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The Ronald Tress Memorial Lecture - "Economic Growth Through Education: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?"

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Venue: Birkbeck Clore Management Centre

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Birkbeck is delighted to welcome Professor Dame Alison Wolf CBE, Fellow of Birkbeck, to deliver the 2025 Ronald Tress Memorial Lecture, an annual event held in memory of Professor Ronald Tress - former Master of Birkbeck and founder of the Department of Economics, Mathematics and Statistics.

This year’s lecture explores the complex relationship between education and economic growth. Does education fuel economic progress, or does growth drive the expansion of education? As Europe faces stagnant productivity, Dame Alison will examine the promises and paradoxes of human capital theory, question whether the rise of graduate business leaders is a cause for celebration or concern, and consider if graduate earnings are really the best way to judge university quality.

Agenda
17:30 – Registration
18:00 – Welcome and Introduction
18.10 – The Ronald Tress Memorial Lecture
18:55 – Q&A
19:25 – Closing remarks
19:30 – Drinks Reception

This lecture honours Professor Tress’s enduring legacy and continues his mission to connect economic research with real-world impact. Attendance is free and all are welcome.

For full event details, please see the event brochure.

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Speakers
  • Professor Dame Alison Wolf CBE -

    Professor Dame Alison Wolf CBE, Baroness Wolf of Dulwich, is the Sir Roy Griffiths Professor of Public Sector Management at King’s College London. She sits as a cross-bench peer (Baroness Wolf of Dulwich) in the UK House of Lords. She specialises in the relationship between education and the labour market. She was the founding Chair of Governors of King’s College London Mathematics School, and remains a governor and vice-chair.

    Alison served in the Number 10 Policy Unit, as part-time adviser on skills and workforce to the UK Prime Minister, from February 2020 to February 2023. She was a panel member for the ‘Augar Review’: the independent Review of Post-18 Education and Funding chaired by Sir Philip Augar, which reported in 2019. In March 2011 she completed the Wolf Report which led to major reforms in vocational education for 14- to 18-year-olds, and she was also a member of the Sainsbury Review which led to the creation of T-levels.