Howard Newby

Sir Howard Joseph Newby CBE (born 10 December 1947) is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool.

Early life

He grew up in Derbyshire, going to school in Etwall, before attending Atlantic College as a scholarship student.

Career

He was vice-chancellor of the University of Southampton. His other academic posts include professor of sociology at the University of Essex and visiting appointments in Australia and the United States. From 1980-83 he was professor of sociology and rural sociology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

In August 2001, Sir Howard ended a two-year term as president of Universities UK, the UK body which represents the university sector. His year-long presidency of the British Association ended in September 2002. He was appointed as the Chief Executive of The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in October 2001. He is a director of the Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited, chair of trustees for the National Centre for Social Research.

Sir Howard has published many books and articles on social change in rural England and was for eight years a Rural Development Commissioner, a member of the Government body responsible for the economic and social regeneration of rural England. From 1983-88 he was director of the ESRC Data Archive, a national facility for storing and disseminating computerised datasets for use by researchers in the public and private sectors.

He was appointed as the vice chancellor of the University of the West of England (UWE), starting in March 2006.

After only fifteen months at UWE, in July 2007 it was announced that he would be taking up the post of Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool from September 2008. In November 2008 he announced plans to transform the university into a centre for "knowledge exchange", extending the Liverpool campus in China and opening a graduate school in India. In January 2009 academics and trade unions at Liverpool were reported as expressing unease at planned restructuring, the offer of voluntary redundancy to all staff and the use of a private company Spirit of Creation (previously used at UWE) in circumventing "established structures and procedures in pushing the plan through". There is also concern at what is perceived to be a major shift away from humanities and social sciences towards science where research income is potentially higher.

Criticism

In January 2010 blogging platform WordPress.com suspended a number of blogs which it hosted after claims by the director of legal services at the University of Liverpool, Kevan Ryan, that some posts on them defamed Sir Howard. The defamation claims related to statements regarding Sir Howard's relationship with consultancy firms including Spirit of Creation Ltd and Carter & Carter Ltd.

At least three blogs were affected - The Bristol Blogger, EcoLogics and Sir Howard Newby Watch. The first two were brought back online after the posts in question (dating as far back as 2007) were hidden from public view. Sir Howard Newby Watch remains offline. The claims that the posts in question were defamatory have not been tested.

Personal life

Newby was awarded a CBE in 1995 for his services to social science and a knighthood in 2000 for his services to higher education. He is also a member of the Railway Heritage Committee and trustee of Swindon Steam Railway Museum.

Bibliography

• 1977. The Deferential Worker: a Study of Farm Workers in East Anglia. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0713908923
• 1980. Green and Pleasant Land?: Social Change in Rural England. Harmondsworth: Penguin. ISBN 978-0140222524
• 1987. Country Life: a Social History of Rural England. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 978-0297790631
• 1988. The Countryside in Question. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 978-0091731045
• 1989 (with David Rose, Gordon Marshall, Carol Vogler). Social Class in Modern Britain. London ; Boston: Unwin Hyman. ISBN 9780415098762
• 1995 (with D. Lee). The Problem of Sociology: an Introduction to the Discipline. London ; New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415094535
• 1995. The National Trust: The Next Hundred Years. London: National Trust. ISBN 978-0707802312

External links

• Newby attacks funding system Times Higher Education Supplement
• Tuition fee increase to £5,000 by 2010 predicted - Guardian
• Biography from HEFCE