Design Education Talks Ep. 67 – Tony Edisson

Professor Antony Eddison PFHEA. With a professional lifetime of teaching, management & leadership in Further and Higher Education in the UK and internationally, Tony is Advisor and External Examiner at several universities for innovative post-graduate programmes, as a practitioner he has worked in Architecture, Design and related Creative Industries and as an artist has most recently exhibited his work at The Royal British Society of Sculptors, London.
As a Senior Associate with QAA Tony works periodically on UK and international Further and Higher Education projects. His consultancy and research focus on developing new ways of unlocking creativity and innovation in business and education inspired by the innovative application of Design Thinking, FABLAB Maker-Spaces and LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY®. His research publications focus upon archaeology, cultural-heritage and the use of VR in engineering, health and well-being and hazardous situation simulation.

Tony is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy UK and from time to time is engaged as a consultant on a variety of business & international higher education related assignments and mentors those working towards levels of Fellowship recognition with AdvanceHE. 
Tony also heads up a small enterprise which designs and hosts innovative virtual and augmented reality online tours and experiences of castles, stately homes, and other buildings with a focus on communicating our cultural heritage to a global audience.

To end on something quirky, Tony is a keen cook, has been a voice-coach to a well-known celebrity chef and was fortunate enough to conduct the last recorded interview with the first chef to take cooking out of the kitchen, Keith Floyd. Tony can be contacted at ant_je10@yahoo.co.uk

Transcript

Lefteris Heretakis: 0:09

Hello, and welcome to design education talks from the new art school. Our guest today is Tony Edison. Welcome, Tony.

Tony Eddison: 0:17

Thank you. I'm glad to be here.

Lefteris Heretakis: 0:19

It's fantastic to have you here. So in your work

Tony Eddison: 0:25

well, I'm I've been in education in higher education for around 30 years now. Prior to that, trained as an architect worked in architecture and practices in London, Paris, Chester, and then got into higher education as a lecturer, and really took it from there. It didn't, it didn't take long for me to get itchy feet, actually to leave the UK. So I think over my career, I must have worked in across 910 countries, but, but in particular, in Australia, and Singapore, Mauritius, and currently in Egypt. Calling designer media most of the most of it teaching. But for the past 20 years, a combination of teaching and leadership with heading up departments and then ultimately heading up and starting new universities in various parts of the world, but still still trying to keep my foot in teaching as well. I can't get away from it tomorrow. I don't want to.

Lefteris Heretakis: 1:45

So you've created many art schools all over the world.

Tony Eddison: 1:49

Yeah, that really started off with my role in Singapore working for a university that was based in Australia. One of its main branches was in Singapore, where I was based. And I think during the time I was there, I was involved in setting up seven branch campuses. China, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Auckland, New Zealand, again, back in Australia, wherever else, Hong Kong and a place called Ulan Bator, in Outer Mongolia, which was a strange one, but successful.

Lefteris Heretakis: 2:38

So tell us about this. What what is it you have gained from all this experience? What is it that you want to share with us?

Tony Eddison: 2:47

I think I've always had a really deep interest in, in travelling, that was one but never never travelling to go on holiday, I was always travelling to spend a month at least somewhere as a holiday, but doing something. And, you know, trying to experience the culture, trying to get to know the people learning a few words of the language, learning some of the traditions, I found that most interesting art. And it's funny how you can combine that desire with higher education. You know, if you have a lot of people that want to travel, are quite happy to stay at the same university, or within the same place or even within the UK. But if if you do have an urge to want to travel, I'd say a job in higher education is a good one to have to enable that. Or it has been to me.

Lefteris Heretakis: 3:51

Absolutely. So how has that changed? How has international education changed since you started?

