Higgott all for collaboration

THE University of Warwick doesn’t have the long history or tradition of Britain’s famous sandstone universities, yet it ranks as one of the country’s top 10.

So says Richard Higgott, who is leaving his post as Warwick’s pro vice-chancellor for research to take the top job at Murdoch.

The University of Warwick was established in the mid 1960s, less than a decade before Murdoch.

But it doesn’t seem to have been held back by being younger, smaller or less famous than other universities.

“It just shows what you can do if you make the right policy decisions and run it well,” Professor Higgott says.

He says Warwick has developed a unique culture that helps the university develop.

“We have something called the ‘Warwick gene’. The academic and administrative community, they gel really well, and work together on the goal of enhancing its international reputation.”

“And when it hires really good people, it keeps them.”

Except, it seems, Professor Higgott, who, while a charming fellow, clearly will not be a shrinking violet.

“A good vice-chancellor gets out and sells their university,” he says. “Murdoch has not done that well enough in the past.”

When Professor Higgott starts his new job in August, he will bring strong connections with Perth and Murdoch.

Raised in the UK, he studied political science at the London School of Economics and gained a PhD at the University of Birmingham.

He first moved to Perth in the mid 1970s, and held teaching posts at the University of Western Australia and then Murdoch. He also served for several years on the advisory board of Murdoch’s Asia Research Centre.

Professor Higgott also has strong personal connections to Murdoch – his wife, Diane Stone, also a professor, is a Murdoch graduate, as are his mother-in-law and sister-in-law.

Harvard University, the Australian National University and Manchester University are other places where the widely travelled Professor Higgott has held teaching and research posts.

At Warwick, he was appointed professor of international political economy in 1996 and pro vice-chancellor for research (arts and social sciences) in 2007.

He and his wife took extended leave from Warwick late last year, after the UK government announced cuts in funding for the humanities and social sciences. They moved back to Perth in January, with both engaged as Winthrop Professors at UWA.

Through their careers, they have managed to divide their time between different universities in different locations.

Professor Higgott, for instance, has been commuting to the UK this year to continue working on a $15 million European Commission research project.

He has flown back again this week, to wind up his involvement in the four-year project, which is focused on the role of Europe in a ‘multi-polar’ world.

The project involves collaboration across 15 universities, including UWA, across every continent.

Therein lies a pointer to the future of university research.

“My whole agenda will be to be cooperative,” Professor Higgott says.

“You can have healthy competition (between universities) but the economies of scale means that you do need to cooperate.”

He is keen for Murdoch to maintain a broad offering on the teaching side, but favours a specialist approach to its research.

“You’ve got to think strategically about what you do in research,” Professor Higgott told WA Business News.

Professor Higgott sees plenty of opportunities at Murdoch.

“The reason I’m interested is that I think I can make a difference,” he says. “The crucial thing is, it’s a university with world-class research in some areas. We can strengthen that, and build on it.”

Professor Higgott cited a 2010 review by the Australian Research Council, which concluded that two thirds of Murdoch’s research was world-class or above.

The study listed eight areas that were well above or above world standard, including immunology, medical microbiology, clinical sciences, and resources engineering and extractive metallurgy.

Professor Higgott says Murdoch also has a very good teaching record.

He is under no illusions about the challenges ahead, however, particularly with regard to funding.

For relatively new universities such as Murdoch, one of the key challenges is getting a larger share of research funding.

There is an entrenched pattern in Australia for research funding to go primarily to the sandstone universities such as UWA, and to a lesser extent the technology universities like Curtin.

Professor Higgott says Warwick generates 25 per cent of its income from research, whereas Murdoch gets just 12 per cent of its income from that source.

“You have to be innovative in how you generate other income.”

Professor Higgott doesn’t claim to have all the answers, saying he is keen to spend time talking and listening to his new colleagues. He is also keen to engage with his counterparts at Perth’s other universities, where change is also afoot.