Of adversity and innovation in higher education

ABSTRACT This paper is an edited version of an address given on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the Polytechnic of North London. It explores one of the issues to be considered by the SRHE National Enquiry into the Future of Higher Education sponsored by the Leverhulme Trust. The ideas being put forward are preliminary personal thoughts and may or may not be taken up in the reports of the Enquiry. The theme of innovation is considered under three headings: (1)the need for innovation especially in the probable conditions of the 1980s and 1990s; (2)obstacles to innovation, caused by slow growth: (a) resulting from financial stringency (b) resulting from staffing structures; (3)two approaches to possible solutions: (a) The establishment of a Higher Education Course Development Council with substantial funds to earmark for innovation (b) The creation of a system of joint appointments for academic staff in polytechnics and universities. There is also critical comment on suggestions that some institutions be designated as centres of excellence as a way of confronting the challenges of the 1980s. Prosperity doth best discover Vice; But Adversity doth best discover Virtue. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes And Adversity is not without comforts and hopes. (Francis Bacon, Of Adversity, 1625) He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils. For time is the greatest innovator. (Francis Bacon, Of Innovation, 1625)