Stuart Croft talks honesty, staff pay and the future of Warwick

Study space, student-university relations and the re-brand of the university were at the heart of the first student press meeting with Stuart Croft, the new Vice Chancellor at Warwick. Here’s what Stuart had to say at the start of his time as VC.

What do you think you can bring to the role of Vice Chancellor?

VC: I’ve started to talk with people about, for example, the social mobility side of things in terms of the way in which this institution can play a stronger and more obvious role in this region, particularly for Coventry and Warwickshire. I think there are a lot more things we can do to connect the research we do with the challenges of contemporary society.

Over the past 2 years, the university and the student body have had a kind of frosty relationship. What are you going to do to ensure good relations between the student body and the university?

VC: I’m really keen to do the work that’s needed in terms of listening and talking. There will be moments of disagreement, but if we can be open and honest about that, that’s a good thing. I think all that needs to happen over the course of the calendar year is just more debate.

Some students have recently become disillusioned with the university as they feel there is more of a focus on the future rather than the present. What do you plan to do to ensure the university cares about their education and their university experience?

VC: It’s always about the future, it’s just about how long that future is. One of things we are trying to do is having conversations with people to ask “what are the things we can do now?” as well as “what are the things we can do in 10-15 years?” One example is music practice rooms. I’ve had people say they haven’t had they space they needed and we need to think about what we can do in the short term to address this.

Another issue is the lack of study space around campus. How do you plan to address this?

VC: There’s some work going on at the moment to understand what else we can do given how tight the campus is on space. We’ve also got a debate going on at the moment about 24/7 library access and that would make a huge difference if people would use it. We’ve got to understand the demand first but there is no clear solution at the moment.

One of the issues raised in Vice Chancellor’s Question Time was sexual harassment on campus. What steps are you taking to make sure the issues that are raised are dealt with?

VC: It’s a huge societal problem and I think one of the things I think is really important is to try and think practically about what we can do and we can say as well. If there was an easy answer, lots of institutions would be doing it now but what we want to do is ask for concrete ideas.

What are the staff concerns you would like to address?

VC: Pay is going to be one, low pay specifically. We have a challenge to work out how we need to respond as an institution to issues where we have low pay and a national pay spine. I’ve been talking to trade unionists about how we can talk about these issues carefully. We are focussing on those who are below the threshold and looking for ways we can address the issues.

The university over the past year has been rebranding itself. Do you feel there is a responsibility on your part to be the face of this?

VC: I’m nervous about being the face of lots and lots of things because that’s not actually what a university is. University is a hugely bottom-up institution, I shouldn’t be the face of a student society, for example. We have got a new brand which is trying to express a new identity and of course I’m committed to that and I want to be engaged in that, but it doesn’t capture everything that goes on in the institution.