Martin Bean, VC in waiting, talks to Platform

He joked that no-one ever forgets his name but in his first introduction to the OU it was Martin Bean’s optimism about the university’s future that people are likely to remember.

Nine months ahead of taking up the post of Vice-Chancellor, there was no mistaking Martin Bean’s genuine excitement and relish for the challenges of his new role. Describing himself as ‘in awe’ of the opportunity to be part of what has been achieved over the first 40 years, he insisted that ‘the eternal optimist’ in him saw huge opportunities in the current global financial crisis. There are opportunities, he said, to help individuals, companies and governments tackle the skills gap and maintain employability; to fundamentally alter the nature of learning by using technology to shift education from being content-centric to people-centric; and to take on the fast-growing for-profit education sector by continuing to offer something that remains unique: scale without any compromise in quality or values.

Martin Bean will be the fifth OU Vice-Chancellor, but the first to join straight from the world of commerce rather than academia - he is currently General Manager responsible for product management, marketing and business development for the Worldwide Education Products Group at Microsoft. He revealed that since the announcement of his appointment he’s most often been asked ‘why did he want to be a Vice-Chancellor?’

Cracked the code

“I always say I would not want to be a Vice-Chancellor of any other university in the world except for the OU and that is because of everything you have achieved and everything you stand for,” he said. “Scale and quality do not normally go together in this world of ours. The OU cracked the code and now we have to do it again using the technology of today and tomorrow. If we figure that out everything else will take care of itself.”

The OU is also a perfect fit for his personal values, he said. “I believe in people…I have a never ending positive attitude and my predisposition is always to look for what we can do. And I have a fundamental belief that we were put on this earth to make a difference.”

While he acknowledged the help and support he’ll need from the entire OU community of students, alumni and staff in understanding the organisation he’ll inherit from Professor Brenda Gourley on October 1, the Vice-Chancellor designate believes the OU can also benefit from his skills, acquired in a huge range of settings, of which Microsoft was, he said, “just a waypoint in a career in the intersection of education and technology.”

On the ‘M’ word, he fielded a question on the OU’s reluctance to go fully multi-platform with the assurance that “I believe technology should provide as much choice as possible.” He promised that his Australian blood made him not only hard to offend but game for any good fight with policymakers: “I have always found it really easy to fight for what I believe in and I really believe in this university.”

Young family

And, signing off from a presentation to staff, students and alumni on January 19, he gave notice that he intends to get out to meet, consult, listen and respond to the entire OU community – “You can expect to see a Bean near you!”

Originally from Australia, Martin Bean will bring with him to the UK a Northern Irish wife and three daughters, pointing out that his family is likely to be the youngest yet to have occupied the Vice-Chancellor’s Bedfordshire house.

Apart from being ‘a very involved dad’ what spare time he has is divided between playing squash adequately and a passion for sailing. He may be disappointed to discover that however much of a global player the OU is, geographically its headquarters sit about as far from any scrap of sea as it is possible to be in the UK.