Bob Sowman
"I was a professional and practising engineer for many years,
spending 17 years at English Electric, starting as an apprentice and
eventually becoming Manufacturing Manager, before taking up a similar
position at Crabtree Vickers and then becoming a self-employed
engineering consultant. During this time I also did infill teaching at
evening classes.
I have always been interested in education. I had
trained to be an engineer at College, qualifying in the first cohort of
the HNC in Production Engineering in 1960 at what was then Bradford
College of Advanced Technology and became the university shortly
afterwards. I became a part-time student again only 2 years ago when I
did a digital imaging course here. From 1987 until 1997 I was Director
of the William Morrison Trust, a charity providing business training to
unemployed people to help them set up for their own businesses. I was
also served as a Councillor for Undercliffe for 26 years, becoming Lord
Mayor in 1993-94 and was Chair of Further Education. I was an elected
member of the National Association of Colleges in Further and Higher
Education and the first Association of College Yorkshire &
Humberside Regional Committee. The University of Bradford awarded me an
honorary doctorate in 1994 for services to the community and further
education.
I
have been involved in the Governors/Corporation for at least 25 years,
apart from some years when I felt that it might not be appropriate as
the Council's Chair of Further Education. I spending 14 years as Chair
of the Corporation and presided over the merger of Bradford &
Ilkley Colleges. After I resigned as Chair I stayed on by popular
request.
From my long-term vantage point I can see cycles and
that change is not a recent phenomena. We have been in a constant state
of change. This is due to constantly having to adapt to external
requirements or changes in industry and work. Emphases have moved and
looking at the number of course we offer now, we have grown out of all
proportion to when we prepared people to work in Bradford's staple
industries and over the years the College has tried hard to pursue its
involvement in the community. Throughout all the changes, what we have
always done an extremely well is provide a good education to those who
have left school, equipping them for success in a work environment. We
have always been less effective at self-promotion and we need to be
better at selling the quality of our products.
We now need to make physical changes to change our
image. This is very expensive but valid. Young people want something
new and they rightly expect something different to the facilities that
their parents and grandparents had here.
In previous times the staple industries of Bradford
were more visible, more stable and based on trades and manufacturing.
We have not only lost those industries, but also the people in those
established companies who saw that their interests and those of the
working people of Bradford lay in the College, and who were generous
sponsors and supporters. We now operate in a different world economy
and service industries now predominate so the College must accommodate
all these changes in the workplace, technology and learning. We have
done an excellent job over the years and I am confident we will
continue to do so."