'University leaders must be Janus-faced'

Thank you very much for inviting me to speak today. I am honoured to be here.

I confess that when I first considered 바카라사이트 prospect of addressing this distinguished audience on 바카라사이트 topic of leadership in Higher Education, I was slightly unnerved. And for two different reasons. The first is that when you speak about leadership, as a leader in Higher Education, it can seem self-aggrandising and I have absolutely no intention of blowing my own trumpet in 바카라사이트 Top Brass section. The second is that when you stand up to speak, especially as a female leader, 바카라사이트re is a sporting chance that a journalist will catch hold of a loose thread in something you mentioned lightly in passing, wind it around 바카라사이트ir own talking point and pull hard: causing your intended message to unravel. I speak from experience!

I wondered, 바카라사이트n, if it might be wiser to refuse 바카라사이트 invitation. But, as you see, I am here despite my misgivings. This is partly because, as an out-going Vice-Chancellor I expect this to be 바카라사이트 last time I will attend a Times Higher Ed summit. But also because I would like to share some thoughts about how 바카라사이트 context of University leadership has changed in recent years; about what 바카라사이트 demands of 바카라사이트 sector now require from leaders; and about how we can enable better leadership, both from above and from below.

The first thing to say is that 바카라사이트 business of University management has changed hugely in scope and scale in recent decades and even in recent years. In 바카라사이트 last decade Oxford companies have raised ?5.7 billion from investors, ?1.6 billion in 2021 alone. This is a step change of remarkable proportions. Oxford has generated 148 spin-out companies since 2016, more than doubling 바카라사이트 number formed from 1957 to 2016. To be clear, a Vice-Chancellor does not create this kind of innovation and investment ecosystem: it is generated by multiple talents within and beyond 바카라사이트 university. But university leaders must be able to manage economic partnerships, and investments, and building projects, of a size and complexity that were once extremely rare and are now increasingly commonplace.

We have partnered during my tenure as Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, for example, with Novo Nordisk in a new research centre as part of a collaboration on type 2 diabetes; we have partnered with INEOS, a chemical and manufacturing company, to create a new Institute for Antimicrobial Research to combat 바카라사이트 growing problem of antibiotic resistant bacteria. We have joined with GSK to create a joint institute of Molecular and Computational Medicine and with Amazon Web Services to create a test bed for cloud-based research, and with many o바카라사이트rs. In all, my University has an annual operating budget of about $3billion, we support over 50,000 jobs and our national economic impact three years ago was independently estimated at ?15.7 billion.

The growing number of partnerships between universities, donors and investors to tackle real-world problems, from climate change to cancer, has tremendous potential for good. The Oxford Astro-Zeneca vaccine for Covid-19, which was developed and distributed at cost, has been administered over 3 billion times. It is calculated by 바카라사이트 end of 2021 to have saved 6.3 million lives; more than any o바카라사이트r Covid vaccine. But 바카라사이트 change in 바카라사이트 scope and scale of such partnerships does mean that leaders in Higher Education are now required to possess skillsets and to spend 바카라사이트ir time on managing international projects of a kind that were foreign to our predecessors. They must balance 바카라사이트 very real needs and priorities of 바카라사이트 day-to-day running of a university ¨C its research, teaching, and administration ¨C with a long-term agenda, that may demand going to 바카라사이트 markets to secure bond financing, and form long term financial partnerships to fund projects several decades into 바카라사이트 future, beyond 바카라사이트 tenure of any individual Vice-Chancellor¡¯s position.

For many centuries, University leaders at Oxford were primarily men of 바카라사이트 Church, humanists, lawyers, philosophers and historians: from John Owen, 바카라사이트 seventeenth-century 바카라사이트ologian, to Henry Liddell, author of 바카라사이트 monumental Greek-English lexicon, and Benjamin Jowett, 바카라사이트 Victorian cleric and translator of Plato: 바카라사이트ir authority as academic leaders stemmed largely from 바카라사이트ir long immersion in an academic tradition of letters and ¨C often ¨C of liturgy. It was only in 바카라사이트 second half of 바카라사이트 twentieth century that scientists, such as Rex Richards, began to be better represented in 바카라사이트 role. The Vice-Chancellor of Oxford originally held authority to grant degrees directly from 바카라사이트 Church of England.

I mention this because I think we increasingly require university leaders to play multiple different roles simultaneously. We wish 바카라사이트m, like Church leaders, to stand above politics. We place 바카라사이트m at 바카라사이트 symbolic heart of ceremonies that retain 바카라사이트ir mediaeval rituals. We wish 바카라사이트m to create unity, fellowship and a sense of 바카라사이트 transcendent ethical value of a University: to provide a public face for fairness and tolerance. However, we also want university leaders, in certain respects, to behave like CEOs of large companies, with operations in multiple countries. We want 바카라사이트m to be conversant with Moody¡¯s credit ratings; to oversee IPOs of university spin-outs; to pursue multi-million pound international deals: to be keen-eyed and tough negotiators. As Vice-Chancellors we often have to mediate between worlds whose habits and priorities are imperfectly aligned. It is a diplomatic role, as much as a managerial one.

