Friday 28th February 2014 - The EU debate and the universities

Four months ago I was asked by the Guardian to write an article for their higher education web pages arguing that in the possible forthcoming debate on the UK's membership of the European Union, university leaders needed to take a strong line in pointing out the cost / benefit equation as it applied to their institutions.  I argued that the balance was almost entirely positive - the UK gets much more out of European research funds than it contributes through its budget payments, and schemes such as the Marie Curie and Erasmus exchange arrangements are very beneficial to agendas for internationalisation.

Some people draw attention to Switzerland and Norway as countries that are not EU members but who benefit from many aspects of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Today's news suggests that may be about to end.  Today it has been announced that Switzerland will no longer be a major partner in the European Research Council and will not be able to lead projects.  Similarly, it will not be part of student exchanges through the Erasmus scheme.  It seems that these are the out-turns from the referendum earlier in the month when the Swiss electorate narrowly voted to tear up the free movement of labour agreements it had with the European Union. 

The vote in that referendum interests me greatly.  (I did part of my doctoral research in Switzerland and have always had a keen interest in the country.) The very first journal article I published when I arrived in Sheffield, with a colleague, was on a Swiss referendum on immigration.  Plus ça change ... The analysis in that article almost exactly fits the voting pattern of the referendum two weeks ago - with German-speaking Switzerland voting to restrict immigratiuon and French-speaking Switzerland voting not to. 

Now we have a Swiss model of what could happen in the UK if a referendum here took us out of the EU; increased isolation in both research opportunities (particularly research funding, for which the European Union has been an increasingly important source) and the mobility of students and researchers.  I don't think that's a very enticing prospect for UK universities.

Friday 21st February 2014 - Gift giving

One of the little quirks of foreign visits between universities by senior staff is the presentation of gifts.  This seems to be an established protocol around the world.  The gifts have little or no monetary value, but an important aspect of any meeting between Vice-Chancellors, Pro-Vice-Chancellors or other university leaders is the exchange of gifts, accompanied (particularly where East Asian colleagues are involved) by the taking of photographs.  The excahnge of business cards comes first.  And again the East Asian practice is particular - cards being passed with both hands and scrutinised for some seconds.  I have a bilingual version of my business card - English on one side and Chinese on the other - which always impresses visitors from the Peoples' Republic.  They were printed for me while I was in China some years ago and delivered to my hotel room when I was already half way through my visit - so I have lots spare.

I suspect that a failure to produce something at the right moment could cause offence to some institutions.  It has only happened to me once.  I was on a short visit to a mainland European university and had taken only hand luggage.  That gave me the excuse, when the Rector presented me with a rather nice university tie (which I wear quite a lot) to apologise that I had been unable to bring our usual gift of a paper knife with me because it would have been confiscated at airport security.  (A paper knife is one of our standard gifts, alongside cufflinks, pens and other small items.)  In reality I had forgotten to bring anything.  My other embarrassing exchange moment was when, in a distant country, the recipient took from its box the porcelain mug adorned with the university crest that I had lovingly carried for some days, and proudly showed me the wording on the back, which I had not previously scrutinised - "Thank you for your visit to the University of Sheffield".  Thankfully the Rector to whom I was making this presentation did not have any English - although clearly his staff did and would later tell him about the inappropriateness of the item.  My worst experience of gift donation was on that visit to China some years ago when I was asked to carry Sheffield's gifts for several universities - copies of our centenary history "Steel City Scholars", each copy of which weighs about a kilo.  I spent several days lugging these from place to place.

None of the gifts I have received have been of any monetary value - and many of them have not had any practical use either.  Indeed, there are certain things that I still don't know what they are.  Most have the name of the institution concerned emblazoned on them in some way.  Visitors to my room can have a conducted tour of various items if they wish.  The three most practicable items I have received over the years have been a box of university chocolates (which were duly shared around) from an institution in a former Soviet republic (which were duly shared around), the tie I have already mentioned, and a sweat shirt from an institution in the Caribbean (although when I wear it people tend to assume I must have a degree from the place). 

This morning's exchange, with the President of a Chinese university, involved the unfurling of a handsome university banner from them and the presentation of a pair of cufflinks from me.