[2] He was chairman of the Russell Group, representing the United Kingdom’s twenty leading research-intensive universities at a crucial time in higher education history, when the white paper on tuition fees was being debated and subsequently passed.
More controversially, he closed the Departments of Physics and Chemistry, and oversaw the award of an honorary doctorate to Dame Margaret Thatcher, against strong union and student resistance.
In addition, he said that he relished 'the opportunity of working with new colleagues to achieve our common purpose of maintaining and improving Birmingham's position in the front rank of universities'.
During his time at Birmingham, Sterling was at the forefront of estates developments, creating a new skyline for the campus which includes the Institute for Biomedical Research, the Business School, the Sport and Exercise Sciences building and new halls of residence including Mason Hall and the Shackleton hub.
Having an engineering background, two initiatives that Sterling is particularly proud to have secured for Birmingham, are the HEFCE-funded National Higher Education STEM Programme, to increase the number of graduates with skills in science, technology, engineering and maths disciplines to fulfill the needs of employers and boost the UK economy, and establishing the Energy Technologies Institute alongside Nottingham and Loughborough Universities.