Reflections from the Warden

Warden Dr Sir Mike Jacobs reflects on why Keble remains relevant and important.

We live in a precarious world and, thanks to the 24-hour news cycle, we are more aware of the potential threats to our safety, health and freedom of speech than ever before. Now more than ever the world needs leaders who are capable of grappling with complexity, and communicating complex ideas in an accessible way — powerful skills which are nurtured in our rigorous tutorial system, and you can see exemplified in many of the articles in this issue of the brick.

Here, I’d like to highlight a further three striking examples of Keble graduates who are making a difference in the world, and who credit their Keble education with giving them the foundations to believe in and pursue their potential:

Renee Kapuku (2015 History) was recognised as a Future Leader by the PowerList Foundation, received an award from the Social Mobility Foundation at the House of Lords as one of the top ten students in the UK, and became a Titular Scholar upon graduating from Oxford with a first in History. She was awarded the prestigious Kennedy Memorial Trust Scholarship after her successful acceptance by the Harvard Graduate School of Education for International Education Studies, and currently works at the non-profit organisation Malaika DRC, which aims to provide education and sustainable resources to young girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In the field of Human Rights, in 2016, Vitit Muntarbhorn (1971 Jurisprudence, BCL Law) was appointed as the first United Nations (UN) Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Ill health forced him to resign after a year in post, but in that short time he was able to set a clear mandate for the decriminalisation of consensual same-sex relations globally. He has served in various UN positions: Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in North Korea; Special Rapporteur on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography; and member of UN Commissions of Inquiry covering the Ivory Coast and Syria. In 2018, he was knighted for his contribution to International Human Rights. Currently, he is UN Special Rapporteur on Cambodia.

Ronit Kanwar (2016 Economics and Management) made the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia List 2019, with his social enterprise start-up Empower Energy, “connecting rural India to the modern economy”. The company is enabling rural families in India to use life-enhancing products through its distribution network. It is providing clean, safe and renewable energy solutions and has transformed lives in Odisha, east India. He passed the company over to employees in 2020. He now works as a Director at Schmidt Futures, founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, a charitable organisation that finds and connects talented people across fields, generations, and geographies to harness their collective skills for public benefit. At Schmidt Futures, Ronit helps to leads partnerships for the organisation which has included partnerships with the UK Government on Science and philanthropists globally.

I am very proud to be leading an organisation that delivers an outstanding education and equips our graduates such as these to have a positive impact on society, the economy and the environment. Tutorials are a resource-intense method of teaching but I strongly believe that they offer our students the best opportunity to develop the skills and flexibility that they will need in the modern world, elevating their learning beyond simple mastery of information. Such challenging and individualised teaching is not fashionable and is not adequately resourced by the current model of Higher Education funding. As the Head of an Oxford college with one of the more modest endowments (Keble is in the bottom nine colleges in terms of wealth), we rely more heavily than most colleges on the generosity of our donors in order to keep delivering on our mission and values. I am very grateful for the support. I firmly believe that supporting Keble is an impactful way of tackling some the world’s greatest challenges by investing in the next generation of leaders, influencers and innovators who will commit their talents to making the world a better place.