University Registrars Talking About Stuff

Episode 45 of University Registrars Talking About Stuff features Chris Ince who is University Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer at the University of Hull.  We discuss this distinctive title (not quite unique in the sector) and the particular role Chris plays which has real logic to it given the way that the  external regulatory environment has grown and the extended responsibilities of govern...

For episode 44 of the podcast I have the privilege of talking to Hugh Martin, Registrar and Chief Administrative Officer at the British University in Dubai. We review Hugh's career trajectory, which saw him starting in business but then moving into a series of university positions, in a variety of different roles. One of the most interesting of these was the Chief of Staff role, first at St Andrew...

In this, the 43rd episode of the University Registrars Talking About Stuff podcast, I am delighted to be talking to James Rolfe who is Chief Operating Officer at Anglia Ruskin University. James joined Anglia Ruskin some four years ago after an unusual career journey which began in the civil service in Whitehall in the 90s before leading him to a role in social services in Norfolk and then as a sen...

For episode 42 of the podcast I am in conversation with Khadir Meer, Chief Operating Officer, Registrar and Clerk to the Board at SOAS, University of London. Unusually for the podcast this is the first time we have talked too so it's an interesting way to meet. Khadir has only been in the role for nine months having previously worked as COO and Deputy Chief Executive of the London Ambulance Servic...

In episode 41 of the podcast I talk about stuff with a notable sector leader, Professor Craig Mahoney who is Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Law.  From growing up on a farm in Tasmania Craig came to the UK to study, ending up at Queen's University Belfast to complete his doctorate before taking up a series of academic posts and ultimately becoming Principal and Vice-Chance...

Episode 40 (I can't quite believe we've made it to number 40) finds me in conversation with Dr Tim Bradshaw, Chief Executive of the Russell Group. We hear about Tim's very much unplanned career journey from a geology PhD to presenting to a US Senate Committee and then policy work in the House of Lords and the CBI before moving to a succession of roles in the Russell Group. Tim advises that the Rus...

In episode 39 of the podcast I am really pleased to be speaking to Alistair Jarvis, Chief Executive of Universities UK. We begin by looking back at Alistair's career journey which started out with a sabbatical role at Kent before moving into a number of roles which catered for his taste in public policy and higher education. These included a stint as director of communications for the now defunct...

In another international outing for the podcast this episode is brought to you via Finland from where I am joined by the first Chief Financial Officer I've spoken to on the podcast, Marianna Bom of Aalto University. We begin by exploring Marianna's career journey, from her first post graduation role working for an elevator company before moving to Nokia, where her strength in Russian language saw...

In this edition of the podcast I talk to Wendy Alexander, Vice-Principal International at the University of Dundee, about her remarkable career, her university's international activities, student life after the pandemic and the future direction of higher education in Scotland and the UK. Wendy's career has taken her around many parts of the world both as a student and in work but it has always had...

In Episode 36 of University Registrars Talking About Stuff I have the opportunity to chat with Jackie Njoroge who is Director of Strategy at the University of Salford. We learn about Jackie's position as Director of Strategy which represents a distinctive and wide-ranging role and one she hugely enjoys. Discussing her unusual career journey we hear how she started out with British Steel in Corby o...

Episode 35 of University Registrars Talking About Stuff is another international edition, this time featuring Martin Melkersson, Chief Operating Officer at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU). Martin is the first Swedish COO I've talked to about stuff here and we learn firstly about his 10 years at SLU and his broad-ranging role, covering all non-academic matters at the Universit...

In Episode 34 of University Registrars Talking About Stuff I have an interesting half hour chatting about stuff with Steve Knight who has been Chief Operating Officer at the University of Sunderland for six years now. Steve has had a distinctive career journey which started with a 26 year stint in the RAF followed by time at Middlesex University and in the private sector before arriving at Sunderl...

