大学是什么？

"A university is a scholarly community. It exists to foster the disciplined pursuit of truth, whether by students seeking to master existing bodies of knowledge, or by researchers driven to extend the frontiers of human understanding"  -Alan Gilbert-

Pursuit of truth... 对真理的追求。唯有真理是值得追求的。孔子也说过：朝闻道，夕死可矣。

身为第一任The University of Manchester校长，Prof Alan Gilbert 建立了一个很好的基础，他成功地处理了在2004年UMIST和Victoria University of Manchester的合并，设定了Manchester 2015 Agenda,引导大学在RAE 2008有出色的表现，让曼大可以和其他大学竞争。

可惜，他无法亲眼看到自己种下的种子开花结果。我还记得大学第一年，也写了关于他的post。(http://nebulafreedom.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/prof-alan-gilbert.html)

2010年七月逝世的他没机会看到那年十月曼彻斯特大学出了两位Nobel Prize得主Prof Andre Geim和Prof Konstantin Novoselov。他也没机会看到当年他提议建立的Learning Commons今年十月一日的开张。

Alan Gilbert Learning Commons

我没有看过Prof Alan Gilbert本人，但是有听过他讲课。那是大学第二年Manchester Leadership Programme的online video content。videol里，他define了leadership。

“Leadership is about encouraging other people to follow the leader from one position to another. Leadership skills are first of all are envisions or aspirations, you have to have an idea which implies a goal that is worthwhile, so leadership skill is about changing the world or changing a tiny part of the world, you are not just trying to manage things, you are not just trying to keep thing as they are. But just saying to people I think we can imagine a situation which is preferable than this and I know how to create it or I think we can imagine a destination that is better than this and I know how to get there, so leadership is about encouraging and enabling other people to work with you to improve the status quo.” - Prof Alan Gilbert-

接任的校长Prof Nancy Rothwell是曼大186年历史第一个女校长。她是个杰出的科学家，她目前所带领的research发现了一个可以完全改变stroke treatment的药Anakinra (IL-1Ra), 目前进入clinical trial第二阶段，结果令人期待。目前新开的Alan Gilbert Learning Commons里也有她的quote。

Use your head, but follow your heart =)