Birkbeck wins prestigious Leadership and Management Award
Birkbeck, University of London has been awarded the Times Higher Education magazine's prestigious Leadership and Management Award at a ceremony held on Thursday 16 June 2011.
The award, relating to the academic year 2009-2010, recognises breadth and depth of leadership and management skills across a wide range of functions, and is the top award out of 16 different categories. The awards received over 200 entries from 95 different institutions.
The award was given to Birkbeck in recognition of the implementation of the major strategic review which the College undertook in response to the introduction of the Equivalent or Lower Qualification (ELQ) policy, which saw the loss of nearly 40% of teaching funding and funded student numbers. Birkbeck's 17 schools were reorganised into five new 'super-schools', each one headed by a newly appointed Executive Dean who provided strong leadership. The College also increased recruitment, improved its business systems, saw outstanding success in fundraising and developed its work on improving the student experience. Work in these areas has contributed to securing the strong position of the College, in preparation for the forthcoming changes to the higher education sector.
The Master of Birkbeck, Professor David Latchman CBE, who received the award at the THE ceremony on 16 June said: "This award recognises the depth, quality and reach of the changes that we have been implementing at Birkbeck since 2009. We have faced, and continue to face, challenges as an institution and as a sector, but the commitment and hard work of all Birkbeck staff have ensured that the College is well positioned for a successful future."
The competition judges said: "Birkbeck reinvented itself as a very modern institution through strong leadership and management. Led by the Master David Latchman, Birkbeck achieved a 38 per cent increase in student recruitment, a hugely successful fundraising campaign and a radically streamlined institution within a short time."
