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STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL REPORT TO THE COUNCIL 31st July 2014 APPOINTMENT OF THE NEXT VICE-CHANCELLOR SUMMARY At its meeting of 11th February 2014, Professor Sir Howard Newby informed Council of his intention to retire from the role of Vice-Chancellor in 2015. As required by the University’s statutory framework, a Joint Committee of Council and Senate was established to oversee the process of identifying a successor. The membership of the Joint Committee and its methodology were approved over the course of the meeting of Council on 11th February 2014, and a joint meeting of Council and Senate, held 21st February 2014. The Joint Committee met formally five times:- 5th March 2014: to receive a sector briefing from its external advisor, Professor Sir David Eastwood, and to select search consultants. 2nd April 2014: to receive a report on the consultation exercise run by the search consultants to identify the views of members of the University and external stakeholders in relation to the opportunities the University faced over the next 5-10 years, and the role of Vice-Chancellor. 16th May 2014: to receive a briefing on expressions of interest for the post, and agree a longlist of candidates for interview by the search consultants. 20th June 2014: to be briefed on the outcomes of those interviews, and agree a shortlist for formal interview. 8th July 2014: to interview the candidates. The Joint Committee felt that the field was strong, with a number of appointable candidates. However, Professor Janet Beer, current Vice-Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University, was the outstanding candidate. DECISION(S) REQUIRED Council is asked to approve the recommendation of the Joint Committee of Council and Senate that Professor Janet Beer should be appointed the next Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool. BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS The published recruitment pack for the role and Professor Beer’s CV are attached as appendices. CONTACT OFFICER: Alastair Flett/Carol Costello DESIGNATION: Clerk to Council/Director of HR TELEPHONE: 0151 794 2395/0151 794 2191 EMAIL: [email protected]/[email protected] DATE: 28th July 2014 STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL DETAIL OF THE REPORT 1. Introduction The University’s Statutes and Ordinances state that the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor is one of the powers and duties reserved to Council. Council fulfils this role following consideration of a report from a Joint Committee of Council and Senate established to oversee the recruitment and selection process. Council agreed the process to be used in identifying and appointing the next Vice-Chancellor at its meeting of 11th February 2014. This was endorsed, along with the membership of the Joint Committee, by a joint meeting of Council and Senate, held 21st February 2014. Following the Joint Committee’s first meeting, a firm of search consultants, Perrett Laver, was engaged to provide external support for the process. 2. Membership of the Joint Committee The parameters for the constitution of the Joint Committee are laid out in Ordinance 5.1 of the University’s statutory framework. This states:- “the President of the Council shall be a member ex officio and Chair and […] the other members shall be nominated in equal number by the Council and Senate.” Council agreed that membership of the Joint Committee, excluding the President in the Chair, should be set at ten. This was felt to be large enough to allow representation from across the University, but of a reasonable size to be effective, with its members able to commit the time necessary to the process. Council representation on the Joint Committee was discussed and agreed at its meeting of 11th February 2014. Senate representation was subsequently selected by the President of Council following nominations from the Executive Pro-Vice-Chancellors and the elected members of Senate. In selecting from the nominations, the President of Council took particular care to ensure that the Joint Committee had a broad- based membership so that it was able to bring a range of backgrounds, diversity, experience and perspectives to the task. Senate membership of the Joint Committee included at least one member from each Faculty, and representation from each of the three main levels of the academic management structure, the elected membership of Senate, and the student membership of Senate. The full membership was endorsed by the joint meeting of Council and Senate, held 21st February 2014, as follows:- Chair The President of Council, Mr David McDonnell. Representatives of Council The Pro-Chancellor, Professor Jim Keaton; The Vice-President of Council, the Earl of Derby; The Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Mr Patrick Hackett; Mr Jon Haymer (lay officer); Mrs Pat Young (lay member). 