Karl Oxford
"I am keen to bring the benefits to Bradford through my links at a
national level and interactions with other networks. I have been a
Corporation member for about 6 years. I was very keen to get involved
as this organisation is the third largest in the district and a key
player. I wanted to help the College bring a stronger voice on the
future of Bradford. I believe it is all about meeting peoples’ needs.
I felt passionate about it then and I do now.
It doesn’t matter what the predominant ethnic group is in the immediate
or surrounding area. The College and all other key public agencies need
to treat people as service users and cater for their differing needs.
There is no longer any excuse for a lack of cohesion or intolerance.
Everyone has basic quality of life needs and we all have aspirations
for ourselves and our children.
I work as an independent consultant working on social regeneration
projects. I am currently developing a regional strategy for getting
more people involved in international development, as well as
developing innovative ways to engage disaffected young people here,
particularly those currently not in education, employment or training
(NEETS,). I am also developing a community cohesion principled
programme to commemorate the economic legacy of slavery.
I am Deputy Chair of the Equality & Diversity Committee (I was
formerly Chair but when Michele came as Principal she felt that the
issues were so crucial she took on the role as part of her key
functions). As Chair I took on the first visioning exercise so that we
knew what we needed to do and determine how we were going to get there.
At the Corporation level we have been doing this increasingly, as
opposed to filling meetings with a load of words and sentiments. You
can be part of the problem and not realise. I am a big believer in
performance management frameworks with route maps towards achieving a
vision. I am also on Policy & Resources, Remuneration and until
recently I was Chair of Employment Policy.
We must accept more boldly the things we need to do. The
organisational culture has to change. The new Corporation and people
coming in to College from other parts of the country bring a new
perspective. We must not be parochial. If we think the world revolves
around us we are in trouble. We should hunt down good practice. It is
a big world out there and we are danger of learning from it! Our
students can’t afford us to be ignorant.
I am very encouraged by the direction we have taken in becoming more
corporate. I am a strong believer that organisations should operate
proficiently. Our ability to work closely, productively and with
equity with the local authority and other key stakeholders is
paramount. I will endeavour to give any support to the Principal in
this.
We hear the heartbeat of the needs of young people and the communities
they are from, of all persuasions. As we have demonstrated in our
response to the NEETS that we are able to respond to the needs of young
people. The loss of adult education provision does not have to sound
the death knell of our work in communities. Over the years we as a
college have worked hard to establish these links, not just around
learning but also engagement, which have been used to deflect social
problems. I believe we can maintain these links. We are now challenged
to come up with ways of providing opportunities for adults to learn.
It is imperative that we find some way to maintain something for adults
so that the loss is not total. We should acknowledge the fact that we
need to engage with adults and explore ways to get the funding to do
this."