In this edition of the podcast I have a really enjoyable chat with Patrick Hackett who is Registrar, Secretary and COO at the University of Manchester. We learn first about Patrick's career journey from architect to working in estates at Royal Holloway and then to Reading followed by a spell of consultancy before a 13 year stint at Liverpool University and then the move to Manchester, each time br...

For this Episode, number 32 in the series of University Registrars Talking About Stuff, I had the privilege of talking about stuff  to Stephan van Galen of Groningen University in the Netherlands. We caught up for an in person (in person!) chat at recent HUMANE Winter School where both of us were presenting case studies on our universities and their approaches to internationalisation. We naturally...

This latest episode of University Registrars Talking About Stuff provides an extremely welcome return for Newcastle University's legendary Registrar Dr John Hogan. Back in Episode 9 John and I talked, among other things, about stuff such as the impact of cuts in the 80s, the experience of working at the University of Warwick, life under lockdown and financial challenges ahead for the sector. This...

In the latest episode of University Registrars Talking About Stuff it is my great pleasure to talk to Ken Sloan, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Senior Vice-President (Enterprise and Governance) at Monash University in Australia. As is customary we start by exploring Ken's varied career journey, from an initial brush with accountancy before a typically varied career at the University of Warwick, includ...

In Episode 29 of University Registrars Talking About Stuff I chat with Jim McGeorge who is University Secretary and Chief Operating Officer at the University of Dundee. We discuss Jim's career which took him from a PhD in Fish parasitology to administrative roles at Abertay, Stirling and Dundee as he moved from academic work to the 'dark side'. He shares how he actually enjoyed the administrative...

In Episode 28 of the University Registrars Talking About Stuff  I am in conversation with Roger Gair, University Secretary at the University of Leeds. Roger has enjoyed a long and distinguished higher education career and, unusually, all of it has been at the same university. After over four decades at Leeds, almost half of that time as University Secretary, Roger must be one of the longest servin...

The latest edition of University Registrars Talking About Stuff sees me chatting to Lee Sanders, Registrar and Secretary at the University of Birmingham Lee talks about his all-encompassing role across professional services at Birmingham as well as in relation to governance and as a member of the university executive. Drawing on experiences from both Durham and Warwick (where Lee and I worked toge...

The latest edition of University Registrars Talking About Stuff offers the opportunity to hear from Douglas Blackstock, Chief Executive of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.  We learn all about the work of the QAA and how it has shrunk significantly in size in recent years but remains an organisation with global reach and one which is still complex in terms of its operations dealin...

Episode 25 (a bit of a landmark) features our first international guest on University Registrars Talking About Stuff. Esa Hämäläinen is Director of Administration at the University of Helsinki and also Chair of a notable European higher ed association, HUMANE, the Heads of University Management & Administration Network in Europe. We learn about Esa's background in several Finnish universities...

In this episode of University Registrars Talking About Stuff it is my enormous pleasure to be talking to Sheena Stewart who is University Secretary at Abertay University in Dundee. Sheena has worked at Abertay for an extraordinary 30 year period but, given what we have been through lately, we mainly look back at the past 12 months and then into the future too. Sheena has led the University's Coron...

In the latest edition of University Registrars Talking About Stuff, Episode 23 in the series, I’m in conversation with Andrew Young, Chief Operating Officer at the London School of Economics. We talk about Andrew’s career history - from Newcastle to the capital - and the joys and challenges of working in an institution with such a distinctive history and character as the LSE as well as the experie...

Episode 22 of University Registrars Talking About Stuff finds me in discussion with Gill Aitken, Registrar at the University of Oxford. Gill talks through her career from private sector legal firm to civil service lawyer in the Department of Health, also leading various professional teams, and now her first couple of years at Oxford where she has responsibility for a wide range of professional ser...

Episode 21 of University Registrars Talking About Stuff welcomes Richard Calvert, Deputy Vice Chancellor Strategy and Operations at Sheffield Hallam University, for an interesting conversation about the current challenges and wider issues too. Richard talks us through his long and varied civil service career, which included major stints at DfID working with some notable Secretaries of State and so...