iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Final walk around the old Uxbridge library before the refurb to create a centre of excellence in practice education. Right in the high street, right in the community. There’s something quite special about taking a building that has served a community and continues the legacy of learning.

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

At a recent conference, a senior academic giving a paper said that he used an AI agent to reply to student emails. I’m no Luddite; I’m no AI-denier; I understand the pressures of student expectation. But for me, using AI to reply to students is a red line. Students invest their lives and 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

You choose which stages you sit on. Nobody puts you there by accident. Every panel, every keynote, every ‘in conversation with’ is a choice. Yours and the organisers. So when a stage looks the same as the last one (same institutions, same backgrounds, same voices nodding along to each other)

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

We’re now recruiting for a People Director at BNU. We want someone more interested in recruiting and developing talent than creating new forms and procedures. Someone who creates real inclusion rather than its performance. Someone who knows how to develop excellence and who likes to challenge 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

We now see what happens when the worst of higher education, the worst of the press and the worst of social media all come together at the same time.

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

I’ve lived in Brighton for 2 years now and today, at Pride, is the city at its best. Community, belonging, allyship and one hell of a party. Nowhere like it.

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

We need to now add hydration breaks to university committees

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

We’re now going to make the gym free for our colleagues at BNU. That’s on top of free physio, free 24 hr access to counselling, free online GP, free mortgage advice, free will writing service, free financial assistance advice and free car parking. Maslow had a point.

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Bad leadership is a treasure trove of learning. I’ve had good bosses and bad bosses. I’ve probably learned more from the bad ones. Learning to lead is as much about what not to do as what to do. You learn the personal impact of bad leadership. How it pervades an organisation, reverberates 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Universities get carried away with buildings. Vanity-project mindset sets in early. Most students don’t come for shiny new buildings. Most students don’t come for the architectural prizes that cost extra millions on the build. They come for community. For the richness of human experience, the

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Very proud that BNU has been named as southeast university of the year by Whatuni. Voted for by students, rankings don’t get more meaningful than this. I’ve said it before, BNU is a special place. www.whatuni.com/student-awar...

whatuni.com

Best University of the Year in South East England: Whatuni student Choice Awards

Explore the most popular University of the Year in South East England based on reviews by 35,000+ UK university students over the last 12 months for the Whatuni Student Choice Awards.

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Two years ago, as part of our inclusive recruitment approach, we started sending out interview questions 72 hours in advance. For all posts. And it’s been great. People come more relaxed (or as relaxed as they can be) and they bring the best examples of their expertise rather than what they 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

There is nothing like working with talented people. Nothing like the rhythm of a high performing team when it gels. Nothing like the fluidity of excellence, the easy flow of ideas, contention, challenge. We spend a lot of time at work. Far better to spend it with talented people.

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

£37.4 billion net economic contribution. The enlivening of communities and classrooms. Global soft power value, global literacy. Cross subsidy funding of research. Cross subsidy of niche courses. Cultural richness and perspective. In a rational world, nations would genuinely welcome 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Nothing kills excellence like micromanagement. Nothing. I’ve seen it across FE and HE. Talented people, driven people, then a leader shows up who can’t let go. Suddenly the energy shifts. Questions replace initiative, permission replaces judgement and people stop bringing their best thinking 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

I’ve been in HE for 19 years and this is the most difficult context I’ve seen in that time. But I love what universities can be. I still have hope that one day higher education will be seen as a true social good once more, that the impact of universities will become rightly appreciated 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Want your job application to stand out? Don’t use AI. For me, real writing is a differentiator for recruitment. When a panel are assessing applications, they want to hear a voice, they want to get an idea of what you would bring, real experiences rather than the generic. They want to feel a 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

‘For many scholars, especially those from ethnic or white working-class backgrounds, linguistic assimilation demands a Faustian bargain of accent switching, adopting RP as the currency of credibility’. Superb article in the comments on accent bias in HE. Early in my career, 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

Educational access is economic. Attainment is economic. Graduate outcomes are economic. If social mobility is the goal, then support must be weighted towards those with the least. Not rhetoric. Not positioning. Real investment in the students who stand to gain the most.

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Reposted by Prof Damien Page

Katharine Hubbard @katharinehubbard.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Really proud to have written this with @profdamienpage.bsky.social championing the value of teaching staff who are disproportionately hit by cuts, but are what drives the fundamental activity of HE - educating students.#HigherEducation #TeachingAcademics www.timeshighereducation.com/even-hard-ti...

timeshighereducation.com

Even in hard times, teaching staff are vital assets, not costs to be shed

When teaching staff are casualised and cut while delivering the core business of universities, something is broken, say Katharine Hubbard and Damien Page

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

AI will kill universities according to those making a fortune from AI. Everything will be free so what’s the point of higher education. Intelligence will be like a utility. Institutions of knowledge will become obsolete as AI democratises knowledge. 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

The simplest leadership advice is: do the right thing. Simple. But problematic. Because not everyone is a good judge of what the right thing actually is. Too often, the right thing becomes whatever carries the least personal risk. The decision that protects reputation, position or relationships.

