The University of Nottingham

Sir Andrew Witty has become the seventh Chancellor of The University of Nottingham. An Economics graduate, Wortley Hall President and midnight DJ with University Radio Nottingham, Sir Andrew immersed himself in a student life dominated by the politically-charged 1980s. His University experiences helped shape his career and his life and, like many alumni, he wants to give something back. He looks back on his past experiences at Nottingham — and forward to an exciting new chapter in his involvement with the University.

“When I arrived at Nottingham I thought the campus environment and atmosphere was great but it was more than that. I thought Nottingham was every person’s University, a brilliant cross section of society with people from every background and culture and that’s what I loved most. Life at university gives you a year or two of a special environment allowing you to try things out and Nottingham was a great place to do that.

“Wortley Hall was pretty old. I don’t think it had seen any recent investment. The hall itself was a beautiful Edwardian house but the bedrooms were in a World War Two Nissen hut behind the house. We had 14 students sharing one bathroom. To be honest, it would never meet today’s standards of what the modern-day student wants but it was a great gang of people and we had a Dunkirk spirit. You could call it ‘character building’.

“It was an interesting and exciting period politically, musically and socially. There was still a recession but it was the beginning of the 80s’ boom, deregulation, and all that stuff.  In my third year I was chairperson of Student Council and we debated; whether the SU should affiliate with CND because the missiles were being deployed at Greenham Common; whether we should affiliate with the National Union of Mineworkers because of the miners’ strike; there was an apartheid debate because the South African situation was at its peak; and there was an IRA debate because of the troubles in Northern Ireland.

“We would regularly have a thousand students turn up to those debates. The South African one had to be abandoned because so many people turned up from off campus and flying pickets turned up at the miners’ debate. So it was a really fascinating time because those four examples are some of the biggest issues in British history in the past 50 years and they were all playing out while we were at Nottingham.

“There were loads of parties too, it was just a great vibe. Being hall president was a great fun as well because every hall had its own ball and one of the great perks of being hall president was that I got invited to all the other hall balls.

“I feel that I owe the University a lot. Becoming Chancellor was the one way I could help, whether that be in terms of fundraising, developing the profile of the University or helping it internationally. It’s an interesting role because, quite rightly, you have no power but it gives you perhaps an opportunity to ask questions and stimulate ideas.

“There are three main areas I’d like to focus on: further strengthening the alumni connectivity, further strengthening the internationalisation and really challenging why Nottingham can’t be the growth centre for the East Midlands. I personally believe universities like Nottingham ought to be playing a much more significant role in the economic fabric of the country, particularly in terms of, for instance, how to stimulate regional growth centres. Universities these days are obvious places around which growth ought to orientate.

“For me, accepting this role is a unique and special way of giving something back to an institution, which, alongside my parents and my grammar school, is one of the three institutions I would credit with having made me who I am.”