Tony Eddison: 4:01

I think it's changing all the time. And I think over the past 20 years, it's really changed quite rapidly in so much as most of my work in the early days travelling for UK universities in particular was to recruit international students. So going to recruitment fairs, having events at their colleges having the events that were held by our recruitment agents in various countries, but over the past 20 years, that's that still goes on. But to a lesser degree, I think there's a momentum suddenly developing and it's well established now are international branch campuses. So for an established universe, again, most of my experiences with the UK so let's think and any established you Go university would strive to upon, you know, doing some due diligence looking when markets were looking where it was safe in terms of investment and in terms of reputation, to establish themselves overseas and to where it could use that branch campus to draw students back to the home campus in the UK, they would find a partner, typically a partner within that country. And they will provide things maybe they would provide finance, typically they would provide a building. Sometimes the government's the laws within those countries stipulate that it's mandatory to have a partner within that country. So, you know, there's no choice there. But, but typically, the partner would provide the infrastructure for the home university to conduct their business as a university. And yeah, the teaching and the support is interesting, because there are various models for that. But, but typically, the curriculum would be the same, if not very similar, as the home university, you know, the same learning outcomes, the same assessments, etc. But local staff would be be employed to do the work rather than typically rather than expats going across to teach, although you do get some of that. But yeah, so So basically, the university tries to provide at least educationally in the classroom, a very similar learning experience to that which the student would have, if they studied at home in the UK. And typically, they graduate with exactly the same degree from the mother University. So that's what I've been spending my time on. I'd say 15 years,

Lefteris Heretakis: 7:10

how does it change the community? How does the art school impact the community there?

Tony Eddison: 7:19

When it's done? Well, I mean, what we strive to do in the UK, if that is done well, at the overseas branch campus, then it's fantastic. And when I say it, what I mean is links with industry. So we get live projects coming in, you know, when we're talking about creative industries here, art and design in particular, but that really applies to engineering, medicine, computing business. So links with industry, when that's done well, it's, you know, it's impactful for the, for the region, for the locality for the region, if not the country. Having guest speakers in from industry, that's really interesting. And through those relationships, being able to develop internships, so students can spend some time in industry so that that link with industry is really important. We do a lot of it in the UK. When overseas branch campuses, do that and do it. Well, that's, that works really well.

Lefteris Heretakis: 8:33

Tell us about an article that really stands out in your mind, or one of those you created.

Tony Eddison: 8:38

One that I created,

Lefteris Heretakis: 8:40

the most. The one was?

Tony Eddison: 8:42

Oh Gosh! Well, there's there's a, there's a few I mean, I've had pretty great experiences of all of them, of course, and a couple of times I've inherited something that's already been set up very early on. So really, we're it didn't have any student graduations at that point. But two recent ones. University of Middlesex, in Mauritius, established their first overseas branch campus. Within three years. We come from 11 students in the first year, which is hardly sustainable to over 700 By the end of year three, why? In fact, within three years, we grew out of the initial building. And luckily, one of the one of the old colonial French colonial families who won most of the sugar plantations in Russia, they decided that they didn't want to grow sugar anymore. They'd rather develop it into an educational hub, which they did. Yeah, they did. They put accommodation on their libraries. They built the infrastructure, and then invited universities from France and to the UK, in particular, the company established themselves there. So we moved, we moved over to the UK, which is beautiful place by the beach, a backdrop of wonderful mountains and any delay Island, the middle of the Indian Ocean, that one worked well, that was that was the most recent one, of course is Coventry University, at the knowledge of universities and again, the knowledge of universities. So private venture by a large company, in electrical company, if you like they have a number of companies under under their belt, and they do a variety of things. But it's all concerned with power. But there was a desire by the either Chairman, the owner of the company to be altruistic. So they diversified funding to go into education. And one of these projects was setting up a large Knowledge Hub, hence the name The Knowledge Hub universities on the outskirts of Cairo. That's the new administrative centre where the embassies are relocating the President as we located his palace, and it's, it's been a building site for the past three years, but it's really getting into shape. And Coventry University was their first direct was the first partner. I was the first director of the campus, Head of School of Design and Media. And it's going really well, recruiting students are all having a great time. We're having our first graduation in 2023. So yeah, so it was good. We made an impact. And they're doing all the things that I mentioned before about links with industry invited speakers. I don't think I mentioned the importance of scholarships that maybe we could talk about that later. Yeah, sure. I'm sure. They're doing all of that. So wishing them, I'm leaving. I've done my three years. And leaving in August, and returning to the UK. But I do wish them all the best. They've got off to a very good start.

