It is important for Warwick to develop a better international profile because that way it will be better able to recruit the best possible staff and students and attract fat research contracts At present it is relatively unknown in the US. In Britain, however, Warwick is highly regarded – though it has not made it into the very top tier. In the 2001 research assessment exercise (RAE) the top five universities were Oxford, Cambridge, University College London, Imperial and King’s College London. Changes to RAE funding make it more difficult for Warwick to clamber into this top league.Although Professor Vandelinde does not like such talk it is clear that he would like to be in that league. All the top players receive huge amounts of money for medical research because all have well developed medical schools. Warwick has an embryonic medical school which it shares with Leicester and which takes graduates in other subjects who want to become doctors So the vice-chancellor plans to expand medicine He also wants to develop plant science.

“Universities have to be flexible and fluid institutions,” he says.From its creation in the Sixties, Warwick has been nimble and adaptable, building its strength on a “can do” attitude and links with industry. It is no coincidence that it is Tony Blair’s favourite university and that Bill Clinton gave a speech at Warwick shortly before quitting the White House.The new vice-chancellor is well in with the Government. He is chairman of the red tape review group, charged with doing away with bureaucracy in higher education. He is bored by bureaucracy, according to those who know him well, and does not suffer fools gladly, interrupting people who bore on in meetings This, of course, does not endear him to all the academics. He has been trying to introduce changes to the administration at Warwick – though on a smaller scale than his reforms at Bath.One of the big battles he won was to have a deputy vice-chancellor, Stuart Palmer, to cover for him. He has introduced a system of merit pay for senior academics and has streamlined committee structures He has also brought greater openness “I am very impressed,” says Professor Oswald “He is a very powerful figure. He’s good at delivery and has a good head for figures.”Coming from a working-class West Virginia background, the new vice- chancellor has an ease of manner not normally associated with the top echelons of university administration.

He has introduced a reform from Bath – the American-style long-service anniversary dinner. All support staff, everyone from cleaners to senior technicians, who have served five years, or multiples of five years, are treated to dinner on campus. They have their picture taken with the vice-chancellor and are made to feel they matter. In addition he has instituted a summer barbecue for everyone from the level of porter to professor. “We’re trying to develop a sense of community – that everyone has an important role to play,” he says. “I think we are making headway.”Professor Vandelinde entered a successful institution two years ago.