Cambridge University Chancellorship Update

Thanks to everyone who nominated me for the Chancellorship of Cambridge University

The application was delivered in time with over 100 nominations (more than double the required amount).

This should at least persuade those who run Cambridge University that there are some substantial problems in its culture & management that need addressing urgently.

Attached to the nomination is a 500 word statement, reproduced below. It has benefitted from interactions with many individuals who have posted comments to this blog over the last 18 months, to whom I offer thanks.

Wyn Evans

The mission of Cambridge University is “to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.” Its core values are “freedom of thought and expression and freedom from discrimination“.

First, I plan a thorough review of current job creation and retention trends against the background of the University’s mission statement.  The University urgently needs to create new academic positions to maintain its international standing and prestige. Over the last decade, the University has found it much easier to create fresh managerial and administrative positions than academic jobs. More than two-thirds of staff at the University are employed on a fixed-term basis. They make a substantial contribution to teaching and research, yet their pay, conditions and promotion prospects are poor. The trend towards increasing casualisation of University staff should be reversed.

Secondly, I plan a thorough review of transparency, accountability and performance within management of the University as judged against the University’s core values and mission statement. The University needs a powerful Ombudsman to investigate serious abuses or mismanagement. For example, the recent staff survey showed high levels of discontent at the handling of bullying and harassment claims at the University. The University needs to stop the waste of money on highly paid, external consultancies. This is one of the causes of our current budgetary deficit. The expertise and knowledge present in our own staff greatly exceeds that of most consultancies.

A comparison with Microsoft or Apple a few decades ago — during periods when those companies lost direction — is instructive. Like them, Cambridge benefits from a natural monopoly that yields substantial revenues. The university’s powerful brand enables it to generate significant income, which ought to be reinvested into its core mission: teaching, talent identification & retention and research. What’s needed is a reform-minded leader — like a Satya Nadella or Steve Jobs — to refocus the institution on what truly matters: education, learning, and research. 

Cambridge’s global brand draws its strength from academic excellence and cultural prestige. It benefits from a devoted alumni network that spans the globe — many of whom hold influential positions and see philanthropy as a way to give back to the institution that shaped their lives. Their support is directed toward causes that reflect their academic roots or personal convictions — climate change, frontier research in science & humanities or widening access to education. A steadfast commitment to the University’s mission statement and core values is the greatest gift a Chancellor can provide.

The best candidate for Chancellor is an internal one who understands its current problems and is active in research, mentoring and teaching. Chancellors should not be elected for life. I undertake to serve 5 years only. 

If Cambridge needs a high-profile or celebrity chancellor to be noticed, we might as well give up and rebrand the University as a reality TV show: ‘Keeping Up with the Cantabrigians’.

We will always prosper provided we stay true to our core values of excellence in education, learning and research.