Talking Business with Prof Madeleine Atkins of Coventry University
In the latest in a series of ‘Talking Business’ interviews, Professor Madeleine Atkins chats to the editor of TheBusinessDesk.com Marc Reeves, and
Andy Argyle, of KPMG Midlands
COMMENTThe overseas opportunities – and the risks
Establishing an overseas footprint will become increasingly important to the education sector over the next few years. Both the higher and further education sectors are developing stronger partnerships in overseas markets, especially in fast growing markets, where the UK’s outstanding global education brand already attracts significant interest. The UK punches well above its weight internationally and will need to continue to innovate to stay ahead of the game. Universities from across the UK already have a presence in overseas markets whether in the form of campuses, franchise arrangements or via overseas agents. However, more recently we are seeing institutions entering into an increasing number of joint ventures and strategic partnerships in order to leverage their brand. Effective marketing and brand management strategies will need to underpin these developments as well as the need to effectively manage the higher risk profile of delivering such activities in a wide range of economies, many with developing social, political or educational environments. Getting the business basics right is fundamental. Ensuring that appropriate due diligence is carried out on joint venture or strategic partners in order to deliver upon the expectation promised by the brand, together with integrating the operation into the overall structure of the institution, is a high priority. Elements such as tax structuring, governance and a robust business plan all need to be incorporated into a project plan. In order to avoid brand or reputational risk each overseas venture should be approached in a similar manner to a corporate deal. Engaging with advisors who understand the target market from a tax, financial and strategic viewpoint is an essential part of this.” Andy Argyle Andy Argyle leads the public sector team for KPMG in the Midlands. His client work includes audit and advisory assignments for higher and further education institutions and NHS Foundation Trusts, and transaction support across the public sector. He has experience in both the public and private sectors, and was appointed to lead the local transaction services team in 2005. This role involved acquisition and vendor due diligence for corporates and private equity funds. Andy is able to combine his private and public sector experience to achieve a better result for KPMG’s clients.
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THE Government’s prime ambition to re-balance the UK’s economy has many components, from improved international trade to the need for businesses and universities to work together in a renewed drive for improved skills and innovation. In the latter aim is the implied criticism that universities especially aren’t doing their bit, as if ‘crusty academics’ are too often removed from the world of commerce and industry. Such an image is about as far as it’s possible to get from Coventry University, whose Vice Chancellor Professor Madeleine Atkins is the subject of this month’s Talking Business. Madeleine’s business-like approach is evident even before we meet. Usually, interviews in this series of conversations with key regional business figures are conducted over a convivial lunch. Not so for Madeleine, whose PA makes it quite clear that she sees such luxuries as unfocussed distractions when the needs of running one of the most dynamic universities in the West Midlands are concerned. So down to business, and Madeleine is quick to establish the University’s long-standing business-friendly credentials. “This Government is committed to improving the relationship and the quality of impact of interactions between universities and business and that is exactly what we’re about. “This was true right from our establishment in 1843 when manufacturers and financiers understood they needed a supply of excellent graduates to work on a stream of innovative products, graduates who would develop the latest thinking on production engineering and help local companies compete globally. “If we reinterpret that for the 21st century, then Coventry University is about engaging with organisations of many kinds and in all sectors, being very outward facing, and especially attuned to needs of small businesses as well as large companies.” And Madeleine has the statistics to hand to prove it. “In the latest Government survey, we account for 37% of all interactions with SMEs in the university sector in England. We assist 9,000 SMEs every year, and have some 500 major company contracts.” So Coventry’s experience and expertise is well established, but that reputation can only be maintained by understanding the changing needs of businesses, who Madeleine clearly identifies as customers of the university as much as its students. She said: “Twenty or more years ago, most Coventry students were sponsored directly by companies through apprenticeships and via sandwich courses, but although that model has changed, Coventry’s engagement with industry remains as fresh as ever. “We’ve reinterpreted the way we engage with business and do it predominantly through applied research working with companies on an immediate or medium-term practical problem. “Our academics and students are out there working on an external client’s problem rather than a theoretical issue.” The international dimension is also becoming far more significant for the university. She said: “There are enormous global opportunities. The demand particularly in South East Asia for university education is huge, and many countries in these regions can’t meet the demand themselves.
But Coventry’s international conduits also work in the opposite direction. “If you come here as a UK student, you get a global international experience. Employers look more positively at a student who has had a placement or internship overseas.” To put it in context, the UK’s higher education sector is a bigger exporter than the city of London. But are there not serious challenges ahead, also. With the full impact of increased student fees yet to be felt, who will be the University’s principal customer? Again, Madeleine believes Coventry’s core focus on, and relationships with, businesses are key. “From 2012, it will be the students’ choices that determine who pays our salaries. In my experience young people are pretty good at understanding where employment opportunities are going to be. We are also seeing more people choosing the sciences and maths-based courses because students are correctly reading that there are very good jobs vacancies in advanced manufacturing for example. “We take very seriously how young people see their futures and ensure our courses offer the things they’re looking for.” But despite its proud heritage, the Coventry University of modern times hasn’t always had the reputation it now enjoys. Madeleine Atkins joined in 2004 from Newcastle University, where she was Pro-Vice Chancellor. She said: “Coventry was a university that did a lot of things really well but hadn’t got the profile nationally that its expertise deserved. “So one of the things was to encourage and support our staff to believe they were excellent and we could stand up and shout about what we’re good at. The world doesn’t come to you.” The result was a higher profile and more students coming from across the country, giving the University a higher calibre intake. Madeleine’s management style is evidently key also, although like all high-achieving leaders, she goes out of her way to praise the team around her and downplay her own role in the transformation that has clearly taken place in the university. Of her approach, she says only: “It’s been about saying to staff ‘you have permission’ be proud of what you do.” She also credits a supportive and risk-tolerant Board of Governors for helping her create the environment within which the University has pushed forward on projects such as a new campus in the City of London and other new-builds in Coventry. “We’re quick. The London campus was set up from scratch in 18 months. Now that’s not as fast as a really good private sector organisation might do it, but it’s remarkable in the academic sector. It helps, of course, that the University is in the top quartile of peer institutions when measured by financial robustness, which is probably just as well, because Madeleine’s plans for Coventry are clearly far from complete. She said: “Because we are in good financial health we’ve been able to experiment and invest to do the things that take us to the next level. “This is really important in the context of all the changes ahead. It gives us the confidence to invest in the things we really need to do.”
Madeleine Atkins studied law and history as an undergraduate at Cambridge University before qualifying as a Secondary teacher. She taught for four years in a large comprehensive school in Huntingdon before returning to higher education to complete her PhD at Nottingham University. Until recently, she was also a member of the Board of Advantage West Midlands (AWM) and Deputy Chair of AWM’s Council for Innovation and Technology. More articles in
Sectors
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Just one recent example is the deal signed by the University’s acclaimed Serious Games Institute with the government of Singapore to establish a sister institute in that city with the aim of being Asia’s centre of excellence for novel applications of games technology.