Appointment of the Vice Chancellor

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Second largest provider of creative arts education in Europe

6th out of 71 in the Times League Table of Modern Universities

(The Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017)

14th of all UK universities for Teaching Quality

‘Remarkable for an arts institution’(The Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide 2017)

Top 40 of all UK universities

(The Guardian 2016)

Top 5 for Architecture

(The Guardian 2016)

Top 30 in the world for studying Fashion

(Business of Fashion 2017)

Highest ranking specialist arts university

in London & South East(The Guardian & The Times/Sunday Times)

94.5% graduate employment

within six months

Appointment of the Vice ChancellorUniversity for the Creative Arts

Dear Applicant,

I am delighted that you have expressed an interest in the role of Vice-Chancellor at UCA. Our focus is on being an internationally recognised creative arts university where both staff and students produce extraordinary work, and our strategy places this at the very core of UCA’s vision, making explicit our commitment to providing the skills and talents required by the creative arts and industries in the 21st Century. Part of our distinctiveness is the fact that each of our four campuses at Canterbury, Rochester, Epsom and Farnham contains its own creative community, continuing the UK tradition of the world-renowned art and design school and contributing to the economic, social and cultural development of the region.

Over the past five years UCA has made a number of significant changes that have undoubtedly increased our reputation and league table rankings. Our drive to improve the student experience has produced considerably better scores in the National Student Survey and our commitment to student success means that we celebrated the most talented and successful cohort of graduates ever at the graduation ceremonies in June.

We want our new Vice-Chancellor to build on this success and continue the work to improve our resilience. We are looking for an exceptionally skilled individual who can map out a clear and sustainable direction for the University in the coming years. The successful candidate will be a leader people want to follow; someone who will in-spire staff to bring forward compelling new projects. An openness to partnership work-ing and an ability to promote UCA to government and industry is also essential.

If you have a commitment to developing UCA and can identify with our objectives then I hope you will apply for the post.

Robert TaylorChair of the Board of Governors

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University for the Creative ArtsThe University for the Creative Arts (UCA) is a unique centre of excellence supporting the UK’s world-leading reputation across the full breadth of creative arts professions. UCA prepares its students for employment and leadership in the creative industries through the provision of an intensive, studio-based education that requires critical creativity and instructs them in the use of industry-standard and high cost technical facilities. UCA is comprehensive within its specialism, having introduced performing arts courses to its portfolio in 2015, and it has an ambitious Academic Strategythat will continue to grow and diversify its offer.

Each of the University’s four campuses at Canterbury, Epsom, Rochesterand Farnham are former Art or Design Schools / Colleges established in the 19th Century and are today thriving creative communities totalling over 6,000 stu-dents studying further education, undergraduate and postgraduate courses. UCA is also home to the Crafts Study Centre, an internationally-renowned museum of modern crafts and at all campuses there are exceptional material workshops, digital facilities and high quality gallery environments.

UCA also offers courses at the Royal School of Needlework and Maidstone TV Studios and has collaborative provision with a number of UK and international providers, including the Open College of the Arts; Laine Theatre Arts; Millennium Performing Arts; Maeer’s MIT Institute of Design in Pune, India; the Hong Kong Design Institute and the London School of Design and Marketing. The University has strong alumni networks and counts among its graduates the Turner prize nominated artist Tracey Emin, fashion designer and retailer Karen Millen, award-winning director William McGregor and film director Gareth Edwards. The fashion designer Dame Zandra Rhodes is also an alum and is currently Chancellor of UCA.

The progress that UCA has made towards realising its Strategic Plan(http://issuu.com/unicreativearts/docs/strategic_vision_-_web_version?e=4282306/15292275) has resulted in us being ranked 53rd in theTimes / Sunday Times University Guide, 6th in their listing of 71 ModernUniversities and 14th overall for Teaching Quality. This year we also enteredthe Guardian University Guide at position 39. In the 2016 National Student Survey, UCA was among the top performing Creative Arts Universities for student satisfaction.

At the core of our teaching provision is a portfolio of longstanding and uniquely important courses, informed by our staff practitioners, researchers and four internationally-renowned research centres: the Crafts Study Centre (CSC), the International Textile Research Centre (ITRC), the Centre for Sustainable Design (CSD), and the Centre for Digital Scholarship.

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UCA’s REF2014 assessment noted a strong, collaborative, sustainable and vital research environment with over 50% of submitted outputs being judged to be internationally excellent, with the areas of photography and textile art judged as world leading.

The assessment panel noted that impact in contemporary crafts was under-pinned by excellent research, and that the three research centre case studies demonstrated impact through regional engagement, audience development and sustainable design.

