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Terry Coslett (1920-2018)

Terry Coslett

Areas of Interest

Business, Education

Honorary Award

Honorary Fellow, 1992

Biography

Terry Coslett was a businessman, educator, and driving force behind the development of Anglia Ruskin University. Having built a successful career in businesses, including the appointment as Vice-Chairman of Fisons Agrochemical Division, he served as Governor of the Cambridge College of Arts and Technology (CCAT) from 1966 to 1989, as Chairman from 1979, judiciously guiding the institution through a period of rapid expansion. He was a member of the Council of the Association of Colleges for Further and Higher Education from 1972 to 1987 being Chairman (1974/5) and Treasurer (1977-87). Terry also chaired an Association working party on Staff Development. When CCAT merged with the Essex Institute in 1989, he took over as Chairman of the new Anglia Higher Education Corporation. He also became a Governor of the Board when the institution later achieved Polytechnic status. Throughout his time at CCAT he showed great commitment to the development of the quality and breadth of Higher Education provision within the region. Terry was instrumental in persuading Cambridgeshire County Council, and his fellow Governors at CCAT, to proceed with the merger with Essex Institute. It was this merger that ultimately laid the foundations of Anglia Ruskin University.

In 1992 Terry Coslett was made an Honorary Fellow of the University.



Citation

"Terry Coslett, a former Personnel Director of Fisons, was a Governor of the Cambridge College of Arts and Technology from 1966 to 1989 and became Chairman of that Board in 1979, guiding it through a period of expansion as a centre of Higher Education.

In 1989, when CCAT and the Essex Institute merged, he became joint Chairman of the formation group of Anglia Higher Education Corporation. On becoming a Polytechnic, Terry became a Governor of that Board until 1991 when he retired.

It was Terry's commitment and enthusiasm to merge with Essex that persuaded Cambridgeshire County Council, and his fellow Governors at CCAT, that the merger should go ahead, thus paving the way for Polytechnic status and ultimately University status.

In recognition of his total commitment to and support for the development of Anglia Polytechnic University, Terry Coslett receives an Honorary University Fellowship."