Benedicta Akpede’s Post

Today, thousands of students across the UK will open their exam results and believe they are failures. While grades are important, they don't define you. • Richard Branson struggled in school and dropped out at 16, but went on to build the Virgin empire. • Steven Spielberg was rejected from film school due to poor grades, yet became one of the greatest filmmakers. • Albert Einstein failed an entrance exam to the Swiss Federal Polytechnic but went on to revolutionise physics. • John Lennon failed all his GCE O-levels but became a world-renowned musician. • Sir Winston Churchill struggled in school and failed the entrance exam twice to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst but became one of the most important figures in history. • Isaac Newton was considered a poor student early on, but later became one of the most influential scientists in history. • JK Rowling faced setbacks and rejections before creating Harry Potter. Success comes from determination, hard work, and passion - not from a set of grades. Today's results don't define you - this is just the beginning of your story. Do you agree?

All of us at Times Higher Education are *incredibly* proud to have won The King's Award for Enterprise, the most prestigious award for UK businesses. The award was approved by His Majesty King Charles III, following a recommendation by the Prime Minister that THE should receive The King's Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category. Only 252 organisations in the UK are recognised by this royal initiative.   THE, which has demonstrated rapid growth as a global provider of higher education data, insights and services, secured the award in the international trade category. Building on its 50-year history as a trusted source of news and information about the sector, THE’s portfolio of offerings includes university rankings, data products, global events and consultancy, combined with an audience of tens of millions of academics, students and policymakers. Alongside the world’s leading student recruitment events run by BMI GlobalEd | Times Higher Education (Samir Zaveri, Rupert Merrick, Sangin Zaveri). 🙌   Paul Howarth, THE’s chief executive, said: “Receiving this incredibly prestigious award from the British government and His Majesty King Charles III is an absolute career highlight for me and an amazing seal of approval for the tremendous work Times Higher Education does for one of the world’s most important sectors – higher education. “Since joining the business in 2020 I have been so impressed by the incredible hard work our staff, not just in the UK but around the world, put in to enable higher education to reach its full potential and I believe that together we will build a better, more sustainable future.” Read news about the announcement here: https://bit.ly/44pJOhk #kingsawards #enterprise #InternationalTrade #BusinessAward #TimesHigherEducation #HigherEducation #HigherEd

Read this important post. Chilling.

Love this! Sir Roger Bannister combined athletic achievement with scientific excellence which perfectly aligns with Podium Analytics' mission of using #data4good to improve sports science and athlete well-being - and both in Oxford! #PodiumInstitute #SportsScience #sportsdata

First #CIS Global Forum: Check ✅ What a great experience to (re)connect with all of you. Thanks to the uncanny organisational skills of the planning team and the sessions about #brandawareness, #marketinganalytics, #roadwork, #ethicalchallenges, #studentsupport , #employability , ... that I was able to participate in. See you next year! 🇨🇭✈️

With the investment of the U.S. Department of Education’s Title VI grants, the Indiana University Global Centers are educating globally engaged citizens and employees and contributing to national security and economic success. Learn how: https://bit.ly/47GrBML

This is an outstanding appointment. I like Grant as a person, and as a leader too. Academics often debate whether “executive” Vice-Chancellors (VCs) work. Executive VCs are meant to be more susceptible to managerial ideology, eager to pursue profit (or surplus) over purpose, and misunderstand the relationship between academics, professional staff, students, and the communities that host them and from which they draw. That’s a worthy debate, but it’s worth considering from the inverse position: are academic VCs also susceptible to managerialism, profit motive, and misunderstanding community context? Of course they are. The “reign of Harlene Hayne” was notorious for imposing so-called managerial discipline into the Otago structure. As one example, corporate services were centralised against warnings the move would increase costs and decrease “customer satisfaction”. Exactly that happened - costs went up and satisfaction went down - and “Shared Services” (the name of the centralised corporate services division) is gradually unwinding. So Grant Robertson could do no worse. His value is that he understands Dunedin, the student culture, and the political and financial vulnerabilities of the staff (academic and professional). I still hold a lot of affection for the University of Otago (and Dunedin!). I miss it all the time. I’m glad Grant is leading it.

The need to address the confusing situation at Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture & Commerce led a growing group of Fellows and prospective fellows to call for a Special General Meeting. Do join the call if you are a Fellow who is not currently an employee. You'll need your Fellowship Number which you'll find on your fellowship card, your renewal notice or in an RSA email inviting you to nominate others. (I most recently received one such email on 21 March 2024.) You'll find the google form where you can add your support to the SGM call here: https://lnkd.in/g5rx_5eZ Later I'll add in the comments a website where you'll find background and the draft resolutions. ✨Calling for the SGM does not imply support for all/any of the proposed resolutions. It is support for the procedure of meeting to consider the resolutions.🙏🏽

Interesting read regarding fair access to university in Scotland. For those unaware, my Doctoral Research Thesis focused on the psychology behind aspirations of going to university for those from non-traditional university applicants (first in family to apply to university, carers, those with additional support needs, mature applicants and those living in particular socioeconomic areas and attending schools with low progression rates to university). I worked closely with Newcastle University ‘s widening access programme PARTNERs to complete my research. I’m happy to share my findings with those who may be interested in my research. I focused on theories of motivation and aspirations and explored that it much more complex than simply ‘raising aspirations’, despite this being the prominent narrative surrounding many policy leaders and some historic widening access initiatives in the UK. My research found that the aspirations of attending university were already there and that it was more about the structural barriers that prevented people who wanted to attend university progressing to higher education. A key finding from my study was the importance of having a key figure (family member, teacher, peers, other important people in their life) believe in the individual’s competencey in achieving access to university. Also it was important to reduce the structural barriers with regards to finances, student support and entry requirements. Happy to discuss this in more detail. Please feel free to reach out to me if you’d like more information or access to my Thesis. I also appreciate that the university route isn’t for everyone and is not a measure of success on its own as there are many ways of achieving aspirations without having to attend university. John H. McKendrick Glasgow Caledonian University Professor Stephen Decent Pamela Jane Ritchie

The last few years have been really bad in the HE sector here