First University of Buckingham Higher Education Festival

The University is to hold the first ever Buckingham Festival of Higher Education in September.

The festival will be modelled on The Sunday Times Festival of Education which Sir Anthony started at Wellington College six years ago and which has gone on to be the biggest conference in the school calendar with over 300 speakers.

Vice-Chancellor Sir Anthony Seldon said: “I have decided to replicate the festival formula with a Higher Education Festival because so much is changing in the university world, technologically, politically, socially and financially.

“There will be more than 50 high profile speakers, including Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson. The theme will be on “universities of the future: how to prepare now.”

“It will be the first of its kind and will be of interest not only to academics, students and managers in the sector but also to those in secondary schools, and careers guidance professionals, who are looking for new insights into how the sector is changing and what it might look like, well into the future.”

Speakers at the festival, to be held on 8 and 9 September, include Nick Hillman, Advisor to David Willetts when Minister of HE, Nick Hillman, Tessa Stone, Chief Exec, Brightside, Oxford University Head of Admissions Samina Khan, Founder of Alelo Technology, Lewis Johnson, Conor Ryan, The Sutton Trust, King’s College London Principal Ed Byrne and Guy Claxton, Professor of Learning Sciences, University of Winchester.

The Festival will be held at Buckingham’s town centre campus.