Pride, ambition and extremely hard work: how Susan Price turned around Leeds Met

“It had its challenges for sure,” says Price, the institution’s first female vice chancellor.

“It had been through some bad times, it wasn’t a bad place; there is a real difference there.”

Price, who is now 58, joined in January 2010 following a period of negative headlines about an institution that employs 3,200 people and has 32,000 students.

She says: “There were some financial challenges, there were challenges in terms of quality assessment of the institution and (there was) a particular challenge in terms of staff morale.

“When people are working hard and doing their best and yet the stories coming out are not positive, that’s not good for their morale or their pride in the institution.

“That’s a long time ago. For us that’s ancient history now.”

Indeed. Now that she has announced her intention to retire at the end of September 2015, Price wants to speak about what has been achieved during her tenure. The interview has been pitched as “a business turnaround story”.

“The plan was specifically to work with very good people here and to harness their energies and ambitions for the university and their students and make that work for the institution and that’s not hard because that’s what people want to do,” Price explains.

She adds: “We set ourselves some challenging goals and achieved them. I believe if you think you can achieve you can achieve them. It’s all about pride, aspiration, ambition and extremely hard work.”

Leeds Beckett, as it has been known since the summer, is on firmer financial footing.

When she joined, the university had an annual surplus of £600,000, just over £5m in the bank, net assets of £232m and a retained earnings reserve of £31m.

At the year ending July, it had a surplus of £28.4m, more than £64m in the bank, net assets of £279m and retained earnings of £98m.

The university has £93m of long-term borrowings. Of these, £60m are funded by income from student residences, with £33m funded by general income.

Annual income has grown by 13 per cent to nearly £199m under her watch, although Price says her focus is on generating cash rather than income growth and a surplus so Leeds Beckett can invest in its estate, students and staff.

Turnarounds require leadership. Asked to describe her own leadership style, Price responds by sharing some of the feedback she has received since announcing her retirement.

“If I say the words they are using I feel a bit more comfortable,” she says.

“Inspirational. High integrity. A lot of trust. Passionate about the university. Highly committed. Very hard working.

“I do expect people to work really hard. Ambitious for the institution and having restored pride and belief in the institution and what we can achieve.”

Leeds Beckett is one of the largest universities in the country, Price says her aim is not to be the biggest but the best and the first choice in all of its disciplines, not just some of them.

Price says the university contributes £500m a year to the regional economy, a figure she says is measured independently and based on a multiplier effect of student spend and impact as an employer.

She adds: “Universities are the locus of cutting edge research, approaches to knowledge transmission and knowledge engagement. In terms of their regions, they are expertise anchors. We can use that expertise to the benefit of our region.”

Price maintains that it is important for universities to collaborate, even as changing dynamics in the sector forces ever greater levels of competition for students and their fees.

“The 12 universities (in Yorkshire) have different strengths so we can align ourselves where our strengths are complementary and we can look at particular opportunities and work with each other on that,” she says.

Leeds Beckett already collaborates closely with the University of Leeds; Price and her counterpart Sir Alan Langlands meet regularly and their senior teams have started to meet regularly to proactively look for areas of collaboration.

But Price dismisses talk of a merger, saying the sector has a very poor record of tie-ups.

Higher education in Britain has gone through major changes under the Government - the system is now funded by student loans - but Price says the sector has come through stronger with its focus on engagement and students and is still highly regarded throughout the world.

Price dismisses the suggestion that too many people go to university as “a bit fatuous”.

“That’s not the point. Are there the right number of opportunities, not just for young people but for people at any stage of their career to develop themselves?

“It could be through university, it could be through other routes. There is no evidence there are too many routes. All the evidence is there aren’t enough routes still.”

Price says she hasn’t given much thought to what she plans to do next, other than travel, eat and spend time with her husband, although she does add that she might resume some political activity.

Price, who is the daughter of a South Shields shipyard worker and was the first person in her family to go to university, is a long-standing member of the Labour Party.

Might a role await in a future Labour government?

“I think that highly unlikely,” she says, laughing. “I was thinking more of leafleting!”

Profile of a leader

Education: St Anthony’s Grammar School Sunderland, University of Salford, University College London, University of Bradford.

First job: Driving an ice cream van.

Favourite holiday destination: Lots, but particularly Brazil.

Favourite film: Apocalypse Now (Don’t read anything into that - amazing cinematography and sound for the time).

Favourite song: Anything by David Bowie and Rhapsody in Blue.

Last book read: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Car driven: Citroen C3

Most proud of: Personally, my parents and professionally, our university.