Sheila Lumsden OBE was a keynote speaker at the annual Study UK GREAT Scholar event, discussing her extensive experience in higher education and inspiring the cohort of international scholarship students. The awards selected four global winners across four categories; Business and Innovation, Culture and Creativity, Science and Sustainability and Social Action. All winners and finalists were UK university alumni with outstanding stories behind their success, representing 29 UK universities and 22 countries. Their extraordinary work was vast, including edutainment start-ups, Hollywood screenwriters, green finance initiatives, school-based vaccination programmes in South-east Asia, English-learning app creators, and wildlife conservationists.
Counterculture took a moment to interview Sheila and see how her dedication to higher education and professional skills development had led to her speech and becoming an Associate at Counterculture.
You’ve worked extensively with the British Council. What do you find most interesting working with this organisation?
I worked with the British Council for over 30 years, and was privileged to work with many different people, from students to Ministers of Education. My initial attraction was the international connection element & breadth of education from school to higher education to Research level. The British Council was built on connecting people across the globe – it was set up in 1934 to encourage trust and understanding between the UK and other countries through English language, Arts and Education. It still inspires me on a daily basis. I still keep connected and feel proud of the many projects initiated and ongoing that stimulate people interaction and in particular the many youth voice and empowerment projects developed to ensure a voice of the future is heard now.
In 2004 you were awarded an OBE for your contribution to UK-international education relations. Can you expand on what programmes you worked on which led to this award? Has any of your more recent work expanded in this field?
On a special day in 2004 I was presented with an OBE by the late Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. A day never to be forgotten. A lot of the work I was doing then was focused on developing education links between Scotland and a range of countries, including Commonwealth countries. I was part of the lead organising team for the Commonwealth Ministers of Education conference held in Edinburgh in 2003 and another subsequent event in 2006 in South Africa, when I was asked to give support to the South African government in the run up to the 2006 conference.
Counterculture work extensively across the education and arts sectors and indeed with the British Council internationally, which made it a very attractive organisation to get involved with as an Associate. For the last 10yrs of my British Council career I worked across Europe (from the Balkans through to Central Asia and latterly in EU Europe) on numerous education, arts and governance projects.
You recently made a speech at the day held for the Study UK GREAT scholars. What were the key points?
My speech focused on the high quality academic studies and importantly the wide global network and why it’s the combination that’s so important. Todays problems and solutions need collaboration and partnerships. The Study UK GREAT scholars are from a a broad range of subject areas, countries and indeed UK universities. The scholarships are a partial funding towards fees and accommodation which is very helpful in itself. 150 scholarships were awarded across 53 UK universities in multiple subject areas, with a minimum grant of £10,000 for students pursuing a year of post-graduate study in the UK.
The day itself was about bringing together those who were coming to the end of their year at a UK university so that all the GREAT scholars could connect; there are networking events, speeches and the team keep them in touch throughout the year. They are so inspiring with the stories that they tell and the hard work to achieve those goals.
The Study UK Alumni Awards had 1247 applications and had ceremonies in 18 different countries worldwide. What do you think makes a successful applicant? Why are the awards so popular and what can be done to expand their reach?
A successful applicant is someone who has gone on to do really exciting work within their field; the project may be local or international, may have had media exposure from it and they have reflected well how their time of study in the UK had impact towards that success.
The Study UK Alumni awards have now been running for a few years and each year there’s more applications and more awareness. We are hoping that people will continue to apply and be inspired by these wonderful Study UK alumni.
UK universities continue to set a benchmark for education and are held in high regard internationally. How do you think we will continue to attract international students to the UK HE sector?
What’s important is the quality of education – its why people come to the UK and retaining that quality is of vital importance. Being welcoming and offering opportunities for other activities beyond the studying is also important. Many Study UK scholars will get involved in community activity or arts/sports etc and often the stories of what they’re doing beyond their studies are as inspiring as what they are doing professionally. For the UK HE sector, transnational education is also of absolute importance. This is where other organisations such as Counterculture can play a part as well as they have a strong focus on HE and giving support to universities in an international dimension.
It’s a pleasure to have you working within the Counterculture group. What attracted you to our organisation?
Having worked with an organisation like the British Council which have a strong ethos, I was attracted to Counterculture as they also have a strong ethos and clear principles underlying it all, with a focus on HE and the arts.
I first connected with Counterculture through Tom Wilcox, but have also met with Jo Wright and a few others. Both Tom and Sheila are Liverymen with the Worshipful Company of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators In October I will join the Court of WCCSA and also become Chair of the WCCSA Education Committee, which works closely with the Chartered Governance Institute UK and Northern Ireland to support governance education through working with HE universities, mentoring and apprenticeships. There can also be some rather special events in some of the magnificent old Livery Company and Merchant Halls in the City of London.
What would be your dream project or clients to work with?
Around mentoring middle management – there’s often lots of training for senior management or board members, but middle management I think currently can have a really challenging time, especially with hybrid working. There’s much that could be done to stimulate inter-generational learning and support to build resilience and capability.
My dream project would be in governance with an element of mentoring – I’d love people to see governance as an essential benefit which allows them to do the creative work rather than perceiving it as something constrictive. If you get the governance right and put structures in place then you have clear principles and can actually gain more time to be creative. My dream project would also be with a charity client.
In the higher education sector, I love working with more diverse groups when working with universities. The GREAT scholarships are different to some other scholarships as they give really good access to a wider range of UK universities, especially smaller ones / non-Russell group. Many scholarships are university specific but these are national.
The students and their projects need a wider range of universities as each university has its own personality – location, campus based. The awards are like a showcase for the universities.