Sir George Sayers Bain (born 24 February 1939) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

academic. He was

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...

Queen's University, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

from 1998 to 2004."About the Independent Review and its Chair"
www.irfs.org.uk, retrieved 2 May 2006"Queen's appoints new Vice-Chancellor"
Queen's University Belfast press release, 2004

Early life

Bain was born and brought up in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, Canada. He was educated at Miles Macdonell Collegiate. He studied economics and political science at the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Nuffield College, Oxford Nuffield College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college and specialises in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. Nuffield is one of Oxford's newer c ...

, where he took a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degree in industrial relations. He served as President of the

Manitoba New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party of Manitoba (french: Nouveau Parti démocratique du Manitoba) is a social-democratic political party in Manitoba, Canada. It is the provincial wing of the federal New Democratic Party, and is a successor to the Manitoba ...

from 1962 to 1963.

Academic career

Bain began his academic career at Nuffield College; the

University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research. On 1 Oct ...

; the

University of Warwick , mottoeng = Mind moves matter , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £7.0 million (2021) , budget = £698.2 million (2020� ...

, where he was Chairman of the School of Industrial and Business Studies between 1983 and 1989; and finally the

London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degrees in management and finance, MBA and PhD). Its motto is " ...

, where he was Principal between 1989 and 1997. He was a member of the Committee of Inquiry into Industrial Democracy chaired by

Lord Bullock Alan Louis Charles Bullock, Baron Bullock, (13 December 1914 – 2 February 2004) was a British historian. He is best known for his book '' Hitler: A Study in Tyranny'' (1952), the first comprehensive biography of Adolf Hitler, which influence ...

in 1976–1977, of the

Senior Salaries Review Body The Senior Salaries Review Body, established 1971 provides advice to the Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Defence The secretary of state for defence, also referred to as the defence secretary, is a secretary of stat ...

during 1993-6, and was Chairman of the

Low Pay Commission The Low Pay Commission (LPC) is an independent body in the United Kingdom, established in 1997, that advises the government on the National Minimum Wage. It is an advisory non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Energy and I ...

during 1997–2002, the Work and Parents Taskforce in 2001, and the

Independent Review of the Fire Service The Independent Review of the Fire Service, sometimes referred to as the Bain Report or IRFS was a wide-ranging report carried out by Professor Sir George Bain, in 2002, at the request of the government, into the how Fire and Rescue Services were ...

in 2002. He is a non-executive director of

Bombardier Aerospace Bombardier Aviation is a division of Bombardier Inc. It is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada. Its most popular aircraft included the Dash 8 Series 400, CRJ100/200/440, and CRJ700/900/1000 lines of regional airliners, and the newer CS ...

, Canada Life Group (UK) Ltd, the Canada Life Capital Corporation, Electra Investment Trust Plc, and Iain More Associates Ltd. He holds eleven honorary doctorates and was knighted in 2001.

Career at Queen's

Bain's gregarious and extrovert personality was in marked contrast to the sombre leadership offered by his predecessor Sir Gordon Beveridge. The latter's tenure was marked by an acrimonious dispute within, and without the University over symbols and the use of the national anthem at graduations ceremonies. Bain pushed Queen's further up the research league table, the RAE but as this was achieved in part by the axing of long-standing departments like Geology, Classics and Irish Studies he suffered from a letter-writing campaign in the Belfast press from supporters of the staff whose posts were closed."Classics closure decision must be reversed"
''Belfast Telegraph'', 21 May 2003 Perhaps the most public disappointment of his time at the helm of the university was the failure of the £60 million "Lanyon II" campaign to create a new 'student village'."Queen's postpones £60m development"
''Belfast Telegraph'', 30 May 2002 The self-styled pressure-group "QUB Watch" also kept him under relentless scrutiny over the closure of the Armagh campus,"University to close campus"
BBC website, 5 May 2004 and over what it considered his failure to reduce the number of cases of religious discrimination being taken against the university by members of staff."Senior Catholic employee paid £150,000 in religious discrimination claim"
Socialist Worker Online, 23 November 2002 His tenure at Queen's was also notable for a successful fundraising campaign for the

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Poetry Centre and for a new Library building.

Independent Review of the Fire Service

Bain was asked to chair a government-funded

in 2002, it was wide-ranging and placed fire and rescue services in the UK under close scrutiny – it led to strike action by firefighters, shortly before the report's publication, although the FBU and fire and rescue services had been in tense negotiations for a year before. Sir Anthony Young and Sir Michael Lyons co-authored the review. The Bain Review was presented to the

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...

on 16 December 2002,"Independent Review of the Fire Service"
www.irfs.org.uk, retrieved 2 May 2006 but a position paper was delivered earlier.
, www.irfs.org.uk, retrieved 2 May 2006 Bain said "Taking into account the very generous pension entitlement, the holiday arrangements, the good job security, firemen are actually not badly rewarded. The recruitment and retention figures back this up. There's about 40 applications for every vacancy in the fire service.""Fire union condemns 'insulting' pay deal"
BBC news web site, retrieved 2 May 2006

References

External links