Another live recording of the Podcast with a very special guest

The Wonkhe Festival of Higher Education is happening again in November and I’m very pleased to say there will be another recording of the My Imaginary University podcast in front of a live audience. As always this edition will feature a notable sector figure creating a novel HE institution. My Imaginary University is a sort of Desert Island Universities concept but without the desert island, most of the music, the book or the luxury. 

I am delighted to announce that my guest this time is Nick Hillman who has been the Director of HEPI since 2014 and previously worked for the Rt Hon David Willetts MP (now Lord Willetts), the Minister for Universities and Science, from 2007 until the end of 2013.

Will Nick’s imaginary university be a bit Christminster, rather Rummidge-like or more in the Manchester Medlock mould? You’ll have to be there to find out. And to discover what kind of VC our guest will be and what their university’s anthem is. You can find out more about the Festival programme and ticket availability here.

Last Time Around

This episode was a bit of a landmark in the My Imaginary University podcast series. For the first time we recorded the podcast in front of a live and indeed lively audience at the 2023 Wonkhe Festival of Higher Education at Senate House, University of London. The imagineer this time was Amatey Doku, Senior Consultant at Moorhouse Consulting and he presented us with a genuinely novel package of higher education innovations.

Amatey holds up a black mirror to higher education with his creation of Bandersnatch University, derived from a TV show from a few years ago with a variety of viewer-driven endings. Amatey sets out a really bold vision for his strongly student-oriented university based on five campuses in a number of higher ed cold spots which are a bit different from the norm but each with a huge atrium to host the very important Wednesday night dinners which bring the whole community together.

We learn about the typical week for every student, coaching, individual study, novel learning sessions and a big end of week show and tell session. The university is not concerned with league tables but prospective students find the model very attractive and fans of Call of Duty can find a home here too. Other novelties include committee meetings which last no more than 15 minutes, compulsory plates for catering and rotating famous and yet unmemorable presiding officers at graduation in lieu of a chancellor.

I hope this whets your appetite for the next live recording at the 2024 Festival. Why not book yourself a ticket and be in the audience for this very special event?

You can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Castbox, Deezer, Jiosaavn, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or via the RSS feed.