Track one

I am not sure you can put a price on education
I am an educator – I started my life as a teacher and I still consider myself to be a teacher
Education is a life changing experience
You can get into the cost-benefit aspect of what the fees are for a programme
I teach the first major course on our MBA – ‘Decision Making under Uncertainty’
I ask the students “Why are you here?”
Are you looking for something where there is a definite cost-benefit relationship?
Or are you looking for a way to change the way you think and see the world?
If it is the latter – then Welcome!
Education, particularly postgraduate education is designed to make you re-evaluate how you see the world
In terms of the cost, the elite US business schools are very expensive
Whether you get value for money is not something for me to comment on
In a Glasgow context students get an exceptionally good education for what is a fair market price
With for example, the business schools, one of the major factors is developing your connections
The people you are mixing with are going to be future leaders, future entrepreneurs
It is a very good stepping stone to get connections
We sat in the reception (at an alumni event) and you could see a collection of young Chinese graduates from the Business School
If I could wind the clock forward twenty years I would have a high expectation that they would be at the top of their various professions.

Questions
1.How is education described?
2.What do some people consider when looking at a university course?
3.What should they really be looking at?
4.Apart from a good degree what can studying at a business school give the students?
5.Who are the people there likely to become?

Track two
That exposure and if you can continue that exposure through alumni networks it is a fabulous resource
Teaching is one thing – it changes your mind-set but the networks you develop as a consequence of being at Glasgow is phenomenal
At the Alumni Award, one person said his parents could have bought a house, could have bought a car for him
Instead they sent him to university
And that was a far better investment because the other things would have been worthless today
I do not think you can put a price on a good education
We pride ourselves on being an elite university that isn’t elitist
We take in students from a wide variety of backgrounds
We try to support them because we know that the value of a good education is not about how much you can earn but how much you can contribute to society
How much you can contribute to your friends and colleagues
How many opportunities beyond money making that a good education provides
We have been doing that since 1451 – we want to continue doing it for another 500/600 years
Everything we do in the University is seen as a legacy
We are not just providing an education for people today
We are providing the platform for education for people tomorrow –for next year – and the next ten years – and next fifty years and so on
It is wonderful working with students in creating hope and opportunity
And hopefully lots of contribution to society and the economy in return for the education that they get

Questions
1.What is a fabulous resource?
2.What is a beneficial investment for the future?
3.What is a value of education?
4.When was the University of Glasgow funded?
5.What is seen as a legacy for the future?