Profile: Margaret Wallis
Margaret Wallis is the director of the University of Brighton's campus in Hastings. As a member of the original team in Hastings, she has seen it grow in size, scope and the difference it has made in Hastings. We asked her to tell us more about herself and the Hastings campus.
"I grew up on the south coast in Worthing, although I spent a number of years working in London and other parts of the country.
I joined Brighton Polytechnic, as it was then in 1989, as a lecturer in the Department of Library and Information Studies. It became a university in 1992 and under several inspired leaders has developed into one of the leading post-1992 universities for the quality of its teaching and research.
The chance to get involved in a new and exciting project in Hastings came up in April 2003. Local politicians and SeaSpace (the Hastings and Bexhill Regeneration Taskforce) working with the then Vice Chancellor of the University of Brighton, Sir David Watson, proposed the creation of a University Centre in Hastings. The original concept was to attract universities from across the region, including Sussex, Greenwich, the Open University and Canterbury Christchurch, to deliver degrees in Hastings.
It took just 9 months for the project to move from a gleam in the eye and a memorandum of cooperation to the opening of University Centre Hastings (UCH) on 22 September 2003, in the former BT building in Havelock Road. We opened with 40 students, one foundation degree and 5 staff.
The University of Brighton worked hard to build a range of degrees at UCH and have been flattered by the number of universities around the country who developed similar partnerships. There are now 21 university centres in England. As new centres opened in the region, most notably Chatham and Folkestone, the other university partners at UCH gradually withdrew from the project.
The University of Brighton took the major step of taking on Hastings as a new campus in 2009, and in 2011 it bought the original building and will open a second new building in January 2012. In the current challenging times facing university-level education, its commitment to Hastings is nothing short of extraordinary, but evidence suggests that the university is simply doing what it's always aimed to do, to fulfil strategies that exemplarise its corporate beliefs. In this instance, it shows that it has an innovative approach and a committment to make a difference to its local communities.
One of our key aims since the very beginning has been to provide opportunities for students from Hastings and Rother to access university education. Hastings is an area of severe deprivation and poor educational attainment. For many local people university would not otherwise be an option because of personal circumstances, finance, caring responsibilities or confidence.
By September 2011 we will have 600 students studying for degrees, rising to 800 by January 2012 with the arrival of the nursing degree students. It has been very exciting to see the place grow and there is now a real student buzz about the place.
There are so many things to be proud of. The single mothers who have struggled against huge adversity to secure a degree and are now working in good jobs locally as role models to others. Hastings graduates working in MTV Asia, Envy Post Production House and at the BBC. Those who have gone on to study for Masters degrees and to be teachers and social workers. I am proud too of our staff who have worked incredibly hard to build an HE community in Hastings that is gaining recognition both locally and nationally as a provider of quality degrees.
A community benefits in many ways from the existence of a university in its town. There are the clear economic benefits with new jobs created and money spent in shops and businesses but there are also less tangible benefits with students and graduates settling in the town, new business arriving attracted by supply of well-educated staff and a general increase in confidence in the community.
At our official opening in February 2004, the Vice Chancellor, Sir David Watson told the community, "We are in this for the long haul...”. The University of Brighton’s commitment to Hastings has grown to include lead sponsorship of the new academies. Eight years on, many of the staff who joined us in the early days are still here. Two of our staff, Wendy Philcox and Patrick Moore, are graduates from the Hastings campus. We still have much to do but I can honestly say it has been a real delight and privilege to be part of the University of Brighton in Hastings and I look forward to the future with confidence and pleasure."
