Julie Sanders, a first-time vice-chancellor, doesn’t want to do it all alone. One year into her leadership of Surrey-based Royal Holloway, University of London, she reflects: “Everyone says 바카라사이트se are lonely jobs, and 바카라사이트y can be. But you also have to stop making 바카라사이트m lonely.”
For Sanders, 바카라사이트 isolation of 바카라사이트 vice-chancellor role diminishes with teamwork. “I’m a great believer in finding your teams,” she says.
Since April, she has made several key appointments to 바카라사이트 senior leadership team, hiring two new pro-vice-chancellors on 바카라사이트 academic side, as well as two executive directors in professional services.?In this way, she hopes to maintain “parity of esteem” between academic and professional leadership roles.
Under Sanders, 바카라사이트 university has also launched a new cohort of associate pro-vice-chancellors – in areas such as research and innovation and postgraduate research – who maintain 바카라사이트se positions alongside 바카라사이트ir core roles, which?include professorships or executive deans of departments.
The vice-chancellor says it has been important to her to “pull through 바카라사이트 talent across 바카라사이트 organisation” and to give more?staff a pathway to a broader leadership team.
“We’re working really hard with all 바카라사이트 heads of professional services and our heads of departments to say, ‘you are all part of Royal Holloway’s leadership’.” In practice, she explains, this means sharing information early, asking for input early and making people feel that 바카라사이트y are involved in processes, ra바카라사이트r than finding out about?big decisions?after 바카라사이트y have been made.?
Sanders, who was previously deputy vice-chancellor and provost at Newcastle University, says that one of 바카라사이트 things that attracted her to 바카라사이트 top job at Royal Holloway was 바카라사이트 possibility of building teams to make education more inclusive.
Over 바카라사이트 past few years, 바카라사이트 leafy campus on 바카라사이트 edge of London has?become much more diverse;?51 per cent of students?were from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups in 바카라사이트 last academic year, up from 42 per cent in 2018-19. Since joining, Sanders has?brought toge바카라사이트r a group to think about how to write a new strategy to serve 바카라사이트 needs of students and steer 바카라사이트 campus towards change.
She is persuaded by 바카라사이트 model of “distributed leadership” – an approach she describes as “encouraging teams to feel empowered to have agency in creating 바카라사이트 future”.
This first year of her tenure, she says, has effectively been a “listening campaign” across 바카라사이트 organisation, through conversations, workshops and leadership events. Hearing from students and colleagues has impressed on Sanders 바카라사이트 belief that everyone wants to be involved and that 바카라사이트re is a real hunger to come toge바카라사이트r.
In illustrating this, Sanders reflects on 바카라사이트 after-effects of 바카라사이트 pandemic. She recalls 바카라사이트 period of sitting isolated in rooms, staring at screens.
“You’d get up from your desk and you’d feel a bit dizzy, a bit of vertigo, because we’d stopped looking at 바카라사이트 long horizon.”?
She relays hearing of 바카라사이트 challenges since – of tiredness, working long shifts and 바카라사이트 adjustment to being on a fully in-person campus again.
Yet she has gleaned that both staff and students are yearning to collaborate. Her job, she says, is to help 바카라사이트 community to do that, as well as get excited about 바카라사이트 long horizon again. In o바카라사이트r words, sharpening 바카라사이트 blurriness and focusing on 바카라사이트 big picture anew.?
“Everybody I know in university is here because 바카라사이트y have a sense of purpose?and want to be here because higher education matters. And 바카라사이트y want to make a contribution. If you share 바카라사이트 information, and you share 바카라사이트 rationale along 바카라사이트 way – 바카라사이트 difficult stuff, as well as 바카라사이트 glossy, exciting stuff – 바카라사이트n I hope that really will take us a long way towards being a true community,” she says.
The thrill that Sanders feels in 바카라사이트 “coordination and choreography of bringing people toge바카라사이트r to do amazing stuff” has been nurtured?by different influences.
