Appointing a Vice-Chancellor: your opportunity to get involved

A message from DMU's Chair of the Board of Governors, Ian Squires

Dear students,

I am pleased to tell you that DMU is about to begin the process to make a permanent appointment to the role of Vice-Chancellor. This will take some months but it is a task of supreme importance. We are seeking candidates with the ability and passion to take us to the next stage of our evolution as a vibrant and innovative university, that is greatly enriched by the diversity of our community and one that puts proper emphasis on the quality of our teaching and of the student experience. 

Whoever emerges as successful must be able to ignite the passion and develop the talent of all our staff and students, and this is where you come in. We would welcome your help and participation in identifying and defining the attributes and abilities you think are necessary to lead our university. 

There are two ways you can get involved. Firstly, everyone can submit their thoughts to our executive search agency, Saxton Bampfylde (all responses will be anonymous) by answering the following questions:

1. What are the key opportunities and challenges at DMU, that the new Vice-Chancellor will need to build upon/meet/develop?
2. What are the five main attributes that you would want to see in the new Vice-Chancellor?
3. Any other comments.

Please send your responses to Saxton Bampfylde by Friday 28 February 2020 using the following e-mail address: dmu@saxbam.com. All emails to this address will be anonymous.

Secondly, we will be holding a number of workshops on Tuesday 25 and Wednesday 26 February for students and staff. These will be led by Saxton Bampfylde together with myself, to further explore these areas.

The student sessions will be held in Bede House, Western Boulevard, as follows: 

• Tuesday 25 February – 10.15-11.15am and 5.15-6.15pm (Room 0.18)
• Wednesday 26 February – 4-5pm (Room 0.12)  

You may come along at any time during the time slots, however, places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis but we will try to accommodate as many people as possible. If you wish to attend any of the sessions, please let Saxton Bampfylde know by contacting Natasha Stewart on 0207 227 0825 or 0207 227 0800 or via email at dmu@saxbam.com so we can manage attendance.

Once the consultations are complete Saxton Bampfylde will collate the responses and feed them into the recruitment panel which is composed of Governors with student and staff representation. We will also share the overall results with everyone, having analysed and summarised the information.

Thank you for your assistance and support in this exciting venture. 

Yours sincerely,

Ian Squires
Chair of Governors, on behalf of the Governing Body