As president and co-founder of the Global Institute of Sport (GIS), Sharona Friedman has had a busy few months.

When she sat down to speak to Times Higher Education, she had just returned from Toronto where she watched Canada play a World Cup game – from one of the institutions’ classrooms.

Instead of typical university lecture halls, GIS offers students interested in pursuing a career in the sports industry the chance to study in illustrious venues around the world, from Wembley Stadium to Sydney Cricket Ground to Toronto’s BMO field that hosted six games during the tournament. 

In what Friedman describes as a “dial-up, dial down” model, students are able to study in-person, online or to do “something in the middle”. Courses include undergraduate degrees in football coaching and sports management and postgraduate programmes in international football business and sports analytics. 

ɫ��ֱ��

With students and alumni also able to participate in one week “immersives” at stadiums around the world – either during their studies or long after they have graduated – it is far from your typical university model. 

As the newly appointed chair of Independent Higher Education (IHE), a membership body for non-traditional providers in the UK, Friedman is keen to emphasise the virtues of doing things differently.

ɫ��ֱ��

“I think some people look at different as bad,” she said, adding that she wants the place of non-traditional providers in the UK’s higher education sector to be better understood. “We’ re not trying to replace traditional universities; we’re trying to be a different option.”

But perceptions of private providers are not always positive, she said. “When people think about independent providers, they’re not just thinking about our members, they’re thinking about anybody…who just decides to launch something.”

In recent years, the government has been keen to crack down on what it describes as “rogue operators” in the higher education sector, with franchised providers in particular in the firing line. 

“It certainly felt like people want us to prove ourselves and almost…[hoped] that we would fail,” Friedman said. 

ɫ��ֱ��

But she is keen to distinguish IHE’s members – all of which are assessed for quality before being allowed to join the group – from the wider pool of private higher education providers. For this reason, she said, IHE is “very pro-regulation”.

“I think without it you will get rogue actors,” she said. But that regulation needs to be “proportionate”, she continued. Both universities and independent providers have long been critical of the Office for Students (OfS), the English higher education regulator, for the burden it places on institutions – one that some suggest is only continuing to grow.

Having switched from working at Imperial College London to the independent sector, Friedman said it is much harder for smaller teams to manage myriad regulatory requirements. But, with new chief executives now in place at the OfS, and a new prime minister leading the UK, she believes now is a “massive moment” for independent providers. 

With Andy Burnham focused on regional growth and improving pathways for young people, “I’m hoping that he sees us as a frankly…ready-made solution to a lot of the problems that he’s talking about,” she said. 

ɫ��ֱ��

Having grown up in Canada, Friedman said she moved to the UK soon after graduating as she wanted to work in the country’s education system – “for me that was like the Premier League of the education sector”. 

But maintaining that reputation for quality will require changes, she continued. “If the UK wants to maintain its status as the world’s best education system…it needs to innovate. And one of the things that smaller teams can do that’s harder for bigger teams… is innovate.”

ɫ��ֱ��

Emphasising her love of a sports metaphor, Friedman added: “If you’ve got the 20 best rowers in a boat and you’re rowing in the right direction, you can achieve better than universities that might have 1,000 staff, [because] they might be less aligned, less specialised, less focused – so that’s our party trick.” 

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com