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Eric Winter

Eric Winter

Areas of Interest

Education, Business

Honorary Award

Honorary Fellow, 2004

Biography

Mr Eric Winter was Chairman of City College Norwich from 1996-2004 and a Governor of the College since the mid-eighties. During his time as Chairman, City College Norwich went from strength to strength.

Mr Winter has a business background, and retired as the Head of Human Resources at Grampian Foods in Suffolk in 2004. He has brought that business acumen - and often more importantly his people skills - to the steerage of the biggest Further Education college in the Eastern region with a great aplomb. In doing so, he has ensured that the relationship with City College Norwich and Anglia Ruskin has continued to thrive. He has proved himself an ambassador and stalwart promoter of Higher Education in Further Education.



Citation

"Vice Chancellor,

The Senate of Anglia Polytechnic University has great pleasure in conferring on Eric Winter the award of Honorary Fellow of the University for his services to City College, Norwich, the APU Regional Partnership and to public service in the East Anglian Region.

Any university or higher education institution owes a great deal to people from the local community who give of their time, energy, expertise and experience to serve on governing bodies and provide strategic guidance to Institutions. So it is with Eric Winter in the case of City College and APU. He joined the Governing Body of the College in 1984 after having been co-opted to Norfolk Education Committee to represent the perspectives and interests of industry and having served with distinction on high school governing bodies and various industrial/engineering consultative groups. After a succession of Vice Chair roles for Assets, Finance and new capital projects, he has been Chairman of the Corporation of Norwich City College in its new legal status from 1996 to 2004. He has worked with three principals, Dr. Jack Lewis, Caroline Neville and Dick Palmer, each of whom he considers has added something very significant to an already innovative, relevant and well regarded institution of further and higher education. During his term of office, he points with especial pride to the incorporation of the College (which he feels has provided much needed autonomy; an entrepreneurial and demand led orientation highly responsive to local and regional needs); an excellent building programme; the release of energy for higher education and professional programmes occasioned by the APU connection; a robust financial base; and a faithfulness to the concept of lifelong learning in all its manifestations.

Eric Winter considers his earlier professional career has prepared him well for the governing body role. Whilst in the RAF, he qualified as a radar technician and following commissioning he had various flying appointments, mainly on V-Bombers. He retired from the Royal Air Force as a Flight Lieutenant and after a brief period as a publican, which helped to prepare him for civilian life, he found his main professional niche in the field of human resource management, where he held senior positions with Richards of Leicester Steelworks; Diamond H. Controls of Norfolk; Bowes of Norfolk; and the Grampian Country Pork Co. of Suffolk. His operating philosophy of human resource/management in a strategic context, and the management of complex organisations in a highly competitive environment has clearly been extremely helpful to City College, as it has coped with a very turbulent higher education environment.

He also has been very active in voluntary work in health and the local community and, indeed was one of the earliest recipients of the Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Award.

In the light of the above, may I therefore invite you, Vice Chancellor, to confer on Eric Winter the award of Honorary Fellow of the University."