Campus: How to prepare for university leadership

This episode of the Campus podcast comes at a time when many UK universities are changing leaders. A total of 30 institutions have either had a new leader start or have begun the process of finding a replacement in 2024, according to a Times Higher Education analysis last month. So, what are the skills and experience that underpin good leadership and how do you prepare for a senior role?

Our interview is with Shân Wareing, the new vice-chancellor of Middlesex University in northwest London, arranged after she posted on LinkedIn about the five things she focused on in her first day in the role. In that post, she listed sense-checking the mandate she had first pitched, identifying the key people to meet, understanding the underlying issues, how to make decisions “stick”, and seeing the life of the university.

As she explains, the clarity of that road map comes from over 20 years’ leadership experience in roles such as deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Northampton and pro vice-chancellor of education and student experience at London South Bank University. But her acuity comes from other sources, too. She offers fascinating insights into how to put a career together, the skill that is more important than confidence, and finding joy in what you do.  

Our conversation took place in May, when she’d been in post for just over a month.