My grandson Aidan was clear about why he did not need to attend school. After all he probably knew more about diggers and dumpers than any average reception class teacher. Well school has now happened and for a four and a bit young boy it has been a bit of a shock. The normal morning refrain is ‘Do I have to go to school?’ In musings after school he did ask hopefully ‘How long do you have to go to school for?’ I was sorry I could not give him an optimistic or helpful reply. I tried to explain as simply as I could that learning new things is great and if you are lucky, you go on learning as long as you live.
As part of my continuing education, I have been a Governor of Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) for the past eight years. It’s been a great experience. I have learned a lot about how Universities operate and how they work to deliver the best service they can to their customers, namely their 30000 plus students. LJMU is doing well. It has consistently risen up the League Tables from about the mid 90's when I joined the Board to the low 70's today. The University has been well led, its current VC being Professor Nigel Weatherill. Nigel’s vision, encouraged by the Board and the leadership team, has been to make LJMU a pioneering modern civic University built on outstanding student experience, excellence in education, impactful research and civic and global engagement.
It’s the civic and global engagement that has particularly impressed me. LJMU has signed agreements with the Tate, the Philharmonic, Everyman Playhouse and Liverpool Cathedral and more to provide the benefits these institutions can offer to LJMU students as part of their time in the City. Students can attend concerts, exhibitions and plays at very modest cost. The partnership with the Cathedral for example allow students access to engagement with organ scholarship and the expertise of the choir.
On a global front, the University is developing relationships with institutions around the world so that part of a degree might be undertaken abroad in another environment and students from those institutions might also study for a time in Liverpool. A group of nursing students spent time looking at how nursing differs in Uganda. The value of such experiences cannot be underestimated and they can be life transforming.
The best education I ever had was to spend two years teaching English to tin miners in Indonesia from 1970 to 1972. Living in another culture widened my horizons so much and has helped me to be a much better lawyer and human being. I am sure that the nursing students will feel much the same way when they start to work in the NHS or whatever. We take so much for granted here and we need to be jolted out of our complacency.
We take the same view of the development of our staff. It is not more legal education they really need. Yes they need to know the law but more importantly they need to understand the problems that our clients face whether it is in business, marriage breakdown or facing injustice. The more we understand where people are coming from, the more we can help through the legal solutions we provide. Yes a broad education is good for us all at whatever stage of life we have reached. I sincerely hope that Aidan never stops wanting to learn. School is getting a bit better and I wish him and all his classmates good learning so they can cope with whatever life has to offer.