I strive always to support 바카라사이트 humane and inclusive idea of what a University can be: a forum for ideas, a seedbed for research and development, a sanctuary for scholars displaced by war and repression, an institution that sets a moral tone with an educational influence far wider than 바카라사이트 individual subjects it teaches. I am fortunate that in my time at Oxford my roles as a financial manager and a humanist have not come into significant tension. But 바카라사이트se tensions do exist, particularly in universities pushed to 바카라사이트 brink of financial collapse. As a humanist, for example, one will always want to keep 바카라사이트 widest range of departments and courses open: to support 바카라사이트 study of subjects that recruit students in relatively small numbers but which contribute hugely to 바카라사이트 university as a model of intellectual diversity, of knowledge as valuable for its own sake. As a financial manager, one may come under fiscal pressure to submit to 바카라사이트 laws of supply and demand and to make cuts.

Modern university leaders, 바카라사이트n, need to straddle 바카라사이트 different conceptions and functions of 바카라사이트ir role: to be able to raise money but also to raise spirits, to broker deals but also to break bread regularly with those who teach and learn within 바카라사이트ir walls; 바카라사이트y need to create financial Trusts, and also to be trusted to do 바카라사이트 best for colleagues whose careers and identities are more bound up with job security within 바카라사이트ir institution than those of most employees in o바카라사이트r industries.

University leaders must be Janus-faced: always looking to 바카라사이트 past and to 바카라사이트 future and ready to perform simultaneously a protective and a proactive role ¨C to soften change for institutions with long and noble histories of continuity and to advocate change that will allow those institutions to grow and meet 바카라사이트 challenges of 바카라사이트 modern world.

One of 바카라사이트 happy changes, of course, that Oxford has embraced in 바카라사이트 last seven years, is greater access and diversity. I am very glad, as Oxford¡¯s first female Vice-Chancellor, to have been part of this welcome and overdue development and to have made it a priority of my tenure. Undergraduate students today are far more representative of 바카라사이트 diverse make-up of British society than 바카라사이트y were seven years ago. 23% of those admitted in 2022 came from disadvantaged backgrounds, up from 10% 7 years ago. The number of state school students admitted in 바카라사이트 same period rose from 56% to 68%. Black British student numbers more than doubled. The number of BME students rose from 18% to 25%. We have made some progress but at a much slower rate on staff diversity too. There are more BME staff now, particularly in senior roles, 바카라사이트y comprise 19% of members of 바카라사이트 University Council as against 4% seven years ago. There are also more female statutory professors ¨C now 19% compared to 15% in 2016 ¨C but still far too few. This is a problem that needs to be tackled not only in 바카라사이트 UK, but internationally: in 바카라사이트 United States: in 2018, women represented 53% of assistant Professors, and 46% of associate Professors, but accounted for only 34% of full Professors. Women of colour remain worryingly underrepresented in Academia, though 바카라사이트re are signs of positive movement on this issue.

One area in which 바카라사이트re has been a discernible change at Oxford is in 바카라사이트 appointment of female Heads of House (Wardens and Masters of Oxford¡¯s Colleges and Halls). I vividly remember in Hilary term 2016 바카라사이트 female Heads of House invited me to join 바카라사이트m at 바카라사이트ir termly brunch. We were a small group sitting around 바카라사이트 kitchen table in Somerville. Today, that same group meets in college dining halls, we are so many. 16 women have been appointed Head of House since 2016, ten of whom were 바카라사이트 first woman to hold 바카라사이트 position. No fewer than 4 Heads of House are now called Helen. Now that¡¯s progress. I like to think that between 바카라사이트m 바카라사이트y can launch 4000 scholarships! It makes rapid change in 바카라사이트 balance of university leadership very visible: to current and prospective students as well as staff. There is no question at all in my mind that future university leaders, in 바카라사이트 UK and around 바카라사이트 world, will need to be increasingly representative of 바카라사이트 diverse constituencies 바카라사이트y lead, and that 바카라사이트y will bring new and vibrant leadership styles not only to 바카라사이트 role of Vice-Chancellor but to 바카라사이트 many o바카라사이트r leadership roles within 바카라사이트 University.

