Fiona Hunter
I have worked in higher education ever since I graduated from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1980. My degree in applied languages took me to France and, after working a number of years there, I settled in Italy, and now live in the northern part of the country, near Lake Como, where I feel close to nature. My professional life in higher education has been in different institutions in France and Italy, in both academic and administrative roles, often at the same time, which has enabled me to empathize with how the different parts of the institution think and behave. It has given me a hybrid professional identity, one I feel reflects who I am and the way I think holistically about how universities work.
I developed a strong interest in higher education management first through my own practice and then when I returned to studies at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, where I earned my Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) in Higher Education Management in 2009. This experience led me to realise that I wanted to become a consultant and work with institutions interested in improving the way in which they operate.
Alongside my consultancy activities which take me to institutions all around the world, I am also Associate Director at the Centre for Higher Education Internationalisation (CHEI) at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, Italy, and Co-Editor of the Journal of Studies in International Education (JSIE). I find being actively engaged in international academic work helps me keep in touch with the realities of higher education challenges and opportunities around the world.
I am currently a member of the International Advisory Board at the University of Granada in Spain and of the Scientific Council of AVEPRO, the Holy See’s Agency for the Evaluation and Promotion of Ecclesiastical Universities and Faculties. I am also Past Chair of the Board of Directors at Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE) in Milwaukee, United States of America, and Past President of the European Association for International Education (EAIE). All of these roles have encouraged me to think about higher education management from the perspective of different stakeholders.
When I am not at work, I am out in the hills around Lake Como or further afield where I love to walk or run. Being close to nature is a constant source of inspiration for me both for life and work. I feel the analogies of nature and horticulture fit higher education institutions well as I think of them as places where the principal role of leadership is about creating the right conditions for people and ideas to flourish. As I hone my gardening skills, I realise that this is a process where I never stop learning, and when I understand what the garden needs to thrive, it gives me rich reward.
Neil Sparnon
I studied History at Oxford University, and joined the British Civil Service in 1989. I entered the world of higher education via the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) and, after a couple of years developing human resources policy, I took over the management of one of SERC’s Civil Engineering programmes. There I became fascinated with the intricacies of research grant development, assessment and funding, studentship and PhD support.
I moved to Anglia Ruskin University in 1996 where I was instrumental in developing its Research Office and Graduate School – significantly broadening its activities from administering its regular submissions to the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) to include grant development and management, intellectual property, knowledge transfer, studentships as well as staff and student training and development programmes.
I completed my Doctorate in 2005. Although it has nothing to do with higher education – it’s a study of East Anglia in the early Cold War if you’re interested (!) – it has left me with a desire constantly to learn more, to think critically about what might seem obvious, and to convey ideas coherently, verbally and in writing.
In 2006, I shifted my focus to University Registry functions, managing over a hundred staff supporting more than 36,000 students from the moment they became interested in studying with us, through to their graduation and beyond. Here, my interest in systems and process was reignited by the rising tide of electronic and internet-based support and delivery systems, as well as an appreciation that, even when perfected, they are nothing without good people.
I began working as an occasional consultant in higher education in 2004 and went full-time in 2008. I’ve since worked with numerous institutions and organisations around the world to develop their management, academic and administrative staff and systems. This culminated in 2009 when I was asked to develop a programme to offer online higher education to refugees. What started from nothing has since become Jesuit Worldwide Learning, currently operating in over 20 countries and offering higher education to thousands of refugees. I stepped down as its Chief Academic Officer in 2015 and look back on my time there as a privilege.
Like Fiona, I enjoy hiking various trails around the world. I often think that this has affected my approach to systems and management. Sometimes, my best-laid plans go awry and I get lost; some parts of the walk are a disappointment while others surprise. Nothing is ever clear-cut and clearly defined. As such, there is always a need to factor in the unexpected and to work with people with different perspectives. This is both the challenge of higher education and one of those things that makes it deeply rewarding.
Ursula Bevan Hunter
I studied Environmental Art at Glasgow School of Art from 1989–93 where I discovered that art can not only be made from any material but can also be found in a multitude of places, not just the gallery wall. After this, I went on to study postgraduate Printmaking at Brighton University, but it wasn’t until I had completed an MA in Illustration at Edinburgh College of Art that I began to practice as a professional printmaker and illustrator.
Through these experiences in higher education, I have come to understand that learning is a lifelong journey and that we must all try to find a path that encourages our strengths to emerge. Higher education helped me to find the confidence not just to develop my creative abilities, but how to put those skills into practice as a career.
I really enjoyed working on the illustrations for this book through developing the analogy between the management of educational institutions and horticulture. Hopefully, my drawings make these processes and structures clear. Nature has always been a primary subject in my work, so this project has been a joy to work on, and it has additionally provided me with an insight into how the structures of higher education management relate to the world of nature and gardening.
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