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More takeovers of ailing institutions may be necessary in the years ahead, but such rescue missions should not be based on emotions alone, according to the leaders of a university?that acquired a failing further education (FE) college.

Peter John, vice-chancellor of the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of West London (UWL), said the?decision to intervene in Ruskin College?¨C an Oxford-based adult learning institution ¨C in 2021 was partially?because of the institution¡¯s long history, but also because it was ¡°a good business venture¡±.?

UWL was?approached to take over the college, which has longstanding links to the trade union movement, after financial problems left it struggling to operate.?

Upon gaining control, John, who is also principal of Ruskin College, said the university settled the institution¡¯s debts and began to ¡°bring its inflated costs into line¡± with a round of voluntary redundancies, while diversifying its income streams. Plans also commenced to expand its higher education programmes.?

Today, Ruskin College is ¡°financially stable¡±, he said, and generating a ¡°small surplus¡±.?

With mergers and acquisitions being mooted?as one of the ways to shore up the struggling higher education (HE) sector more widely today, there may be lessons to learn from the Ruskin College takeover for the wider sector.?

¡°When you have these relationships, it will only be long-term sustainable if all elements of the group¡­are able to perform well in their own right,¡± said Graeme Atherton, associate pro vice-chancellor for regional engagement at UWL and vice-principal of Ruskin College. ¡°If you¡¯re relying entirely on cross-subsidy¡­it won¡¯t work.

¡°We believe in what Ruskin stands for and what it does, but we also have to believe that it could do that productively¡­otherwise we wouldn¡¯t have done it,¡± he continued.?

While the takeover preceded the election of the current Labour government by some years, the direction of travel appears aligned with ministers¡¯ vision of a post-16 education sector that connects HE and FE more closely.?

John said he insisted during negotiations that the college must be a ¡°mixed economy¡± institution, with HE and FE interconnected, and this became one of the conditions of the acquisition.?

¡°It couldn¡¯t survive with FE alone,¡± he said, owing to both poor government funding for the sector and the size of the institution.

He spoke of offering ¡°an escalator¡± of qualifications from level 1 to level 6, something he called ¡°a perfect example of lifelong learning in action¡±.?

However, John acknowledged, the two sectors are ¡°very different creatures¡± and joining them up at a national level ¡°will be a challenging task¡±.?

For universities, he said, takeovers of this sort ¡°have to be mission aligned in some way if they are to succeed¡±.

¡°I think there¡¯ll be more of them in the coming months and years,¡± he continued, ¡°partly because FE is so fragile and HE is very precarious as well, so mergers could serve a mutual purpose¡±.

Efforts have been made to preserve Ruskin College¡¯s social legacy too, continuing to focus on widening participation, social equity and liberal ideology.???

¡°I think what we¡¯ve done in the past four years¡­the fact we have managed to bring learners through to degree level who are from backgrounds where they might not have been through HE before [and] the fact that we¡¯ve managed to re-establish Ruskin¡¯s place as a home for a progressive thought, shows that there was potential when [UWL] took over,¡± said Atherton. ¡°It wasn¡¯t just an emotional decision.¡±

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com