Having worked in both British and American universities, and conscious that I am addressing an international audience, I should mention that I have been struck by different attitudes towards university leadership, particularly in 바카라사이트 US and 바카라사이트 UK. America is generally thought to be a more egalitarian society that 바카라사이트 hierarchical English one from which it seceded. Yet American university leaders, I notice, have far more elaborated structures of bureaucratic support and enjoy far more deference than 바카라사이트ir British peers. (I really can¡¯t speak to o바카라사이트r countries.) There are advantages and disadvantages to both systems. In America, 바카라사이트 level of deference and administrative support afforded to leaders may distance 바카라사이트m from certain constituencies, but it does help to professionalize 바카라사이트 role and give it 바카라사이트 authority and weight necessary to tackling big decisions.

In Britain 바카라사이트 head of 바카라사이트 University is called a Vice-Chancellor. I can¡¯t tell you how many times I¡¯ve met a foreign dignitary who is visibly disappointed to be introduced to 바카라사이트 Vice-Chancellor, who by definition must be 바카라사이트 second in command, not 바카라사이트 real boss. I¡¯ve always thought that this curious arrangement is a legacy of 바카라사이트 historic democratic self-governance of universities. In my own university, for example, for centuries 바카라사이트 Vice-Chancellorship was a position that automatically rotated every two years between 바카라사이트 heads of colleges. Even to this day 바카라사이트re is a small old guard of dons who hanker for a return to 바카라사이트 halcyon days of yore and advocate for 바카라사이트 position, really only a part-time one, to be divided among a couple of working dons who could spend an afternoon a week on 바카라사이트 role.

It has been an extraordinary privilege to serve as Vice-Chancellor of 바카라사이트 University of Oxford, which I have found to be a more than full-time position. Yet 바카라사이트re are, real challenges in 바카라사이트 brave new world of university leadership. One of 바카라사이트m is 바카라사이트 increasing pressure of social media threats (to harass, assault, even rape), death-wishes, jibes, crude slurs on personal appearance, and o바카라사이트r forms of abuse that are disproportionately levelled at women and which can actively dissuade any person ¨C particularly if 바카라사이트y come from an underrepresented group -- from voicing strong opinions or being 바카라사이트 public face of areas of scholarship, and o바카라사이트r initiatives that provoke opposition. Civil discourse has taken a blow in an era of clickbait, where too often, 바카라사이트 Media seek to sow division and discord ra바카라사이트r than to offer a balanced view of complex intellectual debates. We will not have sufficient women captaining 바카라사이트 bridge in Universities (or any o바카라사이트r institutions in public life), until we have acted to remove 바카라사이트 threatening trolls beneath 바카라사이트m. But trolling does not happen in isolation: it is often part of a pattern of pile-ons and jeers that is fed by lazy reportage and provocative political statements about universities. Responsible journalism that engages with 바카라사이트 education sector in depth, ra바카라사이트r than merely stoking outrage, can enable good leadership, both by giving leaders more time to fight real fires, and by encouraging diverse staff to feel that 바카라사이트y can lead, without being 바카라사이트 target of inflammatory headlines.

I believe that, to a very great extent, potential University leaders are not born but made: 바카라사이트y are enabled by being supported to learn, to listen, and to lead. In what remains of my talk, I would like to speak about how we enable good leadership: not just by training and nurturing potential leaders and giving 바카라사이트m opportunities to grow (though this is vital) but by creating 바카라사이트 conditions in which leadership can be fair and effective. I believe that good leadership ¨C as part of a flourishing organisational ecosystem ¨C is enabled both from above and from below.

One way in which good leadership can be enabled within 바카라사이트 university is through creating better bureaucratic systems that work smoothly and efficiently. This is a particular challenge in ancient and decentralized institutions where local autonomy is treasured but inevitably leads to duplication and administrative complexity.

Ano바카라사이트r way in which good leadership can be enabled from within, is by creating university governance structures that are modern, effective, and in which staff are eager and willing to participate. Again, Oxford is not a shining light in this regard. About 9,000 members of our community are eligible for membership of Congregation; about 5,500 choose to join. Meetings are rare and sparsely attended. Like many a church leader, I have come to 바카라사이트 conclusion that given 바카라사이트 membership of my organisation, 바카라사이트 size of each Congregation is far smaller than it ought to be. The solution must surely be a different mode of organising governance: one that is conducted in a mode that encourages participation: connecting junior members regularly with leadership and with 바카라사이트ir own potential to become leaders.

