University Registrars Talking About Stuff

And now for something completely different. Based on an original idea by Jenny Lawrence and Jackie Potter, who came up with it on their way to a meeting of the Heads of Educational Development Group , it is time for the Higher Education Shipping forecast.  With a general synopsis and reports from the major Higher Education and Shipping areas, your full forecast can be heard here.

Drawing its inspiration from the classic 1973 song by the Faces, this episode of the podcast was a live recording at the spring conference of AHUA held at Swansea University in April 2025.  The recording provides an opportunity to hear from two departing/departed AHUA members in conversation discussing their reflections on their long careers in the sector. Featuring Lee Sanders of the University o...

For this edition of the podcast I have the great pleasure to talk to Nicola Maina who is the Union Development Officer, a sabbatical position (equivalent to President) of the University of Nottingham Students' Union .  We start off by discussing Nicola's decision to study Law at Nottingham and how she found the learning environment in the immediate post-pandemic period. Whilst she loved the course...

This edition of the podcast features, for the first time, two non-Registrars (of which I am of course now one). The foremost of the pair of us though is Olivia Kew-Fickus, Chief Data Officer at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee . We begin by learning about Olivia's highly valued and extremely transferable history degree and then her move into UK higher ed leading to a series of roles a...

Swedish and UK Registrars learning from each other over four decades This episode of the podcast sees a second discussion with Lee Sanders , Registrar and Secretary and Chief Operating Officer at the University of Birmingham. This time we are talking about a  long standing collaboration between Swedish and UK Registrars, generations of whom have been meeting at a biennial seminar which has been ru...

It's time for more exciting bonus content. Whilst on this podcast you will usually find me in conversation with registrars and other higher ed notables, I've got some other diversions to share.  There will be some new podcasts along soon but in the meantime I wanted to provide a bit of bonus content. In this short Registrarologue then you can hear me going on yet again about regulation and setting...

In this episode of University Registrars (and Others) Talking About Stuff I talk to someone who is very much not a registrar but a notable figure nevertheless. Dr Vince Wilson recently retired as Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham and among the stuff we learn about is Vince's distinctive academic journey from a degree in pharmacy to a research degree, a Royal Society fellowship -...

In the latest episode of University Registrars Talking About Stuff I chat with Dr George Turner, University Secretary and Clerk to the Council at the University of Roehampton . We naturally discuss George's early academic career which, quite distinctively, started out with him forming a punk band at 16 and then being inspired to study music at Sheffield. He stuck with music as a discipline, ending...

It's time for more exciting bonus content. Whilst on this podcast you will usually find me in conversation with registrars and other higher ed notables, I've got some other diversions to share.  There will be some new podcasts along soon but in the meantime I wanted to provide a bit of bonus content. In this short Registrarologue then you can hear me going on a bit about some of the challenges of...

This episode of University Registrars and Others Talking About Stuff finds me in discussion with higher education sector data guru Andy Youell .  Whilst Andy started his working life at Rolls Royce working on various aircraft he soon found the appeal of data and HE funding (not to mention sector acronyms) irresistible and joined PCFC just before it merged with UFC and then HEFCE. He became heavily...

It's time for more exciting bonus content. Whilst on this podcast you will usually find me in conversation with registrars and other higher ed notables, I've got some other diversions to share.  There will be some new podcasts along soon but in the meantime I wanted to provide a bit of bonus content. In this short Registrarologue then you can hear me going on a bit about one of my favourite topics...

Yes, here's a bit more exciting bonus content. Whilst on this podcast you will usually find me in conversation with registrars and others, talking all about higher ed matters, I've got some other diversions to share.  There will be some new podcasts along soon but in the meantime I wanted to provide a bit of bonus content. In this short Registrarologue then I wanted to dress up smart and offer a f...

