Our Vice-Chancellor

Forgive the martial metaphor, but the English higher-education sector currently feels a bit like the British experience of the Second World War from September 1939 to May 1940. This was a period of relative but threatening calm before serious hostilities began, which came to be known here as “the phony war.”

We often downplay the importance of ceremony and ritual in university life. But, having just come to the end of a graduation week with eleven graduation ceremonies in total, I can report that ceremony is alive and kicking.