The Higher Education Policy Institute has published a new report
by Professor Susan Lea, the former Vice-Chancellor of the
University of Hull, entitled Turning Around a University:
Lessons from personal experience (HEPI Debate Paper 32,
attached).
Changes to the UK higher education landscape since 2010 coupled
with a range of internal challenges had seen the University of
Hull confront a position of considerable risk in around 2017. Yet
the city of Hull and the wider region is precisely the sort of
place that needs a resilient and purposeful university. The paper
describes how both the academic performance and financial
sustainability of the University of Hull were turned around.
Professor Lea sets out the leadership approach required to
produce sustainable change in a complex organisation. Issues
covered include:
- how to communicate the unpalatable truth;
- how to lead with purpose to effect change;
- how to engage meaningfully with the university community; and
- how to deliver a programme that realises the intended
benefits.
Universities drive and deliver social change when they stay true
to, or sometimes rediscover, their purpose. Financial and
academic survival call for clear-headed analysis and tough
decisions, but it is the values, vision and strategy of an
institution and its leadership that provide the backbone of
successful and sustainable change.
Professor Lea, the author of the report, said:
‘Universities are in the business of social change and university
leadership is about delivering social change. Hull was the sort
of place that desperately needed a resilient and purposeful
university. So dialogue, decision, delivery was my mantra for
Hull’s turnaround.
‘Delivering a university’s strategy requires collective ownership
to propel purposeful action. Change is the constant and an
opportunity to innovate, not a challenge requiring reaction.
“Turning the tanker” was about reimagining the University and
rejecting the idea of salami-slicing to meet financial targets.’
, Director of HEPI,
said:
‘Levelling up and economic growth are very hard to achieve
without a thriving university sector. This fascinating report by
one experienced university leader shows how institutions that
face stark challenges can be turned around to ensure they meet
their full potential.
‘The lessons from successful turnarounds are not rocket science,
but they do require patience, openness and skill. Only when
leaders have a clear plan, listen to people’s concerns and take
staff and students with them can they ever hope to succeed.
‘The city of Hull and the whole of the Humber benefit enormously
from the presence of a thriving University.’
Notes for Editors
- Professor Susan Lea is a chartered psychologist and academic,
who served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull from
2017 to 2022. She was previously the Deputy Vice-Chancellor
(Academic) at the University of Greenwich and has also held
senior roles at King’s College London and the University of
Plymouth.
- HEPI was established in 2002 to influence the higher
education debate with evidence. It is UK-wide, independent and
non-partisan, and it is funded by organisations and higher
education institutions that wish to support vibrant policy
discussions as well as through events.
- HEPI has previously published A University
Turnaround: Adaptive Leadership at London Metropolitan
University, 2014 to 2018 by John Raftery (HEPI Policy
Note 9, October 2018). In addition, HEPI is currently running a
series of blogs with the National Centre for Entrepreneurship
in Education (NCEE) on university leadership – see here.
