LSE opened my mind to my subject and left me excited about all its aspects. I felt at the edge of exploration of its themes. I met a wonderful group of people who have been friends over decades. LSE has a history of goodness of values towards all peoples, and it is wonderful to be a part of live history!
Amali De Silva-Mitchell (née De Silva) (MSc Accounting and Finance 1991, Diploma 1990)
I always admire LSE for the great amount of knowledge that the School offers to its students, staff, alumni and society. In recent years, I have been very happy to see the increasing number of interdisciplinary research centres which truly drive the most adequate answers to the key challenges of society.
Sharing knowledge serves the School’s mission of contributing to the “betterment of society”. Social media channels enable LSE academics and alumni to share their research, expertise and thoughts on a global scale. This also means, however, increased responsibility for excellence in teaching, research and engagement.
I believe the long-term distinctive role of LSE is based on this excellence in understanding the most current challenges of society through interdisciplinary research with a global focus, and excellence in sharing it with a wide global audience of students, researchers, government officials and business communities.
The active involvement of the School’s alumni in teaching, research and engagement could play a crucial role in reaching this global excellence. The international community of 116,000 LSE alumni is a powerful network of key opinion leaders in research, policymaking and business. The School’s alumni would proudly contribute to LSE’s knowledge-sharing initiatives.
I also like the informal and familiar atmosphere of the School. It’s great to meet world leaders, Nobel prize winners but also former classmates, fellow members of SU societies, flatmates, all of them being similarly open to knowing each other’s opinions and to learning from each other.
I am fascinated to experience the School’s deep-rooted traditions and its quick adaptation to the most current trends at the same time. Ten years after my graduation, this is also why I am very proud to be an LSE alumnus, and I am very confident that I will feel the same after another decade as well.
Dr Zoltan Csedo (MSc International Health Policy 2003)
I read Government from 1958 to 1961. The distinctive features of LSE for me were a powerful mix of exploring others’ ideas through tutorials, an excellent library, and intense discussion and dialectic with a group of fellow students. The whole experience accentuated an in-built bloody-minded tendency not to accept conventional wisdom or establishment views; to explore ideas, think for myself, form hypotheses about the world around me before making decisions on the basis of the best evidence available. The general atmosphere at LSE, a key to the Political Science reading room for discussion and private reading, and freedom from too many lectures, were tremendously stimulating for me. I guess "rerum cognoscere causas" really meant something to me. Finally, I think that the LSE experience impressed on me the importance of ethical behaviour in work and the community. So, as a director of FTSE100 companies I became increasingly disturbed by the negative impacts of institutional investors on the values and behaviour of top managers.
When I retired I wrote a book entitled Having Their Cake which described the relationships between the financial market and companies and their effects. This book morphed into a website, www.havingtheircake.com, which now has browsers from many countries. A new book is about to be published in 2013.
Oh, and for a provincial lad from Lincoln, having to find my own accommodation in London and all that London offers were a potent part of the mix!
Donal Young (BSc Government 1961)
I attended LSE from September 1982 to May 1983. I recently visited again for the first time – fond memories. My daughter attended the Cass Business School in London this past semester.
I will never forget my first exam with Mr Lumby (Accounting and Finance). I completed a basic accounting schedule and then part 2 was: “what assumptions did you use; please explain.” After a complete panic and sweaty shirt, I managed to come up with some stupid answer. But I got better as the term went on.
So what makes LSE distinct? I was taught to think about the real world, not just to memorise formulas.
Ira Bergstein (Accounting and Finance 1983)
In both of the fields that I studied while I was a master’s degree student at LSE – the management of the voluntary sector and income maintenance – I experienced academics passionate about their subjects, properly critical of arguments and data that didn't stand up to scrutiny, wanting to learn from how society really works, and wanting their research to benefit society – all concerns that go back to the beginnings of LSE. The ways in which voluntary organisations work is a vital subject for study today, and if scientific study can improve such organisations’ management, then every effort needs to be made to enable practitioners and academics to engage with each other. Such engagement was a welcome part of the module on voluntary sector management that I studied at LSE. Similarly, both in the master’s degree income maintenance module, and during my recent research fellowship, I experienced in the Social Policy Department the active engagement between theory and practice that is essential to any real-world science. In my own work on the management of religious and faith-based organisations and on the reform of the UK’s tax and benefits systems I have always made it my aim to test theory and practice against each other: habits learnt at LSE.
