S2 Ep13: Episode 13: From Teenage Kicks to University Secretary

University Registrars Talking About Stuff

In the latest episode of University Registrars Talking About Stuff I chat with Dr George Turner, University Secretary and Clerk to the Council at the University of Roehampton.

We naturally discuss George's early academic career which, quite distinctively, started out with him forming a punk band at 16 and then being inspired to study music at Sheffield. He stuck with music as a discipline, ending up with a PhD thesis on the place of the electric guitar before deciding he needed to earn some money, taking the first job he could which happened to be at the University of Derby. After a period working as a cleaner at the university he moved into the challenging area of student complaints and then turned down a job offer at the University of Nottingham in favour of an opportunity at Brunel.

Following a brief diversion on the changing emphasis on the importance of strong written English in university administration, noting the bigger issue for George is skills in data presentation, we move on to his next step, being encouraged by a great boss to apply for the job of Deputy Secretary at Roehampton.

Whilst a big step up he had a real opportunity to grow in the role including honing those governance skills through taking on support for Council committees. A change in VC resulted in the creation of a new role of University Secretary which George successfully applied for. Although admitting to his fair share of imposter syndrome he cites the really strong and supportive environment at Roehampton.

We talk about the features of the university including its long history from its original constituent colleges, three of which include a religious dimension, bringing interesting perspectives to Council. Naturally we discuss regulation too and the approaches to dealing with regulators' expectations on Council in terms of compliance and the impact on its work.

Finally, we discover that, like me George is a big fan of campus security reports.

It's a really good conversation and I hope you enjoy it.