On Wednesday 11 November the University Senate gave their full support to a proposal to change the Vice-Chancellor’s title and for the introduction of a number of new Vice-President roles in the leadership team.
Why is there a need for change?
As a leading international University the current nomenclature for our senior leadership roles leaves us at a disadvantage, as it does not grant the University easy access to key, high-level decision makers. Many other countries perceive the use of vice-chancellor or pro vice-chancellor as indicating that they are not getting access to an appropriately senior person. So, in common with several other Russell Group universities we will be changing the title of Vice-Chancellor to President and Vice-Chancellor.
The current role of Pro Vice-Chancellor is neither a full-time nor a permanent position. It is clear that if we are to have a high performing and sustainable leadership team we need to ensure that the roles reflect the workload and ambition of the University. We will be establishing a number of permanent Vice-Presidents who will each hold a key, strategic portfolio and report directly to the President and Vice-Chancellor.
The Vice-Presidents will supersede the current roles of Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost, with both these roles being abolished.
Sir Christopher stated:
“I would like to make it quite clear that colleagues occupying current positions have done a superb job in providing leadership and managing their current portfolios, for which I am extremely grateful. The changes we are making are an acknowledgement that our key portfolios need to be placed on a more sustainable footing.”
You can find ‘before’ and ‘after’ organisation charts on the University Strategy webpages.
When will these roles be established?
All of the changes mentioned above have to proceed through our Charter, Ordinances and Statutes and to Privy Council. We will start to progress the recruitment for these roles as soon as possible, with the expectation that they are unlikely to be permanently established until Summer 2016.
What will happen to the Pro Vice-Chancellor roles?
These titles will continue to exist and will report into the relevant Vice President. The roles will become focussed on important individual topics e.g. Teaching Excellence Framework
Who will the Deans report to when the Provost role ceases?
The faculties have been asking to work more closely with the Vice-Chancellor and so the Deans will report directly to him. However, to make this manageable they will be expected to accept a greater level of responsibility, authority and accountability.
A single senior management team (University Executive)
To simplify and streamline the current senior executive structure we will establish a single team so that decisions can be made more effectively and with greater clarity. This will draw together members of the University Senior Management team (USMT) and the University Academic Executive (UAE) plus some additional professional service directors.
This has already begun through the formation of the Business Model Review Working Group which has now become the “cross-over University Executive”. A more permanent membership will be established early in 2016.
Further details including timings, a simplified leadership structure and interim solutions can be found in the Vice-Chancellor’s paper to Senate here.