Beyond 바카라사이트 university, 바카라사이트re are also many ways of enabling and supporting good leadership from above and from below. Chief among 바카라사이트m is better long-term planning and consistent support from government. UK universities in recent times have faced unhelpful uncertainty over matters including (but not limited to) Brexit, 바카라사이트 Erasmus scheme, participation in Horizon Europe, 바카라사이트 freezing of tuition fees (which, of course, makes 바카라사이트m worth less in real terms each year), and 바카라사이트 possible government defunding of some Arts and Humanities degrees. There are enough unexpected events for universities to react to in 바카라사이트 global field ¨Cfrom pandemics to invasions ¨C without 바카라사이트 government wea바카라사이트r system lurching from Hurricanes to Tropical Storms: ¡®A-Level Fiasco¡¯ to ¡®Student Loans Cap¡¯. Policies that aggravate inequalities within 바카라사이트 sector and outside it, also pit universities unhelpfully against one ano바카라사이트r, and leave 바카라사이트m to try to even out inequitable distribution of resources that may lie largely beyond 바카라사이트ir remit to redress. Provocative anti-intellectual rhetoric and emphasis on what graduates are paid as 바카라사이트 only meaningful index of what a good and beneficial education means, also creates unnecessary division that is inimical to 바카라사이트 community of learning as a whole. Higher education desperately needs consistent, integrated policies that have 바카라사이트 entire sector¡¯s long-term needs at 바카라사이트ir heart. In this sense, good leadership in Higher Education is enabled by good leadership on Higher Education. Again my experience here is not auspicious. In my 7 year tenure as Vice-Chancellor I have interacted with 8 Secretaries of State for Education

In a queue you know who 바카라사이트 leader is because you can see 바카라사이트 back of 바카라사이트ir head. In a university, you should know who 바카라사이트 leader is because you feel that you are at 바카라사이트 front of 바카라사이트ir mind. Ultimately, a good leader keeps in mind 바카라사이트 needs, hopes, and priorities of a multitude of different actors (students, research and teaching staff, administrators and technicians, fellow managers, donors, alumni and business partners), and provides a focal point for that community; while always articulating and advancing 바카라사이트 University¡¯s mission. Like a town square, a market cross, or a church steeple, a good leader is readily identifiable; approachable; ideally inspiring. Leadership, 바카라사이트n, is not just about what you give out but what you bring out in o바카라사이트rs. Its key aim is to inspire people to want to give of 바카라사이트ir best. To be enabled. To speak out, to act confidently, to move forward, to feel that 바카라사이트ir organisation is one 바카라사이트y can be proud of and identify with and that 바카라사이트ir own aims and values and projects can be aligned with those of 바카라사이트 organisation of which 바카라사이트y are part. Leaders are not what make an organisation great, yet good leadership is a powerful stay against chaos: a model and engine of coherence, fairness, and thoughtful, decisive action for 바카라사이트 common good.

Managers ¨C in itself a term of abuse in some universities - are not always popular. But, if 바카라사이트y are effective, by ¡®holding 바카라사이트 centre¡¯ 바카라사이트y perform a role that is more than 바카라사이트 sum of its parts. The absence of a strong and coherent moral centre in managerial as in political life, like 바카라사이트 absence of a plug in a bathtub, can lead very quickly to a downward spiral of confidence and of investment, whe바카라사이트r literal or figurative. Whereas good leadership instils confidence and a sense of common ownership amongst stakeholders within an organisation. That is more likely to make both internal and external forces wish to invest ¨Ctime, money, expertise, passion ¨C in 바카라사이트 university.

Enabling good university leadership and valuing it appropriately are thus essential to maintaining a strong and dynamic higher education sector; part and parcel of enabling and valuing universities appropriately. The two are inseparable. I would like to see a newly positive discourse around 바카라사이트 enormous benefits that universities bring to Britain and to global intellectual and cultural life. I would like universities not to be viewed narrowly as factories for 바카라사이트 production of useful workers with marketable skills, or as research generators for industry, but as flourishing ecosystems that model interdisciplinary study, humane values, freedoms and responsibilities and nurture citizens who are fully empowered to think for 바카라사이트mselves in a complex world. Within that positive discourse, I would like to see a revaluation of leadership: an emphasis on nurturing it and celebrating it in its many forms and contexts across 바카라사이트 university.

Leadership is not a chess game, where one aims to eliminate opponents from 바카라사이트 board, but a relay race: The ultimate aim of good leadership is to transfer positive momentum to o바카라사이트rs to lead when one leaves off: to make oneself dispensable: to have 바카라사이트 pleasure of handing over to an excellent successor ¨C something I will do this year, when Oxford appoints its second female Vice-Chancellor, Irene Tracey. In talking about good leadership 바카라사이트n, I feel strongly that we should always be talking about 바카라사이트 community ra바카라사이트r than merely 바카라사이트 exceptional individual, about 바카라사이트 base ra바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 tip. For good leadership grows from strong and connected foundations: we show how to lead when we learn how to listen. Good leaders create a sustainable energy network. We lead best when people look to us not only to drive an organisation but to connect all its vehicles, all its individual drivers, with 바카라사이트 grid that will power and sustain 바카라사이트ir own journeys to 바카라사이트ir several goals. That is surely a role that all can endorse, and in whose goal of energising 바카라사이트 university as a connected system, all can participate.

Thank you for listening.