1 STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL Representatives of Senate Professor Fiona Beveridge - Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Executive Pro-Vice- Chancellor representative; Professor George Wolff - Faculty of Science and Engineering and Head of School representative; Professor Margaret Whitehead – Faculty of Health and Life Sciences and Head of Level 1 representative; Dr Corina Constantinescu - Faculty of Science and Engineering and Elected Membership representative; Mr Sam Butler - Student membership representative and Guild President. The Joint Committee was supported by Mr Alastair Flett, Clerk to Council, and Mrs Carol Costello, Director of Human Resources. Given the extensive nature of his experience in Higher Education, and in making senior executive appointments in this field, Professor Sir Colin Lucas, a lay member of Council and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, was asked to attend meetings of the Joint Committee to provide it with further advice where it sought this. Sir Colin had no voting rights on the Joint Committee. 3. Outline of the Process Followed 3.1 Appointment of Search Consultants In accordance with well-established best-practice in the field, it was agreed that search consultants would be employed to support the recruitment process. Two companies were considered the best fit for the University, on the basis that they had the most recent experience of supporting recruitment to the Vice- Chancellor role at Russell Group universities. These were Perrett Laver and Odgers Berndtson. Following endorsement by Council, representatives of both organisations were invited to make presentations to the first meeting of the Joint Committee, held 5th March 2014. After that meeting, the panel selected Perrett Laver to assist with the process. 3.2 External Briefing for the Joint Committee The Joint Committee received a briefing on its task from the external advisor selected by Council for this task, Professor Sir David Eastwood (former Chief Executive of HEFCE and current Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham). The briefing was intended to provide essential background and insight for members of the Joint Committee, and to aid them in their thinking about the type of candidates they would wish to consider. The briefing included a session on the overall national context for Higher Education, the University’s position within this, and the main strategic challenges that the sector as a whole would face over the next five to ten years. The advisor played no part in the recruitment and selection process itself. 3.3 Consultation Process Between mid-March and mid-April 2014 Perrett Laver ran a consultation exercise on the role of the Vice- Chancellor and key opportunities which might arise for the University over the coming years. This consultation included engagement with senior academics and officers, and a range of stakeholders outside of the University. Through roadshows and other on-line mechanisms, all staff and student representatives were also given the chance to offer their views on these matters, and suggest issues the Joint Committee should consider in recruiting to the post of Vice-Chancellor. 2 STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL 3.4 Advertisement and Search In early April 2014 the Joint Committee met with the search consultants to consider the results of the stakeholder consultation. Informed by this discussion, a recruitment pack, (attached as appendix 1), was prepared and subsequently approved by the Joint Committee, with an advertisement placed in the Sunday Times. The Joint Committee agreed that the recruitment pack should make clear that the University was truly ambitious in its aspirations and was looking for a dynamic new leader who:- Could develop a clear and compelling strategy to move the University forward over the next five to ten years, and drive its implementation. Through this, could take the University to the next level of performance in terms of global impact and achievement for both research and teaching. Had outstanding leadership skills and the ability to communicate their vision internally and externally. It was also made clear that Council strongly believed in the University’s potential for future success, and would be extremely supportive of the incoming Vice-Chancellor in his or her delivery of agreed plans. The advertisement and search process ran in parallel with each other, with a deadline for applications of 8th May 2014. 3.5 Longlisting, Shortlisting and Interviews Thirty one candidates expressed an interest in the post, resulting in twenty eight actual applications. From these, Perrett Laver prepared a suggested list of fifteen who they considered worthy of consideration by the Joint Committee at its meeting of 16th May 2014. Following discussion with the panel, this was reduced to nine candidates for longlisting interview. Perrett Laver carried out detailed interviews with those on the final longlist of nine, and then prepared a comprehensive brief on each candidate. These were reviewed in a meeting of the Joint Committee on 20th June 2014. From the list of five candidates recommended by Perrett Laver, a shortlist of four candidates was agreed. The shortlisted candidates were offered the chance to meet informally with:- The Joint Committee; An Academic Panel made up of the Provosts, the EPVCs, and the PVC for Student Experience; A Resources Group made up of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, the Director of Finance and the Director of Human Resources.
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