{"id":2757,"date":"2025-10-04T10:37:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T09:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=2757"},"modified":"2025-10-04T17:42:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T16:42:01","slug":"the-alternative-vice-chancellors-annual-address","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=2757","title":{"rendered":"The Alternative Vice Chancellor&#8217;s Annual Address"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Prentice&#039;s annual address to the University of Cambridge \u2013 2025\" width=\"750\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AC-DShX4hi8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>The Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University&#8217;s Annual address was given on 1 October 2025. A written version is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cam.ac.uk\/about-the-university\/how-the-university-and-colleges-work\/people\/vice-chancellor\/speeches\/annual-address-to-the-university-2025\" title=\"here\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>This is the Alternative Vice Chancellor&#8217;s Annual Address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;<em>I came from 3000 miles away. When I arrived, I knew little about this University. Over the last three years, I have learnt a lot.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>I have learnt that this institution systematically engages in the victimisation of early career academics, whistleblowers and survivors of misconduct, particularly when senior academics are implicated. Much of this victimisation is carried out directly by the institution itself \u2014 through Human Resources, Legal and Heads of School<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Such practices run wholly counter to the mission of our university and the values of the wider academic community it exists to serve. Institutional reform is now urgently needed to realign its ethics and practices with those of the academic community and its professional partners.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>We must begin with cultural reform \u2014 placing genuine value on the careers, dignity and wellbeing of every member of our  university community. This means coming together to agree upon principles that reflect who we are and what we stand for. But culture must be matched by action: we need modern, ethical grievance procedures that people can trust. We must guarantee protection from both individual retaliation and institutional victimisation. And above all, we must commit to transparency.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Without openness, there can be no accountability, and without accountability, there can be no reform<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Much remains largely concealed &#8212; even from those in positions of power &#8212; but especially from the wider community. Decisions are taken quietly, behind closed doors, by senior administrators and lawyers. This cannot stand. Accountability requires that the truth be brought into the open \u2014 that people are forced to see, to recognise and to respond. Every division must commit to publishing data each year: the number and type of formal grievances, the cases raised, and the cases resolved. Central HR and Legal Services must go further \u2014 publishing clear tables each year that show how many employment tribunals or legal cases were started, how many were settled or abandoned without judgment. Alongside this, they must disclose the costs: the total spent on settlements, on external lawyers, on internal HR and legal time, and on insurance to cover these battles.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>We must continue with substantial pay reform.  At our University, despite its global prestige, the reality for many academics is marked by a precarious employment landscape. A significant proportion of scholars \u2014particularly early-career researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and junior lecturers \u2014 work on fixed-term contracts that offer little job security and limited prospects for permanent positions. Funding for research is project-specific and subject to competitive grants, leaving many dependent on short-term cycles that can disrupt continuity in their work and careers. This uncertainty affects not only financial stability, but also academic freedom, as scholars may feel pressured to align their research with funders\u2019 priorities. While Cambridge stands as a beacon of academic excellence, for many of its staff, employment is fragile, desperate and contingent.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>For example, fees for our Masters courses range from around \u00a310,000 to over \u00a317,000 for home students, and between \u00a330,000 and \u00a345,000 or more for overseas students. Yet despite these substantial sums, much of the teaching is carried out by academics employed on precarious, short-term contracts, often earning little more than the minimum wage once preparation time and marking are taken into account. These arrangements highlight a stark contradiction: while our University charges premium fees, the individuals who deliver much of the teaching face financial insecurity and limited job stability. This disparity raises questions about fairness and the sustainability of academic labour, especially given the lavish salaries of some senior administrators<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>I understand that, as Vice-Chancellor, my own remuneration is a matter of public scrutiny, and I acknowledge the importance of aligning leadership with the values of fairness and solidarity. In light of this, I commit to voluntarily reducing my salary and redirecting a substantial portion of those funds toward initiatives that improve job security, support early-career researchers, and enhance teaching conditions across the University. This is a small &#8212; but meaningful &#8212; step toward addressing the inequalities within our institution, and I offer it with genuine contrition and a renewed commitment to ensuring Cambridge remains not only a centre of academic excellence, but also a place of fairness and shared purpose<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>It is for the academic community itself to decide what kind of culture and policies it wants to embody. For too long, it has been all too easy to look away, to ignore, when the facts and the true scale of the problems are hidden. Will we be a place of silence, unfairness and concealment, or a place of truth, fairness and responsibility? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The choice is ours and the time is now<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>I am your reforming Vice Chancellor and &#8212; with your help &#8212; I will lead you to the Cambridge University of the future.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University&#8217;s Annual address was given on 1 October 2025. A written version is here. This is the Alternative Vice Chancellor&#8217;s Annual Address. &#8220;I came from 3000 miles away. When I arrived, I knew little about this University. Over the last three years, I have learnt [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2757"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2768,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2757\/revisions\/2768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}