07.07.2005
Over 600 staff past and present will join together to wish Sir David Watson well as he retires as Vice-Chancellor from the University of Brighton, at a reception held at the Brighton Dome on Monday 11 July.
"After fifteen years as Vice-Chancellor, David leaves the university with a great legacy having presided over a period of tremendous growth in student numbers, financial turnover and research income and activity," said Sir Michael Checkland, Chairman of the Board of Governors. "Under his distinctive and distinguished leadership, the university has become one of the leading universities in this country, recognised for its achievements both in teaching and research."
David joined the then Brighton Polytechnic in 1990 as Director and since that time has overseen many major changes. The polytechnic became the University of Brighton in 1992 and is now one of the leading new universities in the country for both teaching and research. The last decade has been one of major achievement. Student numbers have grown from 11,000 to 20,000, and the number of academic awards made each year from 3,000 to over 4,500.
External assessments of the quality of Brighton's teaching and of graduate employment have ranked among the strongest in the country, and the last national assessment of research found more Brighton staff working at international standards of excellence than in any other 'new' university.
The university has invested heavily in its facilities with nearly £100m of capital development, including libraries, new student residencies, and sports facilities in both Brighton and Eastbourne. Among its key recent successes have been the opening of the Brighton and Sussex Medical School (a joint venture with the University of Sussex and the NHS) and the University Centre Hastings.
David, a specialist in the history of ideas and in higher education policy, has contributed widely to developments in UK higher education; having been among the first members to serve on the new Funding Councils set up in 1988 and 1992. He was a member of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education chaired by Sir Ron Dearing, whose report was published in 1997. He has chaired the Long Term Strategy Group of Universities UK for the past six years and was knighted in 1998 for services to higher education.
David said: "It has been a privilege as well as a pleasure to work with the students and staff of the University, who have achieved so much over the past two decades. Brighton deserves its reputation as a forward-looking and highly successful university, and I look forward to watching it go from strength to strength."
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