LSE enjoys a high reputation in many areas, but the School is always looking for ways to raise awareness of its work, particularly among key audiences beyond the academic world - central though that remains. We have an international composition and interests, and Engagement is one of the School's key priorities alongside teaching and the student experience, and research. We seek to ensure that LSE's research and expertise, and its contribution to wider society, are as well known around the world as they are in the UK.
We do this in order to support the School across the board, including by strengthening relations with alumni, improving our fundraising performance, improving our graduates' career chances, attracting more of the best students from key locations and encouraging more policymaking and business audiences to make use of our research and expertise. All this feeds back directly or indirectly into strengthening the School as an academic institution and providing the best possible opportunities and support for our academic staff.
We have a representative in China, a fundraising-focused office in New York and some resources in London targeted already on some other areas such as India. But there are many areas of the world in which we would like to do more. We would like to make a start in the Middle East, Latin America, India and the communities and geographical parts of USA and Canada which are not already covered by the New York office. In future we would like to do more in other regions, including Western and Central Europe, East Asia outside China and South-East Asia.
We already benefit enormously from the generosity of a number of academic colleagues who carry out a range of activities on behalf of the School as a whole, for example by speaking at events to promote LSE research or by meeting influential alumni and others interested in LSE (some of whom may turn out to be donors in future, though that isn't the only reason we do this). But we are keen not to impose excessively on a few, and we would like to broaden the scope of what we do.
Academics lead pressured lives; and in current circumstances we do not have many extra funds to devote to supporting them in extra activity. So over Summer 2010 we advertised for academic staff willing to make contributions of cost-effective and manageable proportions which could nevertheless both make a real difference and be of direct help to the academics themselves. We are being flexible about how this is done but have in mind the following sorts of activity:
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Extending at least one existing visit to a specific region every year by at least a couple of days, to find out or pursue opportunities for LSE to engage in external relations work in that location (the School does have funds to meet additional costs incurred in this).
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Inviting fellow LSE academics to at least one meeting a year to hear about what the School is doing in a region, set out the opportunities to get involved in those activities and explain the personal and professional benefits of doing so.
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Meeting LSE alumni and other key audiences during overseas visits and encouraging academic colleagues to do likewise.
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Writing at least one article for an LSE publication per year, to explain what the School is doing in a region.
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Supporting the Director and other senior staff in fielding inward visits from a region, including by non-academics such as government Ministers.
We remain open to additional ideas.
We envisage postholders taking on the role only for limited periods, perhaps with two academic years as the norm – though shorter periods might be possible, for example to coincide with one-year sabbaticals.
Taking on these roles will help the postholder as well as the School. Postholders will gain experience of institutional work and the interface between the academic world on the one hand and government, business and other non-academic circles on the other. This could help them in their academic careers, perhaps especially if they aim to become heads of department or assume School-wide roles in future. The work can be taken into account in the annual consideration given to Contribution Pay, at both Professorial and sub-Professorial levels (though it's not a guarantee of an award!). In any case, the experience will give staff visibility among their colleagues in leadership roles, and could provide leads and contacts which would be helpful to their research and other academic interests.
Professor Stuart Corbridge, Pro Director for Research and External Relations, appointed Dr Siva Thambisetty| in March 2011 as the School's first Regional Champion, for India. If you would like to know more or register your interest for the future, please contact Robin Hoggard (Director of External Relations) on r.hoggard@lse.ac.uk|.