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Does the Oxford Chancellor election matter?

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While attention has been focused on the Conservative leadership election and the US presidential election in recent months, an election closer to home, within the higher education sector, has the potential to impact the narrative on universities.

Over 20,000 alumni and staff have been voting for the next Chancellor at the University of Oxford after current Chancellor, Lord Patten, stood down after 21 years in the role.

In a unique election process, 34 candidates put themselves forward to be whittled down by electors, and over the past month these have been whittled down to five candidates who have faced electors in the final round of voting.

To diversify the contenders, the university dropped the previous requirement that at least fifty members of the university’s Convocation provide an endorsement.

Instead, to stand for election, a candidate could simply nominate themselves. Despite that we have arguably ended up with the same final five we would’ve had under the old system.

David Willetts, former Universities and Science minister, did not make the second round, perhaps a disappointment for some who thought his experience and unifying approach could help shift the dial on government support for the university sector more broadly.

The candidates

Lady Elish Angiolini is the current principal of St Hugh’s College, and former Chancellor of the University of the West of Scotland, Lady Elish has a background as a highly influential lawyer. She worked as the Lord Advocate of Scotland when her counterpart in England & Wales, the Director of Public Prosecutions, was current Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Dominic Grieve spent 22 years as Conservative MP for Beaconsfield and served as Attorney General (2010-2014). He was a vocal remainer, losing the whip and eventually his seat over the issue. He studied at Magdalen College, Oxford.

William Hague is a former Conservative Party Leader and Foreign Secretary – Hague has been running his campaign in the media over recent weeks. He also studied at Magdalen College, Oxford.

Peter Mandelson is a Labour grandee Lord Mandelson who served in several ministerial roles under Prime Ministers Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and is understood to have advised Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the past few years. He studied at St Catherine’s College, Oxford.

Jan Royall is the current principal of Somerville College and chair of the Conference of Colleges. She oversaw much of collegiate university’s response to the pandemic and has parliamentary experience including as Labour Leader in the Lords between 2010-2015.

Can Oxford’s Chancellor drive change?

The important question is whether any of these figures can use their role as Chancellor to unlock a step-change on universities from government, particularly given so many institutions are in financial difficulty.

The role represents an opportunity to combine the political heft that each of the candidates bring, with the institutional profile of Oxford to secure change.

Given the university is atypical of the wider sector due to its large endowment (by UK standards at least) and collegiate structure, Oxford is often less affected by the financial challenges in the sector making it potentially less able to advocate for the sector.

Oxford would vigorously challenge this view – given for example recent national insurance increases will impact all institutions – but it recognises that interventions by Oxbridge leaders can be counter-productive.

As a result, its advocacy work has been mostly limited in recent years to working to breaking the deadlock on Horizon funding for the UK after Brexit. Alongside this Oxford has campaigned on the importance of international students, as well as unlocking potential for wider R&D reforms as part of work on Covid vaccines.

Overall, the new Chancellor can play a critical role to call for action from the government on key issues in the sector but must bring other leaders and universities along with them.

Impact assessment

To help us understand the potential for impact, considering the previous Chancellor’s legacy is helpful. Patten mostly focused on Oxford’s international work and fundraising for the collegiate university, including advancing the university’s position with donors in the USA and Asia.

Arguably his most controversial comments came in 2016 when, during a student campaign remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes from Oriel College, Patten said that Oxford students who were not:

…prepared to show the generosity of spirit which Nelson Mandela showed towards Rhodes and towards history … should think about being educated elsewhere.

Patten then mostly kept a low profile, focusing on Oxford as an institution rather than the wider sector – the new Chancellor could do things differently.

Overall, the new Chancellor will have a tough job, with a significant opportunity to advocate for the wider sector at a critical moment for higher education, but given the diversity of UK higher education, this will mean building bridges and consensus.

Likewise, the Chancellor will have plenty to do for Oxford, particularly around securing future research funding and international competitiveness amongst an increasingly challenging environment.

We won’t have too long to wait to find out the new Chancellor – the results will be released this week. All Oxford graduates who pre-registered, and members, plus retired staff members, of the university’s Congregation can vote.



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