is a collaborative and consultative exercise to understand the changes that Cardiff University needs to make to ensure it is sustainable for Wales’ future generations. As well as staff and students, external stakeholders from government, industry and communities also have an important role to play in our conversation. It will lead to the development of our new strategy in the New Year.

I can already sense acceptance among our staff that staying the same is not an option. We will need to prioritise. This will inevitably involve making tough decisions about stopping or limiting some activities, changing the way we work and cutting out tasks that don’t add value.

As I consider the journey ahead of us, my mind is drawn to Dame Professor Teresa Rees, an inspirational and influential social scientist, who died recently. Terry’s mark on cementing the rights of women in modern Wales and beyond is well documented. Less well known is the role she played in shaping Cardiff University, and her wonderful ability to take people on a journey of change, even when that journey was difficult.

I’ll be drawing inspiration from her example as we navigate our new path.

Wendy Larner
Vice-Chancellor