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

Six months ago we introduced meeting-free Fridays. Fridays have become the day people catch up, read, write, plan. New ideas get bounced around. Publications and projects get shared. New resources developed, new technology experimented with. 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Meet the specific needs of students. That’s what drives us daily at BNU. The needs of students who have to work long hours, who have caring responsibilities, studying in a cost of living crisis. Commuter kitchens at all campuses. Bringing a GP surgery on campus. Commuter accommodation at £35 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Elitism in higher education never went away but it’s becoming more acceptable again. As competition intensifies, some universities are quietly rediscovering the comfort of exclusivity. We see it in the silent acquiescence to the Mickey Mouse narratives, the ‘too many students’ narratives, 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

The majority of organisational problems are caused by a lack of talent. And the majority of organisational problems can be solved by a density of talent. Recruiting, developing and retaining talent should be our preoccupation.

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

The government’s response on unpaid internships is welcome but it must lead to real change. As the Sutton has pointed out below, unpaid and unadvertised internships remain a significant barrier to opportunity. They privilege those with financial backing and insider networks over those 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

I’ve worked in education for 26 years, half my life. And I’ve never regretted it once. Education can be maddening, wildly frustrating, exhausting mentally, physically and emotionally. There are times of grind, times of counting the days until holiday, times of boring meetings and pointless 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

So we’ve bought the old Uxbridge Library as the base for our new West London site. Right on the high street, 2 minutes from the Tube. No expensive new build, paid off in saved rent in 7 years. A space where we can create a centre of innovation in practice-based education at the heart of the 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Universities are held to account for the percentage of their students who achieve ‘graduate outcomes’. Yet here is more evidence below that graduates from lower socio-economic backgrounds, particularly those who are Black and Asian, are significantly less likely to secure entry-level professional 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Universities are complex. Strategy should be simple: 1. Identify the problems 2. Outline how you’ll solve them 3. Create clear, measurable actions and provide the support and resources to achieve them That’s it.

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

In the last year, I’ve done over 50 ‘back to the floor’ meetings, spending time with professional service and academic teams talking about the day to day reality of BNU. I’ve been proved wrong, been corrected, had my mind changed, been encouraged to think differently. Strategy has been 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

We’re now recruiting for a Chief Finance Officer to join BNU. Great opportunity to join the best exec team I’ve worked with, reshares appreciated. jobs.bucks.ac.uk/vacancy/chie...

jobs.bucks.ac.uk

Chief Financial Officer (1995) | Buckinghamshire New University

Full Time – 37 Hours Permanent <str

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Graduates benefit personally from higher education. They earn more. They gain more. The constant refrains in the discussions around student loans. And of course it’s true. But any good-faith consideration of the student loan system must equally foreground that the country benefits from 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Whenever there is organisational misbehaviour, there is someone who excused it. It’s banter. Or they grew up in a different era. Or people are just too sensitive. Or they really didn’t mean it like that. Or that’s just how they are and you should just ignore it. 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

This year we closed BNU for two weeks at Christmas as a thank you to everyone who worked so hard to achieve so much. The feedback was clear. People came back better, fresher, more connected with family, more energised for the year ahead. So we’re doing it every year. 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 31/01/2026

The more senior you become, the harder it is to be an active researcher. But *thinking* like a researcher should never go away. The abiding curiosity that propels enquiry. The instinct of what threads to pursue and what rabbit holes to avoid. The judgement of when understanding-seeking 1/

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Reposted by Prof Damien Page

Fran Sutherland @fransez.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Join us tonight 8-9pm BST for the #LTHEchat. VC @profdamienpage.bsky.social hosts this week’s topic, Leadership and Academic Flourishing. Blog post 👇🏼, see you at 8! @lthechat.bsky.social

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

You can tell a lot about universities from the things they obsess about. Take BNU. We don’t obsess about indicators of prestige or league tables. Nor do we obsess about winning architectural awards or attracting visiting dignitaries. Garnering nominations for honours? Politicking 1/

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

Part of the problem with bad leadership is that it never truly goes away. It gets recycled, repackaged, relocated. Reputation-washed through conference panels, advisory boards, honorary awards, and the old boys’ network. Manufactured amnesia. The people who were affected however, never forget.

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Prof Damien Page @profdamienpage.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

Great away day with the BNU exec team yesterday. Real conversations, real creativity, real challenge. Focused, strategic, trivia-free zone. Innovation, collaboration, co-creation. Respect for expertise, respect for talent. Trust, not trust exercises. Critique, not criticism. How it should be.

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