It might well be that other academic institutions exhibit all of these qualities, but their combination at LSE is a precious gift. LSE will continue to serve our national and our global society if it remains obsessive about scientific rigour and about the essential connection between practice and theory.
The Rev'd Dr Malcolm Torry (MSc Social Policy and Administration 1996)
In support of Professor Craig Calhoun's desire to substantiate the distinctive qualities of LSE’s academic stance, why not begin by extending the school’s motto to indicate that we are out to discover the causes of social ills and also to apply the remedies? Unlike many other educational institutions that just collect facts, the staff of LSE train students to go beyond to try to put matters right. Accepting the obligation to contribute to human wellbeing makes the place unique as an educational centre, and it should be incorporated in the motto in some way such as rerum cognoscere causas et meliorem.
Professor AJW Taylor (Social Science and Administration 1949)
The distinctive mark of LSE is that it is a top learning institution which is intrinsically intertwined with world affairs. It is the alma mater of an impressive number of world renowned personalities in politics, economics, law and other social sciences. This observation applies to past decades as well as to the present time. It is also significant that those personalities belong to emerging and developing countries, as well as to the developed world. This distinctive mark is expected to continue in the foreseeable future since LSE is renowned for its high percentage of international students, coming from all continents.
In effect, LSE can be likened to a living social laboratory where academics, researchers and students meet, mix, discuss and debate widely and without restraint on the multitudinous aspects of human society. The motto of LSE – to know the causes of things – is as true and meaningful as ever. It is the hallmark of the Houghton Street institution.
So far, so good, therefore. However, LSE is presently negatively affected by the restrictive immigration policy of the British Government. Also, over a number of years now, LSE has had to respond to the cuts in university grants by putting up the fees chargeable to non European Union students. Because of such increases, numerous academically deserving students from outside the European Union have not been able to afford studying at LSE. The scholarships granted to a few students by LSE, while very helpful, are but a palliative response to a major problem.
This is why a plea is being made here for LSE to consider adopting a strategy aimed at opening up annexes in a selected number of countries in the emerging world. In fact, LSE has allowed itself to fall behind other prestigious institutions of learning in that respect. It is time to review the situation.
The forthcoming organisation of a July School in Cape Town in 2013 will only be a drop in the ocean. What should be envisaged is a couple of permanent establishments in the emerging world. As regards the African continent, it is suggested that Mauritius be considered as a possibility, given the high reputation which LSE enjoys in that country. Such an establishment would be able to cater for students from both African and Asian countries, given the geographical position of Mauritius and its population characteristics.
Pierre Dinan (BSc Econ 1961)
The title is way too vague and doesn’t make too much sense, so I’ll skip the ideological debate and come to the “how” part. My thought on how to keep LSE globally competitive is that it should get detached from the British system if it could. I’m now working at the International Department of Beijing National Day School, one of the best high schools in Beijing. The department accommodates three major international high school programmes: the A level, the Advance Placement (AP), and the International Baccalaureate (IB). Of course Americans boast their AP programme while British teachers think A level is far better, however our neutral Chinese faculty in the department all feel that the A level programme is less academically challenging and is shrinking (almost 70 per cent of A level students take the SAT test in order to be able to apply to US universities). It can be strongly felt that the British system is more rigid and bureaucratic, more like a centralised and nationalised industry, and the overall social context is also hostile to truly talented students: tighter immigration policy and everything.