UCA is organised into seven Schools, each having courses on more than one campus and each with its own Head of School, reporting to an Executive Dean of Faculty who, in turn, reports to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Academic Development.

Faculties and Schools

Faculty of Fashion, Architecture and Design

• School of Further Education• School of Fashion• School of Architecture• School of Crafts and Design

Faculty of Art, Media and Communication Design

• School of Film, Media and Performing Arts• School of Communication Design• School of Fine Art and Photography

The distribution of enrolments between the campuses is:

Canterbury 1,094 Epsom 1,366 Farnham 2,233 Rochester 1,215

Professional Services

The Professional Services are made up of eight functional directorates working across the University’s four campuses. Each is headed by a Director reporting to a member of the Leadership Team.

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The role of Vice Chancellor

The next Vice Chancellor will succeed Professor Simon Ofield-Kerr,who is departing in December 2016 after leading UCA verysuccessfully, including broadening course provision andoverseeing a significant shift in performance, moving 60 places upthe Sunday Times league table.

This is a unique and exciting opportunity, requiring the delivery ofvisible leadership and direction both within the University andexternally within the wider creative arts sector. The Vice-Chancellorwill be at the forefront of ensuring that UCA operates as anexceptional creative community, instilling a culture of pride andexcitement and building on its recent successes. Candidates willhave a high degree of credibility in the creative and cultural sector,founded on a substantial record of achievement in the creative arts.

Crucially, whatever their background, they will ideally be able to demonstrate:

• Strong communication, influencing and networking skills;

• Inspirational leadership qualities to drive through the University’s strategic imperatives;

• Capacity for strategic thinking and the ability to develop plans that take account of the issues facing the HE sector;

• A demonstrable track record of successful leadership in a large and complex organisation;

• Broad management experience and skills including financial management;

• Passion for the creative arts, based on practical experience as a leader, and a determination to see them flourish.

Working closely with the Board of Governors, staff and students across the University, and external stakeholders locally, nationally and internationally, the successful candidate will be expected to:

• Build on the University’s vision and strategy, combining current strengths and opportunities with new ideas;

• Have an empathy with the University’s values and culture and an appetite to engage visibly with the organisation at every level;

• Develop the University’s national and international presence, utilising its brand and building credibility as a higher education institution;

• Develop a high quality, performance-orientated culture, focused on the achievement of the institution’s strategic goals;

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• Lead the drive to grow student numbers by delivering a committed focus on the student experience and the delivery of research informed teaching which attracts and retains the very best of students and staff;

• Support and grow UCA’s research agenda;

• Engage with key stakeholders externally, including HEFCE, the research councils, the creative industries, government, business and international partners, developing collaborations nationally and internationally;

• Act as an ambassador for the University in high level local, national and international forums, building and sustaining a network of influential friends and supporters of the University in appropriate circles.

Person Specification

Candidates will be able to demonstrate:

• Strategic vision and the ability to offer a fresh perspective on established strengths and opportunities as well as creativity in identifying and encouraging new ideas;

• Credibility as the leader of a creative academic community;

• An understanding of the importance of high quality teaching, learning and assessment to creative practice;

• An ability to support and encourage world class research;

• An ability to foster a strong performance ethos and a culture of excellence and accountability gained through experience with a large and complex organisation;

• Entrepreneurial and commercial acumen;

• Financial management capability of the highest order;

• An understanding of and real interest in marketing and developing a national and international brand;

• Proven networking and interpersonal skills, with the capability to be a key high profile ambassador for the University and the sector.

Terms of appointment

• The University will offer a remuneration package fully commensurate both with the significance of this appointment and the calibre of the successful candidate.

• The details of the terms of appointment will be open to discussion with the preferred candidate. 9

How to apply

For more information, including how to apply, please contact:

Saxton Bampfylde Ltd, our appointed employment agency advisors, using reference KAUCC

www.saxbam.com/appointments email: KAUCC@saxbam.com or telephone: +44 (0)20 7227 0880.

Timescale for application

Applications should be received no later than noon on Monday the 6th February 2017.

Interviews will be held on Friday 31st March 2017.

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UCA Leadership Team

Acting Vice-Chancellor Alan Cooke

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Corporate Resources Alan Cooke

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic Development Professor Roni Brown

University SecretaryMarion Wilks

Executive Dean Fashion, Architecture and Design Mark Little

Executive Dean Art, Media and Communication DesignVacant

Executive Dean Teaching, Learning and Research Professor Trevor Keeble

Director of Marketing, Student Recruitment & AdmissionsAndy Blair

Clerk & Vice-Chancellor’s Executive & Policy Officer Sam Weir

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