ATL

Impossible is nothing

President of the Association of Managers in Education, Stella Mbubaegbu has achieved much in the world of further education. Just don't say she's been lucky. Words by Alex Tomlin

A man in overalls with a pot of paint and a brush wanders up and down the stairs looking lost, while the receptionist has to think hard before directing a visitor to the toilet. "It's my first day in this building," she explains. "It's all new to me."

It's new to everyone. The finishing touches are just being applied to this brand new Highbury campus, the main site of Highbury College in Portsmouth and the final piece in the jigsaw of an ambitious project that has rebuilt or revamped all five of the college's sites.

Overseeing this project is Stella Mbubaegbu CBE, college principal since 2001, when she was widely lauded for being the first black female principal of an FE college. Meeting her in her pristine new office, I comment that she must be very proud of the building's completion. She thinks for a moment, closing her eyes in contemplation, before deciding: "Proud is not the way I feel. If anything I feel quite sober - a calm 'well we did it, there it is'. Going from the hustle and bustle of it being planned, organised, designed and being immersed in it and living it to it being done..." She tails off and then suddenly more animated, adds: "I'm more into the enjoyment phase, watching staff come back. It's the first time they have been in here and they're just like 'wow!', faces glowing. The next bit will be when the students come back, particularly the second years who will see the difference from the old building. I'm vicariously enjoying other people's enjoyment of it."

Given the current travails affecting building projects in further education, I suggest they have been quite lucky in completing before the funding crisis hit. I should have chosen my words more carefully. "I don't agree with luck, because it takes away from the strategic direction we took," she states definitively. "It was a vision we had, and we've pinched and scraped, sold land, and taken a hefty bank loan. We weren't part of the problems other colleges have. We're not lucky - we planned it.

"It's a dream we've been working towards for years," she continues, warming to her theme. "Other people thought it wouldn't happen. The obstacles: no money, planning permission, you can't purchase land; all sorts of angles to the 'it-can't-be-done' story. 'Impossible' is not a word I recognise."

That attitude served Stella well as she progressed from teaching English literature at secondary school to lecturing on various subjects in college, then to senior lecturer, then up to vice principal at Croydon College in south London. "There was no plan. Absolutely not! It's just grown that way. I've just been interested by doing different things, by doing things I didn't know much about before I did them. I just had a belief that I could do it."
Finally came her milestone appointment as principal at Highbury College. Presumably she must be proud of being the first black female principal?

"Not particularly," she retorts. "Why was I the first? It should have happened long before. I mean, great, I'm the first, now let's get lots more in."

As chair of the Black Leadership Initiative (BLI) advisory board, Stella is well-placed to help make that happen. Part of the Network for Black Professionals, the BLI exists to introduce practical measures to improve career development opportunities for black and ethnic minority tutors and managers working in the education sector.
One of the original supporters of the BLI was the Association of College Management (ACM), ATL's partner in forming AMiE, the Association of Managers in Education. As recently crowned president of both ACM and AMiE, Stella extols the benefits of the alliance with ATL.

"AMiE is a fantastic opportunity for ACM and ATL to form a strong partnership with the strength to make a difference to managers that's required at this point in time. It's exciting, particularly to have a combined voice and presence. Managers need to be stronger and clearer about what their role is in the world. Management is a key component of the work schools and colleges do."

Passion for that work is what drives Stella and her eyes light up as she waxes lyrical about education. "I've been in education my whole working life. I went into work in education and stayed and loved it. You have such an opportunity to make a difference to individuals.

"I'm particularly passionate about FE because of its diversity," she continues. "Providing education and training that transforms individual lives and makes a difference to the community. That's the core of what the best colleges are about; meeting the community where it's at, meeting each individual who comes through the door at whatever point they're at. That is actually amazing.

"At school you do certain things at certain ages, and at university there is an expectation that you're at a certain level. At college you have a diverse range of individuals and we meet them at their starting point and work with them. It's always about transformation."

Working with employers is another important connection with the community. "A college such as Highbury that is vocational is strong in providing skills required by the local economy. I don't subscribe to the view that vocational is inferior to academic. We need those vocational skills or where will the next plumbers come from?"

Explaining the diverse role of colleges is a challenge, particularly when it comes to the government. "The problem with politicians is that most of them have never been to college and don't understand the shape of it. They need it to be a shape they understand, but it's too diverse. You get one government person in and you teach them what it's about, and then they go and someone else comes in and needs to start learning from scratch."

Stella's work has earned her a trip to see the Queen to pick up a CBE for services to further education. "That was amazing and totally humbling; I didn't expect it. When you're honoured for what you love doing... it's difficult to describe the feeling. You think: what do I do now to put even more back? It's raised the bar."

Looking at the list of her current activities, it's hard to see how she could fit any more in. In addition to AMiE and BLI, her other roles include board member of the Learning and Skills Improvement Service, council member of Lifelong Learning UK, and member of the Ministerial Expert Group on 14-19, to name but a few.

"I'm passionate about making a difference to as many people as I have an opportunity to," she says. "I don't want to let an opportunity to make a difference go by. There's so much need and I think if you're in a position to enable good, meaningful, worthwhile things to happen, then you should."

Stella is careful about what she gets involved in, however. "I don't have patience for things that aren't going anywhere. The groups should be effective if I'm chairing them! If I don't have anything to contribute then there's no point."

Is there any room for relaxation in her life? "I listen to myself and if I've had enough I will stop - it's sensible to stop. I tell all the managers at the college to take their holiday, because it's there for a reason." Resting involves "doing nothing, putting my feet up and reading a book. That's how I escape. Of course, then I don't sleep because I want to finish the book!"

Overall, she is happy with what she's doing and has no plans to change direction. "If I had an opportunity to make the same kind of difference to as many or more people as I do now, I would do it."

I venture politics as an option. "No, I said the same kind of difference! Politicians don't do things!" she exclaims. "They're making policy and holding on to their seat. I need to be able to see and influence directly."

So with politics not an option, what are Stella's ambitions? She doesn't set herself personal goals as such. "My ambitions are for what I'm involved in, which is a trite thing to say, but it's true because it's what makes me really happy. My ambition is for my students and for this college. Where can we go now? What's the next frontier?"