Keith Harrison

(Elected 2024)

Keith Harrison’s contribution to Birkbeck as College Secretary and Clerk to the Governors from 2005 to 2024 is immense. If it were not for him, Birkbeck would have ceased to exist.

After attending secondary school in Birmingham, Keith graduated from the University of Oxford in 1985 with a B A Hons in English Language and Literature. Winner of the Elton Shakespeare Prize, in another life, Keith could have become a distinguished Shakespearean academic.

Keith chose the route of academic administration, the professionalisation which in the 1980’s was in its infancy.

After a short period at the Open University as Development and Project Liaison Officer, Keith was recruited to Imperial College London’s newly created Planning Unit as Assistant, and later, Senior Planning Officer. Imperial’s Planning Unit was one of the first of its kind in a UK university and it pioneered the notion of business planning in higher education.

When Keith’s mentor, Wendy Surridge, was appointed as the Secretary and Registrar of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, he followed her there as the Deputy Secretary (Planning and Resources) in 1996.

Among other things, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keith was responsible for planning and resources, finance and management, information systems and services; liaison with the Higher Education Funding Council of England (HEFCE) on funding issues; and preparations for the Government’s five-yearly Research Assessment Exercise.

Appointed as Birkbeck’s College Secretary and Clerk to the Governors, Birkbeck’s most senior administrative role in 2005, Keith took on responsibility for leadership, management, coordination and development of its administrative departments and systems.

Immediately on joining Birkbeck, its atmosphere changed as Keith set about modernising, integrating, and improving services to support Birkbeck’s primary teaching and research objectives.

In September 2007, when the Government introduced the Equivalent or Lower Qualification rule which prevented undergraduates from obtaining loans to cover their tuition fees if the qualification they were studying for was equivalent or at a lower level than their existing qualifications, overnight Birkbeck lost 40% of its teaching funding. Keith led a review to determine whether it should close down or merge with another university.

Neither were necessary because of his work to help Birkbeck secure the funding it needed to not only to overcome the loss but also to continue to thrive into the future.

Keith also helped secure additional funding to provide teaching space in Stratford, to purchase and convert a former car showroom on the Euston Road into teaching space, and to purchase Birkbeck Central from the University of London.

In short, Birkbeck in 2024 continues to exist and fulfill its mission to provide education to everyone for whom it may be of benefit because of Keith Harrison’s contribution to it.