Shân Wareing is no stranger to driving change, having spent much of her career in transformation-based roles and advocating for learning and development in often resource-constrained environments. She is hugely focused on the domestic base of much of the undergraduate population at Middlesex University, and the potential that it offers both for the institution and the country, and its future working population more broadly.
Her commitment to education is clear, as is her belief in investment in maintaining as wide a portfolio of subjects as possible, with a continued commitment to research. However, while this has to be balanced with the recognition of financial constraints, she sees opportunity in engaging collaboratively with local and national government, as well as the business sector to really demonstrate the value that Middlesex brings to the London and south-east region, and beyond.
Her appointment as Vice-Chancellor at Middlesex comes after a period of interim leadership at the institution, and her ambitions and drive to create a thriving and sustainable institution for the future is at the forefront of her approach.
Shân, congratulations on beginning your new role at Middlesex. You bring considerable leadership experience to the role from working within significant and diverse institutions: what are you ambitions for the university?
My ambitions for Middlesex are set over a ten-year time frame, and after that I hope to hand over a thriving, multidisciplinary institution to another Vice-Chancellor. A major challenge will be in retaining the full range of academic disciplines, but that is a key goal that will serve local people in the region socially, economically and culturally. I want us to be driven by a core focus on the mission and purpose of education – ultimately that is what we exist for.
We want to focus on activities and investment that will make the education better, whilst also remaining commercially viable in a constrained financial environment. The emphasis on research and knowledge exchange is important at Middlesex, and will remain so, as they do hugely support the educational element, but don’t always cover their costs.
To achieve financial viability, we must be tighter and more focused than we are at the moment, and that also means a stronger regional focus. We are looking at our partnerships with business, industry, public sector and governments (local, national and international). We are based in the London Borough of Barnet, as well as having campuses in Dubai and Mauritius; we are really strengthening relationships in Barnet which is important now and for our future. It is important to have this regional emphasis as local employers will employ many of our graduates and we rely on them to tell us if we are sustaining and improving the quality and relevance of our education.
“There are lots of reasons why we should always be reinventing ourselves There is so much change in our environment. We have to meet those needs and shouldn’t expect it all to be comfortable.”
The pressures on higher education are many at present. We understand there is an ambitious change programme already underway at Middlesex. Can you tell us more about the challenge of inheriting and ultimately leading this?
At the moment the sector is looking at change largely because of financial constraints and changes in income streams, such as the decline in international students coming to UK institutions.
I actually think there are lots of reasons why we should always be reinventing ourselves. There is so much change in our environment, including what students want, what the business and public sectors are prioritising, how partnerships are formed, and how digital and technology is always evolving. We have to meet those needs and shouldn’t expect it all to be comfortable.
I have an appetite for change and have led transformational change in other institutions so it’s something I probably seek out and enjoy. I believe renewal is inevitable and exciting.
Ultimately, at university we research and educate, and we should therefore be at the heart of change and adapting to social need. If we accept and embrace change, and support people through it, we will do our best to bring about success for our students, our institutions, our sector, and our society.
The change programme here is about modernisation and generating capability, as well as about financial rationalisation. We will be advancing all those aspects. As the permanent Vice-Chancellor after a period of interim leadership, I am planning to anchor the changes to a long-term vision for the university, linking us to the local environment and focusing on recruiting local students.
We recruit a large number of domestic undergraduate students, many of whom live at home and commute to university, and we really need to think about that as we shape our portfolio. Many institutions have been so focused on international students that they allowed their market share of home-based students to contract, and financially that didn’t matter so much. But I think from the perspective of educational mission it should have mattered, and now financially it really does matter. So, now it is time to refocus on that mission and local recruitment. At Middlesex we are in a densely populated area, with great transport links, and approximately four million people within an hour’s commute. For me, that is our primary n market and where we will be focusing.
“I can’t think of a successful society and economy that hasn’t invested in higher education and I think that is what we need to be discussing with the government, to think about how we can encourage prosperity and productivity.”
What do you consider to be the most pressing challenges in the sector and what needs to be done to address these over the next 5-10 years?
We have been changing our narrative in the sector in the past few years, to highlight what we can do for the government, business and society, as opposed to asking for government help. I believe a key focus for the government and the sector will be to determine the type of economy and society we want in the long term and the models from other sectors and internationally that we can learn from.
I can’t think of a successful society and economy that hasn’t invested in higher education and I think that is what we need to be discussing with the government, to think about how we can encourage prosperity and productivity. We need to think about how higher education contributes to regional and national growth over the long-term, and then extrapolate back to generate options for viable funding and educational models. No government is going to be able to funnel lots of money into higher education so in the short term we are going to have to manage this ourselves, but longer term the government and the sector need to think about how we work together.
I hope very much that as part of that long term vision we can continue to support a full range of disciplines and maintain creativity and cultural subjects such as arts and humanities. While student demand for them has contracted in recent years, I think these areas encourage creativity across so many sectors, and we must not let them diminish in the long term because we are financially constrained in the short term. As a university that serves a local community, I very much want to offer local people a full range of possible subjects to study.
Are there any particular sort of economies or societies that you are looking at as an example that we could learn from in the UK?