I just happened to read an article about British higher education in The Economist. Here’s the quote:
“Old institutions are also behaving in new ways. Britain’s London School of Economics (LSE), for example, has largely escaped from the state’s clutches. It now gains most of its income by selling courses to students from outside the EU, whom it can charge market fees. With that money, it can afford to hire world-class staff. ‘This is the only way we can compete with American academic salaries,’ says Sir Howard Davies, LSE’s [then] director.’ (‘Financing universities – who pays to study? When universities depend on taxpayers, their independence and standards suffer’, The Economist, 24 January 2004.)
Peiran Wang (MSc Comparative Politics 2011)
It is difficult for a graduate of 1963 to say what makes LSE distinct now but some comment on its distinctiveness then may have implications for the future.
I entered as an evening student in 1959 and continued part-time to Part I, Old Regulations, before moving to Part II as a full-time student. The part-time provision enabled many well-qualified people in London employment to enter. My cohort included Oxford graduates with degrees in modern languages and others, like my friend Sir Alan Budd, who became one of the Schools most distinguished alumni. We met, as members of the Mature Students Association, with Sir Sydney Caine, in unsuccessful attempts to preserve, as Sir Sydney undoubtedly wished, the evening degree programme. This distinctive element of LSE, together with the high proportion of foreign and mature postgraduate students, alongside its many distinguished staff across a range of disciplines, made the School a most exciting place for an undergraduate.
It was possible to attend lectures for many courses or subjects for which one had not opted. I attended, for example, a number of lectures by Sir Karl Popper and Imre Lakatos, to my great benefit, even though I had not opted for a course in Logic and Scientific Method. The degree structure allowed choices that undoubtedly would not have been available elsewhere. So though my Part II subject was Government, under the personal tutorship of Ralph Miliband, I was fortunately able to study Public Finance with Ralph Turvey and Ed Mishan. The staff were all approachable and several became long-standing friends, I would add my Part I personal tutor, Leslie Wolf Philips, and especially Bernard Crick, Lionel Needleman and Charlotte Erickson. The list could easily be extended. LSE was distinguished for its sense of maturity, fellowship and being a real community of scholars.
John Halstead (BSc Econ 1963, MSc Economic History 1966)
Rebalancing the economy, reducing our excessive and unsustainable dependence on financial services and growing our manufacturing sector, is fundamental to the future of the UK. LSE in the 60s and 70s was renowned for delivering a large number of bright young graduates, mainly from state schools and working class backgrounds, who wanted to make a difference in large corporations. Joining graduate training programmes at the Unilevers, British Steels and Fords of this world were highly sought after positions. None of us at that time thought twice about entering the city! In the last 20 years it has been very different. Excessive compensation differentials have proved too tempting to the brightest, even if making such a career decision ran counter to their social consciences.
The balance now needs to be restored and in my view LSE can play a major role in preparing students for highly rewarding careers in industry. To achieve this will require new faculty positions and investments in research, with the objective of developing more practical and relevant curricula to reflect the rapidly changing skill requirements needed today in the corporate world. Some of the major industrial organisations in the UK should be encouraged to actively collaborate in this ambitious initiative.
LSE has always attracted the best; now lets make sure they play an ever increasing role in helping restore this country to growth. A well publicised initiative of this kind at this time will do much to elevate the image of our college as a major contributor to the UK economy.
John Kirkham (BSc Econ 1964)
I write this not as an academic exercise but in reply to the new Director’s invitation to alumni to offer ideas about LSE’s direction.
First, I think LSE should become actively engaged in examining the primary and secondary education of British children and the numbers who, despite their ability, do not go to university. This is not only because so many cannot afford the fees but, also, because they have not received appropriate guidance from careers advisers. From my 20 years’ experience as an educational adviser with adults I know that many of them were discouraged from higher education – black teenagers, for example, who were encouraged to go in for non-academic subjects like hairdressing, fashion etc. Many proved this by entering and succeeding in HE later as mature students. The effects of the social division (public versus state schools) should also be compared with that in other European countries which do not have the same divisions. The news this week about apprenticeship entry to law, engineering etc needs thorough reviewing too.
With regard to developing countries I think LSE would do well to listen to Susan George, president of the board of the Transnational Institute, who has argued that the imposition of Western academic and cultural norms and practices are not always appropriate to students from the rest of the world.
