Lindsay McIntosh, The Times, 10th March 2009Scotland's oldest and most successful university, St Andrews, is to reverse the policy that has won it a reputation for unashamed elitism and will offer generous bursaries to students from deprived backgrounds, its new principal has declared.
In an interview with The Times, Louise Richardson, 51, the first woman to head one of Scotland's ancient universities, said that she intended to raise new revenue from private funding in order to attract students who might otherwise be unable to afford to attend such an institution.
Dr Richardson said she believed that in order to remain viable the university, which is rated the best in Scotland and fifth overall in the UK, must throw open its doors to talented students from families lacking the means to support them, and more than treble its £30million endowment fund.
Her approach comes as a startling contrast to that of her predecessor Brian Lang, who, on retiring, said the reason St Andrews had enjoyed such success was down to its refusal to discriminate in favour of poorer students.
During Dr Lang's seven years in St Andrews, he deliberately flouted Labour's policy of widening access to education. When he left, although it had become the top-ranked Scottish institution in the Sunday Times' University Guide, and had twice in three years scooped the award for Best Scottish University, only 58.7 per cent of its pupils were from state schools.
Dr Lang said he was against the “social engineering” of promoting deprived youngsters - a sentiment also voiced by Cambridge Vice-Chancellor, Alison Richard, last year.
St Andrews' already privileged pedigree was augmented greatly during Dr Lang's tenure when Prince William matriculated as a Geography undergraduate.
Dr Richardson, who was the first of her family to go into higher education and comes to the post from Harvard University in the US, believes St Andrews' sustainability is dependent on being open to all talent - including students from families who have not traditionally gone on to higher education.
“Just because your family doesn't have money does not mean you are less smart than anyone else,” she said. “There's no doubt that education has been the means of social mobility for me and I believe that the opportunities that I've had should be available to other people too.”
In order to achieve this, she hopes to put “a big push on private finance”, particularly donations from alumni and other supporters of the university, to allow it to provide “generous bursaries to poor students who might not otherwise come to St Andrews”.
The university's endowment fund, made up of all the donations received in its 600-year history, currently stands at £30million. Harvard University has a fund of £27billion. Although Dr Richardson says she has no illusions of reaching that level, she is insistent that the university must boost the fund to at least £100 million - more than treble the current level.
“There's no doubt that St Andrews does have a reputation for being elitist. We are an elite institution by definition because we are such a good institution, but we accept everyone has to have access to that,” she said.
“If we have bursaries then we can make a very attractive offer to them and get them to come here,” she said.
The university's student association, which has been pushing for more bursaries, has welcomed Dr Richardson's comments. President Andrew Keenan admitted there was a perception outside the university that it was elitist, but claimed it was an exaggerated one.
Dr Richardson said she intended to use the university's 600th anniversary celebrations, which begin in 2011, as a catalyst for changing the system. She wants to set up new ways through which private donations can be made, in preference to one-off fundraisers.
Other Scottish universities are also courting private funding. Universities Scotland, which represents all the sector's principals, welcomed the approach but said it was “important that public funding underpins universities core activities as this helps them to lever in money from other sources”.
Dr Richardson plans to employ student ambassadors to return to their schools, particularly those where pupils might not normally consider St Andrews, and promote the university.
The university's decision to appoint her is in itself a way of conveying the message and she admitted it would be “disingenuous to deny the symbolic significance” of the achievement. Although she said she hopes her achievements may inspire girls, she would prefer to be seen as “one of the best principals” of any gender, as opposed to one of the best women to hold the title.
Past principals have received honorary membership of the all-male Royal and Ancient golf club in St Andrews. She has not. Dr Richardson admits that she had anticipated that discrimination would be “an issue” but insists membership is up to the club.
“Where it becomes a bigger problem is when that group has access to privileges that others are excluded from by virtue of their birth,” she said.
Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 10:35 am 