Housing to attract staff

Subsidised housing for university staff is being considered by Brunel University in a bid to attract the best recruits.

Steven Schwartz, who became vice-chancellor last week, wants to develop university land to boost income and provide useful services. He is considering a housing scheme for staff and an independent school to feed fee-paying overseas students into the university.

Professor Schwartz said: "Universities are being compared with commercial organisations, but our aims are different. A better analogy would be a football team. You get the right people on the team and the right buildings and you attract the best students."

The scheme is part of a four-point plan devised by Professor Schwartz. He wants to increase student demand - particularly overseas and postgraduate-student demand - by focusing on popular courses and improving campus life. He also wants to rationalise research and postgraduate training.

By attracting more international students, Professor Schwartz hopes to increase the university's income. He plans to rationalise the management, decreasing administrative costs. One idea is to collaborate with other universities in running the payroll, pensions and other administrative services.

Professor Schwartz was previously head of Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia. He was born in the United States and graduated in psychology from City University, New York.

He succeeds Michael Sterling, who became vice-chancellor of the University of Birmingham last September.