Spotlight on … Arden University

Where is your university?

I remember from my OU days that this is always a hard question for a University that provides full Distance Learning across the world as well as Full Time Degrees! However, Arden University’s Administrative headquarters is in Coventry, and we have Study Centres in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Berlin.

We teach students in the UK, and all over the world (189 countries as of today’s count).

When did it become a university? What are its origins?

Arden University began in 1991 as a Coventry family-owned business – Resource Development International (RDI). With close links with the local manufacturing industry that had been hit hard by Thatcher’s Britain, the idea was that there was a market for retraining and development in the region that RDI could fill. It grew successfully and was acquired by Capella Education Company in 2011. RDI gained Taught degree Awarding Powers in 2014 – one of the very first private providers to do so.

In 2015 it was relaunched as Arden University (‘Arden’ being a nod towards the locality in which it was born) and acquired as a business by Global University Systems in 2016. One unusual aspect of being an Executive at Arden University is the added dynamic of shareholder interest and being a business on the open market.

Describe the campus (if you have one)

Oh, to have a campus! I dream one day we will have one of those. We have just begun developing meaningful study centres for our students in the last few years. We recruited our first Full Time campus taught students in 2016 to our Ealing Campus. This was followed by two more in London (Holborn and Tower Hill), Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Berlin. This week we opened our ‘Lock 14’ study Centre in Birmingham, opened by Arden University student and Olympic medalist, Bradley Sinden.

How many students does your university have (UG, PG)?  What percentage are from overseas?

We have around 20K students and 1 in 5 are overseas. 90% are undergraduate.

What makes you particularly proud of your university? or what’s your favourite thing about your university?

This very much depends which week you ask me. I’m proud of Arden University this week for achieving Net Carbon Zero ahead of the Minister’s strategy (not having a large Campus has its upsides!).

Personally, my favourite thing about Arden University is the development stage it’s now in. Decisions made now will form its long-term history and we can develop and deliver improvements at a pace unusual in Universities.

Which notable alumni have attended your university? or Who have you awarded honorary degrees to?

Given our age, Arden University has only very recently started awarding its own degrees. We recently awarded Honorary Degrees to Michael Fuller, Britain’s first black Chief Constable and author of “Kill the Black One First” (a nod to his experience policing the Brixton Riots of 1981). On the same day we awarded an honorary degree to Neville Staples, the Ska musician and founder member of Coventry Ska band ‘The Specials’. There was something poetic that brought together some of the most visceral moments of 1980s Britain that led to the founding of RDI and later, Arden University, together, on a sunny day in Coventry Cathedral in 2019.

92.2% of our students come from one or more underrepresented groups and many face incredible challenges on a daily basis. Any one of our graduates is a notable alumni, in my view.

Which challenges is your university currently facing?

We have one overriding challenge – to rapidly improve Quality and Standards and Student Outcomes against a backdrop of successful (and rapid) growth. In 2018, when I first joined Arden University had around 5K students. It now has 20K. We plan to have 28K students by the end of the year.

In 2018 when Arden University first entered the NSS, it was at the bottom of the chart. Arden University was also bottom in the sector for the benchmark continuation indicator. We are now mid table in the NSS, and have improved our continuation rate by 10 percentage points in a couple of years. There are a huge number of investments and improvements underway, and I continually hope that we can ‘get home’ before being burnt off by the regulator. I think we need another couple of years and we will be there, but it’s a race to do so. We don’t have the benefit of a Century of income and investment or a relatively favourable funding regime – for example we have only received Teaching Grant for two years since joining the register…but who said life is fair?!

One misconception is that privately owned ‘providers’ chase profit before outcomes. This may sometimes be true, but in the time I’ve been at Arden University I’ve only seen strong support from my CEO and the Board of Directors to drive up standards and to invest in Faculty and Facilities at an eye-watering rate.

The strategy is clear – grow and improve standards. Walking the line between growing to be sustainable and improving quality as we go is a challenge that keeps me anxious, fascinated, challenged and focused in equal measure. In the words of Sinatra – as Registrar and COO, “if I can make it here, I can make it anywhere”.

With my COO hat on I constantly lay awake at night, be it cyber security, implementing new systems, supporting growth, health and safety, estates, student support services, the ongoing conditions of registration, maintaining high standards in management and governance – you know, the usual stuff.

What is your university motto?

“I will survive”? (Just joking, we don’t have one).