Recently the Financial Times was looking at the graduate premium in the USA and it’s sizeable. Meantime ours has dropped in the UK. There is an argument that if you aren’t investing in higher education, it has a real and direct impact on your economy and that is why there’s been a drop in the UK graduate salary compared to non-graduates.
I don’t think we should take the US model for HE and attempt to duplicate it wholesale, but I think we can look at what is working and what isn’t. I also look to Australia, Canada and mainland Europe as examples of where we can learn more in this country and in our approach.
How does Middlesex differ from the previous institutions you have been involved in leading? What learnings can you bring from those other cultures/structures?
I see more similarities than differences with my previous institutions culturally and financially. Our staff profile, student profile and mission at Middlesex are similar to most of the places I have worked previously. They have mostly been post-92 universities, taking many students from backgrounds with lower participation in higher education, and with a vocational and professional portfolio of courses.
One of the distinctive elements about Middlesex is where it is located. In a densely populated area in central north London, which is very residential, with a lot of SMEs and micro businesses. It is also an incredibly diverse community – ethnically and socio-economically. It is not the first time I have worked in an area like this but one of the things that’s really interesting about Middlesex is that it’s in the middle of large Jewish and Muslim communities and my perception is that it is very harmonious. I love coming to work and seeing the diverse range of cultures on the streets and in the shops and restaurants surrounding us. It is a thriving and inclusive community, and considering the current geopolitical climate that really demonstrates a way forward to me.
I think universities are an opportunity to meet people from other backgrounds and cultures, which present the chance to travel and participate in projects, taking people into environments and communities they might not go enter otherwise. I think that’s hugely important for inclusivity and for graduates going out into the world, understanding that not everyone’s experiences or worlds are the same as theirs.
“I think one of the key factors in successfully driving change is to get people to recognise the need for it. You create the right conditions for change, and I believe it will come.”
The leadership profile of a Vice-Chancellor has arguably evolved in recent years, and perhaps at an accelerated pace since the pandemic. What, in your view, are the most critical attributes needed to be a successful leader in higher education today?
When I joined Middlesex University the Board talked about the Vice-Chancellor needing a commercial head and a social heart. I agree with that, and in our sector, I believe that means making commercial decisions to maximise resources for education. Awareness that you’re in a resource envelope which you’re responsible for and using those resources responsibly for driving your mission is really important.
My pathway to Vice-Chancellor is relatively unusual, through learning and teaching and education development. This gave me a really good understanding that you make change through influence rather than positional power. I have seen people try to use positional power to drive change in their universities and in my view it doesn’t work.
I think if you have managed to drive change through a marginal position, which mine was as an education developer, you develop skills of influence, collaboration and communication, primarily, ahead of command and control. I found that incredibly useful experience to be able to understand what might make an organisation resistant to change and how you can make the levers move and get results through influence. I think the pandemic probably also highlighted that we need to really understand the human element too, get people on side, showing empathy and working together.
I think one of the key factors in successfully driving change is to get people to recognise the need for it. I believe you need to make people aware of why change is needed and wanted and let them get on with it. You create the right conditions for change, and I believe it will come.
“My pathway to Vice-Chancellor is relatively unusual. This gave me a really good understanding that you make change through influence rather than positional power.”
The role has also arguably broadened over the last decade, with a central question being around the balance of internal and external leadership. What is your sense of that balance, and what will your approach to it be at Middlesex?
I see them both as important and I don’t believe you can neglect either. At the moment I’m trying to do both being new in the role, but I honestly don’t know what combination of being internally facing and externally facing is sustainable in the longer term.
I want to work very closely with the leadership in the faculties because I see that as the heart and the driver of the university function. I wanted to really understand the issues from the faculties’ point of view so I can support them directly and also be able to make change by working closely together.
But at the same time, I’m very conscious that I need to be seen externally. I’ve had engagements already with London Borough of Barnet, with our local further education colleges, and I’m making connections with policy influencers. What I’d like to do over the longer term is to build a really solid team around me so that I can share out the external function. But we all need to be on the same page, with the same strategic view and interacting well with each other. Sometimes it has to be the VC of course, but I do think we as individuals need to be very careful in this role about managing our time, so we have resilience and so that the intent and the action are totally integrated. It is about finding a rhythm to deliver, and while it doesn’t happen overnight, it must always be front of mind.
Shan Wareing – Biography
Professor Shân Wareing is the Vice-Chancellor of Middlesex University. Prior to this role she was Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Northampton, and other executive roles she has held include Chief Operating Officer at London South Bank University and Pro Vice-Chancellor Learning and Teaching at Buckinghamshire New University.
Shân has a strong track record of leading institutional transformation programmes include assessment at University of the Arts London, digital transformation of the student journey at London South Bank University, which won a PwC award, and recruitment and NSS improvements at the University of Northampton.
She is Chair of the charity, Unite Foundation, Chair of Advance-HE’s Leadership and Management Strategic Advisory Group, and has published in the fields of linguistics, equality, diversity and inclusion, leadership and team development, and learning and teaching in higher education. She writes and speaks on university leadership and higher education policy.