It's time for more bonus content. Whilst I'm normally in conversation with registrars and others here, talking about lots of HE stuff, I've got some other diversions to share.  There will be some new podcasts along soon but in the meantime I wanted to provide a bit of bonus content. This short Registrarologue then is a bit of ramble by me all about sinking university buildings. Allegedly. I hope y...

It's bonus content time. Whilst I'm normally in conversation with registrars and others here, talking about lots of HE stuff, I've got some other diversions to share.  There will be some new podcasts along soon but in the meantime I wanted to provide a bit of bonus content. This short Registrarologue then is a bit of ramble by me all about cats on university campuses. I hope you enjoy it.

This episode of University Registrars Talking About Stuff finds me talking stuff with Lucinda Parr who is Registrar and University Secretary at the University of Bristol . Looking back to the beginning of her career Lucinda recalls working as a departmental administrator at Goldsmiths to help fund her masters and enjoying it so much that she ended up staying. She then moved to a new role working w...

In this episode of the podcast I have a really good conversation about stuff, mainly governance related, with Louise Nadal, Secretary at the London School of Economics . We learn about Louise’s career journey, which started with a series of short term roles in London universities culminating in a role in HR at Imperial College at which point she realised she wanted to work closer to the core acade...

The latest episode of the podcast finds me talking to Richard Taylor who is Chief Operating Officer at Loughborough University. Like quite a few others in similar positions Richard's taste for HE management started with a stint as a  sabbatical officer at Durham University before landing an exams administration job at Loughborough and then returning north, becoming in due course Head of Marketing...

My latest guest on University Registrars (and others) Talking About Stuff is Keith Zimmerman who has just started a new role at King's College London as Executive Director for Transformation of Education and Student Outcomes. Keith has a long and varied career in the sector which began at the University of Exeter where he started a PhD but then had so much fun working as the departmental administr...

The latest guest on University Registrars (and others) Talking About Stuff is John Rushforth who is Executive Secretary of the Committee of University Chairs (CUC) as well as having a number of other sector roles too. John has been around for quite a few years now and, before he joined the newly formed HEFCE, his early work was with the Audit Commission where he experienced the challenging days of...

The first episode of Season 2 of University Registrars (and others) Talking About Stuff is a landmark in more ways than one. My guest this time is Professor Chris Husbands, Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University, who has just announced that he is to leave his role at the end of the year after eight years in charge. We talk about Chris' career prior to Hallam which included six years teachi...

The latest episode of the podcast (number 50! who would have thought we would make it this far) features Chris Hale, Director of Policy at Universities UK. Chris is not a registrar but is very well placed to talk about registrar-related stuff. We learn about his current role in policy and his career trajectory post graduation which saw him fill a number of temporary positions  at Sussex University...

The latest episode of the podcast sees me talking about stuff with Mike Shore-Nye who is Registrar and Secretary at the University of Exeter. We talk about Mike's role at the university and his title, which now has a classic feel to it but means that it requires some explanation, particularly to those not familiar with university administration. We learn that he has a rather good Registrarial gown...

In this episode of the podcast, a longer one this time as there is so much to talk about, I'm joined by someone who is not a Registrar but the founder, Editor-in-Chief and CEO of Wonkhe , Mark Leach. We start with Mark's time as a student and subsequently sabbatical officer at the University of Kent where he first became fascinated with university committees and bureaucracy.  Mark credits Wes Stre...

For the latest episode of the podcast I have the great pleasure of talking to Niamh Lamond who is Registrar and Chief Operating Officer at Swansea University. Niamh has enjoyed a long career in higher education covering several of the Celtic corners of the sector including Cornwall, Northern Ireland and South Wales. She spent a significant period in Falmouth as part of an institution which grew ra...

In this latest edition of the podcast I talk to Aaron Porter, a consultant extraordinaire and floating higher education all rounder. We explore at some length Aaron's years as a student leader in NUS, first as Vice-President at a time of strong partnership working with politicians and HE agencies, then followed by year as President in 2010-11 during what was one of the most turbulent of periods fo...