Deputy Vice-Chancellor

job description

Kingston University is a UK top 60 institution (Guardian University Guide 2025), providing outstanding teaching and learning to more than 20,000 students across four faculties on four campuses. With an ambitious strategy and growth targets, we provide our students with an innovative learning environment geared to their future career success. 

Awarded Gold in all three categories in the latest Teaching Excellence Framework, we are one of the most inclusive institutions in the country, with a strong international outlook and a commitment to cultural diversity. More than 70 per cent of our research was rated world leading or internationally excellent in the most recent Research Excellence Framework. The top institution in the country for graduate start-ups, we are held in high regard for our expertise in enterprise, education and advancing knowledge exchange.  

Our Town House Strategy sets us apart from the rest of the sector, underpinned by our commitment to transforming our students’ education by embedding the Future Skills most valued by employers across our curriculum. Through a university-wide rollout of our new Future Skills modules, we are ensuring every one of our undergraduates acquires the attributes vital for career success, including problem-solving, digital aptitude, collaboration and critical thinking. Our Future Skills campaign has attracted widespread backing from business and industry leaders, government policymakers, parliamentarians and peers. We are proud to be announcing the search for our next Deputy Vice-Chancellor, a highly influential role in our Senior Leadership Team. 

Reporting to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stephen Spier, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor will work in partnership with other members of SLT to provide institutional leadership, ensuring the University’s strategic aims are well-defined and delivered.  The role will lead on quality assurance of academic standards across education; setting and ensuring delivery of targets in knowledge exchange and research activity; and ensuring the performance of the areas of Brand, Communications and Public Affairs and of DARE (Development, Alumni Relations and Engagement). The role will also deputise for the Vice-Chancellor as required and will line-manage the Pro Vice-Chancellors of Education, Research, and Knowledge Exchange and Innovation, the DARE Director, the Director of Brand, Communications and Public Affairs, alongside the Directors of our KERIs (Knowledge Exchange and Research Institutes). 

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor plays an important role in strategic decision-making. We are seeking individuals who are totally aligned with our values: ambitious, inclusive, innovative and enterprising, and who have a track record of demonstrable senior leadership experience along with an academic background pertinent to our university’s portfolio. You will have proven experience in achieving significant positive outcomes across teaching and learning, research and knowledge exchange, and wider institutional priorities, and will be comfortable with driving change and transformation. As a senior leader, you will not only embrace our values but will also lead and support our mission, vision and behaviours of wider cultural change. Demonstrable commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion is essential. 

The Deputy Vice-Chancellor role represents an exceptional opportunity to shape the future of Kingston University as part of an ambitious, forward-thinking university making significant impact at a national level.

For details of the appointment, including further information about the job description, person specification and how to apply, please visit https://PLusPortal.PerrettLaver.com quoting reference 8057. 

For informal inquiries please contact Thomas Cameron at Thomas.Cameron@perrettlaver.com. The application deadline is 09:00am GMT on Monday 3rd November 2025.

Protecting your personal data is of the utmost importance to Perrett Laver and we take this responsibility very seriously. Any information obtained by our trading divisions is held and processed in accordance with the relevant data protection legislation. The data you provide us with is securely stored on our computerised database and transferred to our clients for the purposes of presenting you as a candidate and/or considering your suitability for a role you have registered interest in.

As defined under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Perrett Laver is a Data Controller and a Data Processor, and our legal basis for processing your personal data is ‘Legitimate Interests’.  You have the right to object to us processing your data in this way. For more information about this, your rights, and our approach to Data Protection and Privacy, please visit our website https://perrettlaver.com/privacy-policy/.