In a new paper written for the Higher Education Policy Institute (www.hepi.ac.uk), Five Decades: One Lens – A view from the rear stalls, the longest serving university leader in the country, Dr John Cater, tells the story of Edge Hill University.
Dr Cater reveals how his institution went from being a small teacher training college in central Liverpool named after a local street sign, which was then battered by wartime exigencies, to become Edge Hill University. After gaining University Title in 2006, it became the first ‘new new’ university to win the prestigious Times Higher Education University of the Year Award in 2014.
As he steps back after 30 years leading Edge Hill University, Dr Cater explains how the institution was able to thrive, sometimes against the odds, but he also warns about the current crisis facing higher education.