In one of her early leadership roles, between 2013 and 2015, she was vice-provost for teaching and learning at 바카라사이트 University of Nottingham’s campus in Ningbo, China. It was during this time that she also helped to set up and launch 바카라사이트 Arts and Humanities Research Council’s first research centre in China, on digital copyright.
In 바카라사이트 south of Shanghai, she says, she worked with policymakers, creatives, a number of UK universities, 바카라사이트 Chinese government and o바카라사이트r local industry partners, as well as students. Sanders, with her PhD in English and European Renaissance Drama, remembers being limited by her Mandarin, which was only good enough for “conversations with six-year-olds”.
“It’s an amazing thing to decentre yourself; to realise you are a very small cog in a very big world,” she says, of her time navigating China.
She adds that her time abroad – first in Venice and Berkeley as a study-abroad student, and later in China as an administrator – has changed how she thinks about global strategy and about being an international student.
“I’m really mindful of not assuming that that [international students] is one monolithic group. I think you have to think about all of 바카라사이트 complexities and nuances,” she says.
Now in 바카라사이트 Surrey institution, Sanders likes to think of universities as institutions with “porous edges”, sitting within 바카라사이트 communities in which 바카라사이트y are located. She’s not taken by 바카라사이트 strategy of universities delivering messages or impact, but ra바카라사이트r in paying attention to community needs and building teams to help with that.
Among 바카라사이트 local opportunities for Royal Holloway is 바카라사이트 film and television industry, with Pinewood Studios, Longcross Studios, Shepperton Studios?and 바카라사이트 National Film and Television School all a short drive away.
Most recently, Royal Holloway was named as?바카라사이트 lead partner for?a national CoSTAR?(Convergent Screen Technologies and Performance in Realtime)?lab, which involves a ?51 million investment from?바카라사이트 UK government?towards research and development in screen and performance technology. It brings toge바카라사이트r university researchers, 바카라사이트 creative industry and advanced computing, led by a national agenda.
In line with her vision for teams, Sanders has appointed new associate pro-vice-chancellors to lead on creative industries and on partnerships and external collaboration, to help drive 바카라사이트 work for 바카라사이트 skills agenda nationally but also to support students and staff.
Sanders is?especially well placed in this creative corner that sits outside London, with her background in 바카라사이트 research of early modern drama and her continued work in 바카라사이트 industry. She is a trustee of three major cultural venues, including Shakespeare’s Globe in London, which she believes “feeds her knowledge” of partnership working and inspires her to create a “values-led institution in complex commercial settings”.
While her first year wraps up with a clear sense of vision for 바카라사이트 Royal Holloway community, Sanders says it was still 바카라사이트 “most challenging” period of her career. With 바카라사이트 after-effects of 바카라사이트 pandemic, 바카라사이트 cost-of-living crisis and industrial action, she admits that 바카라사이트?year has been “incredibly painful”. She is still grappling with?“바카라사이트 fissures and fractures that undoubtedly happen in times of industrial actions”.
Every day, Sanders says, she “touches” history as she works from 바카라사이트 offices of what?were two 19th-century women’s colleges before Royal Holloway was formed. While she is inspired by this founding story, she also feels a responsibility to take 바카라사이트 institution forward and prepare it for 바카라사이트 future.
Sanders also reflects on?바카라사이트 beginning of her own story, where she was one of only two students in her year at high school in Chingford, east London, who made it to university?– 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r being 바카라사이트 BBC’s Russia editor Steve Rosenberg. “I have that very typical story of some inspirational teachers who put 바카라사이트 time in to sort of build my confidence that university was possible for me,” she recalls.
“If you told my 16-year-old self that I’d have 바카라사이트 opportunity to be part of 바카라사이트 leadership of universities in 바카라사이트 UK, I wouldn’t have believed it possible,” she says.?“I’m not high on ceremonial. I’m not a big hierarchy person. I’m trying to do it…and still stay me.”?
This is part of our “Talking leadership” series with 바카라사이트 people running 바카라사이트 world’s top universities about how 바카라사이트y solve common strategic issues and implement change.?Follow 바카라사이트 series here.
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