Who has time for books when thereâs an image to be maintained on Facebook, witticisms to be dispensed to Twitter, and selfies dispatched via Snapchat?
Teenagers, weâre told, are so consumed by digital that they struggle to fit in face-to-face social lives (note the declining teen pregnancy rate), let alone read novels.
Itâs not only teens who face greater digital demands on their time. Take the most prolific tweeter among UK vice-chancellors: Dominic Shellard, of De Montfort University, has tweeted almost 40,000 times, which equates to about 600,000 words â more, apparently, than in War and Peace. Whatever your age or position, such digital dedication is bound to eat into time to do other things (and I speak as someone who has tweeted 8,000 times myself).
So in our cover story this week, we ask academics to suggest one title theyâd urge undergraduates to read before they head off to university.
Âé¶č
In a similar vein, and knowing how pressed for time vice-chancellors are, I conducted a straw poll of university leaders, asking what single book they would recommend to prospective v-cs to prepare them for the rigours of the top job.
Shellardâs choice isnât Tolstoy but John Kotterâs Leading Change, which he says was recommended to him by Sir Keith Burnett, his old boss at the University of Sheffield, âwith a mischievous, knowing smile which said that this would save me months of false moves. It was a revelation. Clear, accessible and appealingly persuasive, it steadied my nerves for the task ahead.â
Âé¶č
- Scholars choose âessentialâ texts to introduce sixth-formers to the academy
As a former head of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, Sir David Eastwoodâs choice is less obviously from the management canon: he recommends Alexis de Tocquevilleâs LâAncien RĂ©gime et la RĂ©volution, and suggests that itâs OK to read it in translation, âbut try to quote from it in Frenchâ.
It is, he says, âa truly great book and a profound exploration of the interplay between ideas, political culture, and structures. It explains how a regime worked, modernised, atrophied and collapsed. It warns against the dangers of over-centralisation, and memorably concludes that âthe most dangerous time for a bad government is when it seeks to reform itselfâ.â John Cater, vice-chancellor of Edge Hill University, says that his advice would be âno 1970s management theory, no business process re-engineering, and as few operating objectives and performance measures as you can sensibly get away withâ.
âRather, vision, communication, culture, ethos, strategy. Go back 2,300 years and try Philip Freemanâs 2011 biography of Alexander the Great, the glory not the dirt, the civilising not the brutalising. And avoid the tainted wine. Youâll only ever be Alexandr(a) the Tolerable, but at least youâve lived past 32.â
For Dame Nancy Rothwell, of the University of Manchester, Stefan Colliniâs What Are Universities For? is a must-read â so much so that she gave a copy to each of her governors. âThoughtful, provocative and amusing, I donât agree with all of Stefanâs conclusions, but I fully agree with his answer to the question in the title, which is that universities are basically for the public good. This is something that a new v-c should be mindful of,â she advises.
Âé¶č
Finally, Christina Slade, vice-chancellor of Bath Spa University, has two options to prepare future v-cs for their game of thrones: âMy choice is Machiavelli, The Prince,â she says. âIf you need another, Hilary Mantelâs Bring up the Bodies.â
Register to continue
Why register?
- Registration is free and only takes a moment
- Once registered, you can read 3 articles a month
- Sign up for our newsletter
Subscribe
Or subscribe for unlimited access to:
- Unlimited access to news, views, insights & reviews
- Digital editions
- Digital access to °Ő±á·Ąâs university and college rankings analysis
Already registered or a current subscriber?
