CBE awarded to Solent Vice-Chancellor
Southampton Solent University Vice-Chancellor Professor Van Gore was awarded the honour of a Commander of Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen’s New Year Honours list.
The award is made to him for his services to higher education. Van helped to gain university status for Solent in 2005 and led the institution through its formative years to forge a new and distinctive kind of university.
Professor Gore said: "I am delighted to receive this award, although I feel I am accepting it on behalf of everyone at Southampton Solent University. Their creativity, hard work and enthusiasm have played a huge part in the success of our institution."
Coming from a working class family with a father who could read but not write, Van views the award as ‘particularly humbling’. He says of his father: “He was an intelligent but not an educated man, who played a formative role in my belief in the importance of higher education and its powerful benefits for both the individual and society.”
Being the first in his family to go to university, Van is a strong supporter of social justice and has campaigned to sustain and extend the inclusivity and diversity of the higher education system. Social justice is part of the University’s Mission. A large proportion of Solent’s undergraduates are ‘first in family’ to enter higher education, and almost all are from state schools.
Solent University has become known for its creative approach to the curriculum and, in particular, for its commitment to real world learning and a special student experience.
Van has also been instrumental in forging a closer relationship with the city of Southampton, employers and the wider community. He is a member of Southampton Connect - a group of key public, private and voluntary organisation leaders, working collaboratively to further the growth and success of Southampton, and is also actively involved with the Local Economic Partnership for the Solent region.
Always looking at building on the University’s success and investing for the future, Van is delighted with the progress on what will eventually be a stunning multi million pound development to transform Solent’s city centre campus. The first phase is already under way and will see the completion of a new £30 million teaching and learning centre in 2015.
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Southampton Solent University offers more than 23,000 students over 200 qualifications ranging from HND to PhD, in subjects such as maritime education and training, fashion and design, media and television, music, health, sport and leisure, business, IT and technology. The university was awarded the 2013 Quality Assurance kitemark for quality and standards of teaching and learning. Solent was voted one of the most creative universities in the UK in a Which? University 2013 poll of students. Southampton Solent University has been awarded ‘Gold approval’ by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
Professor Van Gore joined Southampton Institute in Summer 2001 as Vice Principal, Academic and was appointed Senior Vice Principal in September 2003. He became the Deputy Vice-Chancellor in July 2005 when Southampton Institute became Southampton Solent University, and was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University with effect from 1 August 2007.
He is an historian, with a History and Politics first degree and then Masters in Modern British Politics from Sheffield University. He became Head of Humanities and Communication Studies and Special Policy Advisor on Quality and Standards to the Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University. He first moved to Sheffield as a lecturer in modern European political history after postgraduate research in social history at the University of Warwick. He later developed an interest in quality management, working as a consultant and QAA auditor in the HE sector here and overseas.
Van is currently a member of the Executive of GuildHE. He helped to create the Southampton Skills Development Zone and is also the Higher Education Member of Southampton Connect, which is a group of leaders of key public, private and voluntary organisations, working collaboratively to further the growth and success of Southampton. He chaired the Hampshire & IOW lifelong learning network from 2006-2010. He was chair of HE European Funding Service (HEEFS) from 2009-2011 and is currently a director of Laser Learning Awards (the successor to OCNSR, The Open College Network South East Region).
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