Academics today have to be much more professional than in the past, says David Westbury, pro vice-chancellor of Birmingham University, who chaired the transparency review and whose experience of higher education stretches back nearly 40 years.
"When I first started out as an academic, the focus of what everyone was interested in was their discipline and progressing with a small number of students and research partners," he said.
Professor Westbury, whose responsibilities at Birmingham include developing the university's regional role, might be considered a local himself, having been educated at Bromsgrove County High School. But he started his academic career at Oxford University. At Christ Church he gained a BA in animal physiology and later went on to read medicine, gaining his doctorate in 1974.
Research at Oxford led him to become a lecturer at Birmingham, moving to reader in 1982 and professor in 1987. Five years later he was pro vice-chancellor.
A growing interest in administrative and managerial roles and systems drew Professor Westbury into wider responsibilities in the sector. In 1997 he became chair of the Joint Costing and Pricing Steering Group, working on behalf of the funding councils and higher education representative bodies to encourage the development of more effective financial management methods.
It was in this role that he attracted the attention of the Office of Science and Technology, which asked him to chair the transparency review four years ago. Professor Westbury said the review had proved "enormously helpful" for the sector and the government. "Until now, we did not have the full set of information to evaluate the impact of expansion over the past ten years," he said.
When he can, Professor Westbury takes time out to pursue his interest in amateur radio communications.