After leading Robert Gordon University through “a year like no other”, principal John Harper will retire at the end of this month.
And while the position he is leaving the institution in is not quite what he imagined, the educator said he is “proud” of what his staff and students have achieved over the last 12 months.
The Wick-born chemistry lecturer has devoted the last 47 years of his career to RGU, most recently as principal and vice-chancellor.
Yesterday Prof Harper was one of many sending well-wishes to the university’s latest graduates, who are now ready to head-off into the world of work.
“Graduation is always one of the highlights of the academic calendar – for the university, its students and their families,” he said.
“The ceremony at His Majesty’s Theatre is really important to a lot of people, but that’s just not been possible this year.
“And while we can’t do something physical just now – though we will do later in the year – we felt it was so important to help our students celebrate their successes.”
Replacing the traditional graduation ceremony with something virtual and online has had its benefits.
With the videos available anywhere in the world – and able to be replayed at any time – it has offered students, their friends and family the ability to celebrate these achievements wherever they may be.
The changes to graduation ceremonies have followed a larger period of upheaval throughout the university as the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
Prof Harper said: “There is no question we have all – individually and collectively – faced a major and rapid change since the end of March.
“In the space of a week we had to migrate all our campus activities to remote working.
“We started from a reasonably good base, but we have never done it to this extent.
“And we would never plan to do it in such a short space of time, as it was a big disruption to the university.
“It was solely because of the pandemic, and the increasing impact it was having on people’s lives.”
Despite this, Prof Harper said the “can-do attitude” of students and staff helped them overcome the challenges they faced.
“What emerged was a real sense of community between staff and students, and of resilience,” he said.
“That struck me very quickly.
“We continued to deliver all our courses so our students have graduated on time and our continuing students can move seamlessly to the start of next semester.
“We made extensive use of digital media for the operations of the university, and had new provision to engage with industries.
“It moved on from just ‘How do we survive?’.
“We did all we wanted to and more and I think we have come through this very strongly.”
Going forward, the university is planning to utilise a combination of classroom and remote learning, including for the new intake due to join its ranks next month.
Prof Harper says this blend is vital in order to give students the best experience they can possibly have.
He said: “A month ago I would have predicted we would have almost been back to normal by now.
“We’ve had to plan out various possibilities, and have gone for a medium-term scenario where we can deliver everything by digital media if we need to – although that isn’t what we want.
“We can use a mixture of on-campus and digital learning – and this balance can be flexible depending on the situation.
“The intent is for the first semester back to be a mix of both.
“We really put the student experience first, and that involves interaction with staff and other individuals.
“We are being very cautious and are prepared for the uncertainty ahead, but we are trying to look positive.”
This way of thinking has expanded beyond just learning, with preparations for a more digitally-focused freshers week in the pipeline.
Clubs and societies have been working together to develop creative and different activities to mark the start of the new semester, while still complying with lockdown restrictions.
Last month the university rose to second in Scotland for overall student satisfaction – taking into consideration all aspects of on and off-campus life.
And when discounting small, private and specialist providers, RGU was ranked second in the UK with 89.96% providing positive feedback about their experiences.
This marked an increase of 1.35 percentage points on the results of the 2019 National Student Survey.
Prof Harper said: “This last year has been a real challenge but, when we reflect, there has been major success with what we have achieved and can carry forward.
“I feel very proud of the survey results.
“They are a very tangible recognition of our commitment to high-quality student experiences.
“My entire career has been at RGU – 47 years – so I do feel genuinely proud to be leaving the university in this state and at this time.
“It is all about the effort, focus and can-do attitude of people and it has been great to witness.
“And if anything has been evidenced in this last year, it is the many real examples of just that.”
