Driving up diversity at the highest levels of higher education

Diversity in senior leadership:

In the UK, one-third of vice-chancellors (49 of 153) are women, and most female vice-chancellors were recruited in the last five years. ·

More than a quarter of the world’s top 200 universities are led by women.

Around a third (18 of 49) of the current UK female vice-chancellors were placed by Perrett Laver.

Of the 10 current vice-chancellors who are people of colour, Perrett Laver has placed four.

Diversity in governing bodies:

43.4% of UK governing body members are women – a 1% increase since 2020/21.

In the UK, governors from Black, Asian, or minority ethnic backgrounds have risen from 12.2% in 2020/21 to 15.2% in 2022/23.

Perrett Laver has placed 19 of the current UK Chairs of Council in post; one in five of these appointments were people of colour, and 47% were female.

We’re increasing representation at leadership levels

We are playing a small but important part in increasing representation at leadership levels.

We’re particularly proud of our work with Birmingham City University, where we placed Anita Bhalla OBE as Chair of Council, Ade Adepitan as Chancellor, and David Mba as Vice-Chancellor, all of whom are people of colour. Before this, we also placed Sonita Alleyne as Master of Jesus College, Cambridge in 2019; a breakthrough appointment that led to many further similar appointments, including Lord Simon Woolley as Principal of Homerton College, University of Cambridge.

We’re also pleased to report that we’ve placed 18 women currently in Vice-Chancellor roles across the UK and supported female appointments in numerous other senior-level positions. We recently placed Professor Zey Suka-Bill as PVC Education & Student Success at the Royal College of Arts, and Professor Sarah Sharples at the University of Manchester as the new Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering.

One example of institutional proactivity towards achieving greater equity and representation is the University of the Arts, London (UAL), which set explicit and ambitious diversity goals. In 2021, UAL’s anti-racism action plan pledged that 30% of UAL’s staff would be from an ethnic minority background within three years, to better reflect the student body. Perrett Laver partnered with UAL on a range of searches for leadership roles, and we saw how UAL’s public commitment and drive resonated in the candidate market and helped deliver more diverse fields.

We’re driving inclusivity in the executive search process

To truly bring forward the most diverse candidate pool, we have to be proactive. We drive activity and take the initiative, facilitating open, honest and proactive conversations between candidates and universities to help them get to know each other.

We also ensure that clients are well-versed in how to create an inclusive recruitment process that promotes diversity and is free from conscious/unconscious bias.

We’re building representation in the talent pipeline

Of course, it’s not just about what’s happening right now in terms of diversity in the higher education sector. We’re also acutely aware of our responsibility to proactively build a healthy pipeline of emerging talent to draw from as well.

Perrett Laver’s RISE Leadership Network is a member-led network for aspiring and established professionals from minoritized backgrounds who are working across a range of sectors (predominantly HE). It’s a safe space where members feel supported, learn from peers, and gain access to our executive search expertise. We’ve also spearheaded the Governance Apprenticeship Programme, which combines our resources with those of our sector partners to bridge the gaps in board diversity, build talent pipelines from underrepresented groups, and shorten the timeline to creating truly representative boards. So far, we have appointed 38 apprentices (58% female, 72% people of colour), across 15 institutions, representing 16​ different ethnicities.

As a global firm, we also carry out ongoing and proactive talent mapping, keeping our eye on rising talent across all geographies and sectors. Our expertise in spotting crossover talent means we look beyond traditional sectors to identify top talent. Cross-sectoral leadership is pioneering diversity and future organisational success, and we know that leaders with cross-sector experience can integrate diverse perspectives, facilitate great collaboration and navigate complexities.