Lefteris Heretakis: 12:17

Amazing. You still haven't told us a story about how you got into teaching though you have a bunch of first teaching experience.

Tony Eddison: 12:24

I got into teaching when I was still at university. Wow. Yeah. So my degree and masters were pretty full on. I did work but not in teaching. I did work as a bouncer at a nightclub. They casino during the evenings. If I were to stand up, you can see I'm a I'm a big guy. So I would I worked at a nightclub during my years of university. But when I went to when I went on to London City University in London to continue. I worked in teaching a part time job in teaching at Chelsea School of Art in London. And I was teaching computer aided design was no virtual reality is of course reality back then. Basically, AutoCAD and 3d studio I was I was teaching that while I while I was learning at another university. And then I continued that and I think that expertise that I learned were few and far between most people who were who were into and capable of, of working in computer aided design. There weren't very many of us at that time. And I was offered through a friend, I was introduced to out of an architecture studio in Wigmore streets in London, called Stuart McCall, who had a interior design, architecture, industrial design, practice cosmopolitan associates in London. So I work there. And one of the partners left and he took up a partnership in Chester, in the north of England, beautiful town near Wales. And he offered me a role there to set up their computer aided design department, which I did for a couple of years. And then my first teaching role was at Manchester University, where I really did fancy working in teaching. When I left it behind, I missed it. And even though I enjoyed practice, I prefer teaching. So I got back into teaching and I've done that Full Time with with a few hobbies in between.

Lefteris Heretakis: 15:04

Like, what are your hobbies?

Tony Eddison: 15:07

Ah, gosh while sculpting. Yeah, I stopped.

Lefteris Heretakis: 15:11

I paint what material do you like using?

Tony Eddison: 15:15

Well I'm using a lot of, I'm using a whole range of materials for sculpting what i've what I tend to do is sculpting clay and then create a scan it's three dimensional scan, take that into a product call ZBrush. Tweak it work in there in a lot more detail a lot better than I could do in clay because you can zoom right into wrinkles in eyes, which is a bit with my huge fingers in in a clay model. And yeah, and then typically use a 3d printer to print that out. Paint that in metallic paints, but pass it on it to give it a patina. And there we are. That's what I use.

Lefteris Heretakis: 16:06

But are there any parallels between running a nightclub and running a university?

Tony Eddison: 16:11

Yeah, people skills I think, I think well at university, I've never had to break up to money fights. I've never had to drive anyone to hospitals, the emergency unit because they've drank too much alcohol. But people skills I think being calm, a good listener being decisive. I think those are skills, that of

Lefteris Heretakis: 16:41

course. Absolutely. Absolutely. So what is the next project for you? What is next for you?

Tony Eddison: 16:49

Darsh. Well, my next project, I think I'll continue with the sculpting a little, just because a couple of years ago, I did have a bit of success. There's a an industrialist in Cyprus, who visited Rio, and he saw the statue of Christ the Redeemer, which I think is 40 metres tall. And he lives in a in a town in Cyprus, Northern Cyprus, actually, that has a beautiful mountain range at the back of the of the time. And I believe he owns one of the mountains or some of the land on one of the mountains. And he wanted as a legacy, I guess. Plus, you know, you'll have other reasons for doing this. He wanted something slightly larger than price the Redeemer to be built on top of this mountain. So a couple of years ago, he he put out an Internet course for artists to submit maquettes via a an international competition for this, you know, for this piece of sculpture. And the title was The mobile peasant. You know, the origins of separate people. I don't think any any separate with my mind me saying that they are a peasant nation, originally farmers, etc. And I'm proud of that. And they've, and they have that heritage of pride, pride, a proud heritage. Anyway, the theme was the noble present 90 Professional sculptors and artists from around the world submitted and I was a runner up. Oh, wow. Yeah, a Dutch artist, who's a fantastic professional sculptor, lady. She won the competition, whether it's going to be built or not. Who knows? It's it's, you know, some of the when it went to a public forum, some some of the public liked it, some didn't. There's an issue between North and South, you know, the Cyprus more than Cyprus. The statue will be clearly visible from from all of Cyprus. So there are people for it and against it. So will it be built? I don't know. But, you know, in that lineup of professional artists, I was quite happy, in fact, more than happy to, you know, the runner up in there. So it was, as I say, it's only a hobby, but maybe I'll take that argument further with that sort of recognition. But the other thing I'd like to do left areas, of course, is continue with education. I've seen a lot of universities doing well. I've worked for a lot of private universities. And within the private sector, there's always, as always fine balance between a university as an educational institution, you know, providing higher education for its students. Is that the focus? Or is the focus for shareholders. There's, there's, there's, it's difficult to make that balance really is so

