Malcolm Grant - As Provost of UCL

As Provost of UCL

In August 2003, Grant left the University of Cambridge to become Provost and President of University College London.

In 2004, Grant launched 'The Campaign for UCL'. The campaign was designed to generate 300 million pounds of extra funding for the university, to expand facilities and provide for new research initiatives. The appeal will also fund an ear institute, a spinal repair unit and an institute for women's health. Fifty million pounds of the targeted funds will provide support for students, in the form of bursaries, scholarships, and post-doctoral fellowships. It was the biggest ever fundraising target set by a university in the United Kingdom, until Cambridge set a £1 billion target for its 800 year anniversary. Grant said of the 'Campaign':

"I have heard it suggested that the concept of philanthropy is somehow alien to the national psyche, and that asking for money is not the British thing to do. This is, frankly, nonsense. Most of our leading universities owe their origins to philanthropy. Without the generosity of our founding fathers, UCL would never have seen the light of day back in 1826. This campaign will enable UCL, a real British success story, to enjoy the kind of resources to enable us to compete with the world's very best academic institutions"

— Interview with BBC News, 2004

In 2005, on an invitation from The Cheese Grater, he agreed to shave off his moustache if UCL students raised £1500 for Comic Relief, on Red Nose Day. Unfortunately for his moustache — of 33 years — students and staff duly donated over £2,000. However, it has since regrown.

In 2006, he spoke out against the Israel university boycotts by the Association of University Lecturers (now the Universities Colleges Union). In 2006, Grant also controversially stated that European students had better English skills than many British students.

In 2007, Professor Grant said the achievement and academic gap between male and female students was widening. Since 1998, 313,259 more women than men have made university applications. Malcolm Grant said, "the trend indicated a big fall in the number of university-educated men".

In January 2007, he argued that the entire nation-wide university approach to funding needed a different approach. In regard to UCL's need for additional funding, he stated the reasons in an interview with the BBC:

""To provide world-class research - through discovery, invention and creativity - and to convey the excitement of it to able young minds."

— Interview with BBC News, 2007

In June 2007, in response to legal threats from Alan Lakin, husband of a purveyor of herbal remedies, Grant required Professor David Colquhoun to remove his website, "Improbable Science" from university computers. An outcry from the scientific community ensued, and Grant reconsidered, inviting Dr. Colquhoun to bring the site back to UCL once it had been edited for libel.

In December 2011, he became the first UCL Provost to suffer a No Confidence vote by UCL Union, the representative body of UCL students, following his appointment as chair of the NHS Commissioning Board. However this was deemed unconstitutional. The matter was passed to a referendum in which the students of UCL voted confidence in Professor Grant. (Confidence: 1699 No confidence: 1185 Abstentions 391).