A call for applicants for the University’s inaugural Shadow Board has been met with a hugely positive reaction from the staff community.

More than 180 staff have applied for the 12 positions on the Shadow Board – far exceeding initial expectations and evidencing an overwhelming desire among our community to have  greater involvement in helping the University identify new opportunities and mitigate threats in these changing times.  

Shadow Boards provide different insights and enable new perspectives to be applied to the problems faced by senior leadership teams. The University Shadow Board will work with the Senior Management Group and provide input on major strategic issues facing the University. It is believed to be among the first of its kind in the higher education sector.

Professor Neal Juster, The Senior Vice-Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, said:

“We are delighted by the level of interest and engagement the Shadow Board has already generated among colleagues. The university community’s response to the pandemic this year has proven that we all benefit from better ideas and decisions when we work together and involve a diverse range of perspectives and expertise in the process.

“The insights of the Shadow Board members will be a tremendous asset in the uncertain times ahead, and the Senior Management Group looks forward to working with them.”

The applications to join the Shadow Board have been anonymised to enable the selection panel to make its recommendations free of any conscious and unconscious biases. All candidates who have applied to join the Board should expect to have heard the outcome of the process early in September.

Reflecting on the interest shown by the community, Professor Juster added:

“It’s hugely gratifying for me and for the entire Senior Management Group to see that there has been such an overwhelmingly positive and engaged reaction from staff to this new initiative.

“With only a dozen Board positions available and a pool of almost 200 applications to choose from, it is inevitable that many who have applied will be disappointed, but we would love to harness that desire to be involved in shaping our University in other ways – and so over the next few weeks I will ask SMG to reflect and give thought to alternative means for the broader candidate pool to be a part of the positive changes ahead.”

Please direct any enquiries about the Shadow Board to Jamie Wightwick

 

 

First published: 12 August 2020

<< 14 August 2020