Lefteris Heretakis: 20:26

need a visionary leader? I haven't I haven't I happen to work for one for some years. And as soon as the visionary leader Jamie left it for the whole thing.

Tony Eddison: 20:37

Yeah, it would. I know, I think as soon as the university top management start talking about more about industry and shareholders, to the detriment of student achievement and attain loads, then it's time to worry. But you know, luckily, I've been working for some really good universities who are put student experience first. But that's what I that's why I wanted to continue. So my origins are in Scotland. And I have a woodland there, quite a large, quite a large forest, what I wanted to do was to set up a forest school. So but I'm also looking at the building that's just come up for sale, not too far from where the forest is. It's quite a unique, quirky building. And let's see how that goes. But whatever, whatever happens, I'd like to start at a school school. Maybe not focused on design as such, and certainly one around creative thinking, design thinking. Because, you know, what I've found in all students across all disciplines, is that the things that really matter is at the end of the day, it's their attitudes towards their learning. You know, if students come in, not really motivated, if they're a bit blase, if they're not hungry for education, maybe if they don't see a purpose in what they're doing. They'll achieve mediocre results, and they may not enjoy it as much as they would. And certainly the impact upon graduation, their impact in the workplace, isn't going to be as impactful as it could, could and shouldn't be. So yeah, it's all well and good teaching skills. But I think changing mindsets, in higher education, developing confidence, self esteem, is really important as well. Because without that, you know, you there'll be a fear about experimenting, a theory about failing, which is essential to great, especially in our our domains. Absolutely. So yeah, I'm going to try to, to apply what I've learned and see how it goes.

Lefteris Heretakis: 23:10

This is very exciting stuff. So again, if there was no limitations, what would you do differently if you have like infinite amount of money in resources, there was no limitation, there was no restriction, what would you do in your school?

Tony Eddison: 23:28

Well, if there was an infinite amount of money, what I'd like to do is put some of that money towards scholarships for deserving students, quite a lot, quite a lot of scholarships that are out there at the moment of fact, not all of them. But I typically focus towards merit students who have achieved really well you know, top sportsman top at maths top of this topic. But what I'd like to do is focus on those that are, you know, have that have that desire to learn, have that hunger to learn, but finances holding them back. And I experienced that quite a lot in places like Mauritius, a little bit in Egypt, but not so much but certainly in Mauritius, where, you know, I was fighting, not fighting with working with the government on providing scholarships for higher education to you know, financially challenged families, who typically otherwise they typically have to choose one member of their family to fund to go to university and all the other kids would have to go to work or I'll do something else. Or they have to sell land or remortgage their house, etc, which caused an awful lot of stress and put a lot of stress on the student as well. You know, knowing that they were responsible for their family going into so much debt. So I've put quite a lot of that infinite amount of money leftover Since a scholarship,

Lefteris Heretakis: 25:01

you also had a project about that, right?

