European university leaders addressed by Harper Adams Vice-Chancellor

Posted 19 June 2023

A conference which draws senior leaders from universities across Europe has been opened with insights from Harper Adams University Vice-Chancellor Professor Ken Sloan.

Professor Sloan was one of the keynote speakers at this week’s conference, which was held at the School Of International Business of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain.

In his opening plenary address, he discussed societal challenges which the sector must tackle - and how higher education institutions have responded.

He said: “I explored the issue of leadership in complex environments and how larger scale societal challenges, and institutional challenges relating to excellence,  funding, regulation, and sustainability

“These impacts, in turn, affect both leadership approaches in, and choices of leadership expertise for, institutions.

“The conference opened by showing the Harper Adams 2030 - Together, we will make the difference video - which illustrates some of the challenges and opportunities for not only our University, but for others across the world, in the context of growing global issues such as food security and climate change.”

Professor Sloan also presented a session on Local to Global Community Engagement, during which he drew on case examples from his career at Monash University in Australia, the University of Warwick and his current role as Vice-Chancellor at Harper Adams.

He added: “While I was presenting in Barcelona, a group of scholars from Africa and India are halfway through their studies with us in Shropshire from the Marshal Papworth Fund.

“Each year, a group of these scholars, from the Marshal Papworth Fund, join us for a 10-week course on sustainable agriculture, before returning home to implement what they have learnt.

“In my conference presentation, I talked about how we use the education and skills development we have developed here at Harper Adams to help UK teaching and learning have a positive impact in Africa.”

Excellent talk by Ken Sloan from Harper Adams University, UK, on new leadership requirements in VUCA environments. #humaneconference pic.twitter.com/2FcmMX7Eqn

— EUSEA - European Science Engagement Association (@EuseaEvents) June 15, 2023