The Higher Education Policy Institute, with support from
executive search firm GatenbySanderson, has published a new paper
(attached) on the changing tenure of UK university
vice-chancellors over the past half a century.
Digging in? The changing tenure of UK vice-chancellors
(HEPI Policy Note 34) shows that, from the late 1970s to 2011,
the average tenure of in-post vice-chancellors declined
significantly – from 6.4 years to 4.1 years, a drop of 36 per
cent.
However, since ‘marketisation’ received rocket boosters in the
Coalition years, with – for example – a big increase in tuition
fees and the liberalisation of student places in England, the
average tenure of UK vice-chancellors has increased. For serving
vice-chancellors, it is now approaching 5 years (and is up around
15% from its lowest point around a decade beforehand). This is
the highest it has been since the turn of the millennium. Back in
2010, just one vice-chancellor (2 per cent of our sample) had a
current tenure of 10 or more years; in 2021, eight did (16 per
cent).
By the time vice-chancellors stand down, they have on average
spent eight years in the job, way above other professions to
which they are sometimes compared. For example, the average
tenure of a Premier League football manager is two years and one
month and the average tenure of a senior NHS executive is around
three years.
The tenure of vice-chancellors is also very much longer than
senior Government Ministers, who tend to hold their posts for
around two years. Only one top-level government minister with
responsibility for education has come anywhere near the average
eight-year tenure of the average retiring vice-chancellor, and
that was over a century ago: Sir John Eldon Gorst, was
Vice-President of the Committee of the Council on Education for
just over seven years between 1895 and 1902.
England has had twelve different Secretaries of State for
Education (though the post has sometimes had different names)
since New Labour came to office in 1997. Scotland has had 10
incumbents in the comparable post since devolution in 1999 and
Wales has had eight, while Northern Ireland has had five (as well
as periods of direct rule during which five London-based
Ministers have been in charge).
The paper points out that no university could have coped smoothly
with so many leadership changes in such a small space of time.
Indeed, any institution with so many changes at the top would
surely be widely regarded as failing.
Average tenure of serving vice-chancellors in years (10-year
rolling average)
, Director of HEPI and the
author of the report, said:
‘A few years gap, the best guess was that the enormous pressures
on vice-chancellors would make it a less appealing role, despite
the typically high renumeration. Then came Brexit, COVID and high
inflation – not to mention industrial action – all of which might
also have been expected to encourage some vice-chancellors to
give up their roles more quickly.
‘However, our illuminating new research shows the opposite is
true. University leaders have been staying in post for longer. It
seems many vice-chancellors feel a strong obligation to see their
institutions through turbulent times and their governing bodies
have supported them to do so.
‘Nonetheless, it is far from inevitable that the current trend
will continue as the university sector faces growing funding
pressures, continuing industrial relations issues and more
fallout from the so-called “culture war”.’
Julia Roberts, Practice Lead Education at
GatenbySanderson, said:
‘HEPI has provided some very interesting insights on
vice-chancellor tenures. We know from our very many conversations
with higher education leaders that the last few years have been
incredibly challenging for vice-chancellors personally and for
their institutions.
‘This data bring to life the importance for everyone involved in
recruiting higher education leaders to identify and support the
next generation of vice-chancellors and secure the much needed
diversity in top teams to face what’s ahead.’
Professor David Latchman CBE, who has led Birkbeck,
University of London since 2003 and is the longest serving
institutional leader included in the study, said:
‘Throughout the numerous crises of my almost 20 years at
Birkbeck, I have found it valuable to stand in our lobby just
before 6pm and watch our students pour in from work clutching
their coffee cups and eager to learn. It stimulates me to
continue to try and do my very best for them and confirms what a
great job I have.’
Methodology
We have calculated the tenure of vice-chancellors in four
different ways: i) the annual average for current
vice-chancellors; ii) the 10-year rolling average for current
vice-chancellors; iii) the annual average for departing
vice-chancellors; and iv) the 10-year rolling average for
departing vice-chancellors. As we are working with a time series,
we only include older UK institutions, numbering 51 in total. We
exclude Oxford and Cambridge because of their past practice of
short-term rolling vice-chancellors. Each period of leadership is
included separately even if the same person has led more than one
institution. Further details are included in the Policy Note,
including (in the Annex) a full list of institutions covered by
the research.