Tony Eddison: 25:04

Yeah, I do. Tell you a little bit about us. Okay. Again, it goes back to Mauritius. And I was working with my my University at the time, and the government, the Ministry of Education, Science and Research and one of the ministers to encourage the government to provide scholarship to, you know, financially Mauritian families, students in financial hardship, but also, for any foreign universities, and there were an awful lot of them over 40 for any foreign university to come into Mauritius and set up there. They had to provide, they didn't have the time, not all of them. But I wanted the government to impose upon those universities to provide a good number of scholarships for students to be able to study. And why why would I do that? Okay, one reason was diversity, I really do believe the more diverse a cohort is within a class, you know, the better the experience, not just in not just in terms of ethnicity, not just in terms of gender, but in terms of backgrounds as well. Okay. Typically, if a if a foreign university was set up in another country, and keep their home university fees, in other words, charge as much as they do in the UK, then it's an astronomical amount for anybody to pay in that foreign country. And so the profile of people you get coming into class, or middle class, if you want to call them A, it's wealthy, it's wealthy students, who might not have that hunger to learn, and might not value their education as much, who aren't fearful of not having a job, if they don't graduate. You see what I mean, that might not have that amount, a lot of them do, but a lot of them don't. And their experiences tend to be a little bit generic, where it's always good to mix up experiences, I think, within the classroom, and people from all sorts of different backgrounds. So that was, that was the reason why the other one was, let's call it financial fairness, if you like, if a foreign university sets up in a foreign country, typically, and they they charge home university fees, UK university fees, for example, then in the UK, typically University spend at least 80% if not higher, on staff salaries to staff, academic staff, comparatively, are reasonably paid in the UK, their salaries are reasonable, comparatively internationally, whereas in developing countries, if local staff are employed, they typically get a very small fraction of of that salary. In other words, the university is, is earning a lot more. And that should go back in some way to as scholarships, you know, full scholarships to help students study. So I the fairness sort of way. So anyway. Because my university did offer scholarships, I had a lot of students and their families coming to ask how do I apply for one, they had to provide a written application had to go to an interview. Now, how do I do that? So, you know, virtually every day, I was meeting with families and students, giving them tips on how to apply for a university scholarship, whether it was to study in Mauritius or overseas. And I was getting tired repeating the same thing over and over. So I wrote, I wrote a small book on on winning University scholarships, and just gave that out three. And that's now been translated into seven different languages. Amazing. I've, I've got sponsorship now from a wonderful company in Cairo, of all places, who do cloud who develop cloud based books where it's easier to, you know, to propagate this Yeah. There's no paper no photocopies involved anymore. So yeah, I'm taking that forward. That's really exciting. And what I'd like to do on is to get more translations are about seven translations at the moment, but I'd like to get more different languages, okay, translations out there. And then hopefully, via the ministries of education, very As countries get these out to the students who need them.

Lefteris Heretakis: 30:04

That's That's incredible. Fantastic project. Thank you. So how can our viewers and listeners find you in order to come to you and help you with the translations?

Tony Eddison: 30:16

I don't know exactly how to how to do this. If there is, you know, maybe maybe I'll create a GoFundMe page, right? So it's a thought at the moment, what I'm looking at, what I'm looking at doing is working with the seven language translations that I have. And then developing a website for them. And then having the books online for people to download and access. I think once that set up, I'll be in a better place to know how to get more people involved. Okay, at the moment, it's, it's a project, but it's in progress.

Lefteris Heretakis: 30:54

Let's call it that. Okay, fantastic.

Tony Eddison: 30:58

But if anybody wants to contact me in the meantime, then yeah, I'd love them to. And how do we do that? I'm happy to give my email address. Okay.

Lefteris Heretakis: 31:09

Okay, well put it down into the links, and yeah, all right. Wonderful. So any advice you'd like to leave us with any final panel advisor or conversation?

Tony Eddison: 31:19

Oh, fun, final advice. I think for all of us, students, educators. Everybody says this F Claris. be hungry for knowledge, be curious, be grateful, and never give up. That's what I'd say.

Lefteris Heretakis: 31:42

Brilliant. Well, Tony, thank you so much for this fantastic conversation and sharing all your experiences with us. And we're looking forward to having you at the design Education Forum. I'm looking forward to this November. So yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Tony Eddison: 32:01

My pleasure.

Lefteris Heretakis: 32:01

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.