Helen Tomkins (BSc Social Anthropology 1983, MPhil Anthropology 1985)
You will be aware that many degrees are recognised by professional societies as granting exemption from their own examinations and that with the completion of time in professional practice, membership of a professional society can be secured. Perhaps one way forward for LSE is to consolidate and expand on this. LSE's ultimate object must be to make the world a better place by producing qualified manpower. I am not conversant with LSE’s current offering in this regard but I would guess at Banking, Accountancy and Law. A consolidated list of such qualifications would probably open up fresh thoughts on further LSE offerings eg Housing Management, Estate Management and Transport, if not already offered. A bit of repackaging of existing courses might achieve this. The advantage of this from LSE’s point of view would be: it may attract highly motivated students who otherwise might be deterred by the thought of more (part-time) study after a degree to become qualified; LSE alumni will eventually penetrate professional societies and influence them;
LSE can be seen to be doing something useful for society and the economy.
Dr Keith Thomas (BSc Econ 1954, MSc Econ 1959, PhD 1972)
In 1947 LSE accepted this young “enemy” prisoner of war as a student. After a hotchpotch high-school experience in Nazi Germany, war service from 1944, and prisoner of war in May 1945, I served with No. 2 Bomb Disposal Squad of the Royal Engineers in London from August 1946 until my release in 1948. By then I was an Austrian citizen again.
The economics course at LSE until 1952 was a revelation to me, studying under Popper, Laski, Lionel Robbins, Hayek, Coase, Paish and Ralph Turvey, my tutor. Having to fend for myself, I had to become an evening student after the second term and start a career at John Lewis in Oxford Street. It was heavy going with all my background and language shortcomings, but it set the tone for the rest of my life.
During an accounting and management career in the UK, Europe, USA and Southern Africa I added an MBA 30 years later in Johannesburg. For some 20 years I then became involved in the management of the volunteer alumni association. I had hoped to crown this with a PhD on the subject of a “Hayek-Popper” paradigm as a philosophical basis for a general management theory. Eventually the business school opted out of such “far-fetched” notions. I am continuing my quest to get published.
Helmut von Schweitzer (BSc Econ 1952)
I left school in 1961 and with some trepidation walked up Houghton Street that October, rather overawed that I was being allowed to study (for a BSc Econ) in this hallowed university.
I had studied Economics for A level and was relaxed after a few weeks to sit an economics test with two questions and 80 minutes to answer. I wrote for the full allocated time and scored a C. LSE provided a model answer which consisted of two sentences for each question and could have been answered in 10 minutes maximum.
That experience changed my life because I became the “one page man” after that. For my final law paper my 10 law books were reduced to cryptic notes on two sides of one piece of paper. Throughout my working life I have tried never to write a letter or report on more than one page.
I am now Chairman of Rosetrees Trust, a private family charity which supports cutting edge medical research (200 current projects) and our professors have to tell us on one page who and where they are, what their research covers, what they hope to achieve, what will be patient benefit and when. Only the best can put into a few words the very essence of what they do and what they hope to achieve. In an age of over-information it is vital to succinctly pass on your thoughts or message.
Although 50 years have passed, the influence of LSE, with its stimulating lectures and intellectual yet grounded discussions have remained in my mind and are implemented daily. It was a great privilege to study at LSE and whenever I visit, the time since my student days seems like yesterday.
At lunch one day I was chatting to someone in my tutorial who mentioned he sang in a night club in Richmond and one day I saw him in a pop group on TV and realised I hadn’t seen him lately. I thought: I can’t believe he’s given up an education at LSE for a short term quest for fame. So I suppose I’ve learnt never to say never about anything, because Mick Jagger did OK!
Richard Ross (BSc Econ 1964)
Return to the main article
Feedback
We welcome letters by post or email to Editor, LSE Connect, Communications, LSE, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE. Email: lsemagazine@lse.ac.uk. The editor reserves the right to cut and edit letters.