S1 Ep30: Episode 30 - The Registrar's baton, life down under and farming futures

University Registrars Talking About Stuff

In the latest episode of University Registrars Talking About Stuff it is my great pleasure to talk to Ken Sloan, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Senior Vice-President (Enterprise and Governance) at Monash University in Australia. As is customary we start by exploring Ken's varied career journey, from an initial brush with accountancy before a typically varied career at the University of Warwick, including an overlap with me at the government-inspired National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth, NAGTY, before becoming Deputy Registrar. Ken then had a brief stint in the private sector before returning to Warwick as Registrar and COO and then ending up at Monash.

Inevitably we discuss the distinctive nature of the Warwick experience and the key question asked of all ambitious administrators - do they have a Registrar's baton in their knapsack? With NAGTY Ken reflects on the consequences of the tension between short term government policy initiatives and longer term strategic objectives of a university before commenting on the very different perspective of working for a private sector company aiming to deliver a public good ethos and what seemed to be a rather unusual recruitment process.

The move to Monash was one Ken felt prepared for and noted the importance of not assuming the same words in the same language have same meaning. The initial experience as Deputy Vice-Chancellor felt quite different to being a Registrar and Ken had a lot to learn including about the need to influence with limited resources to direct together with the challenges of coping with the different policy streams emerging from State and Federal government , not to mention the impact of closed borders on operations under Covid. Monash has developed plans for recovery and learned a great deal from the pandemic from focusing on student retention, partnerships and relationships with business, moving more rapidly to e-assessment and different working patterns.

Ken has recently been announced as the next Vice-Chancellor of Harper Adams University back in the UK and he is now looking forward to supporting the university's strong student focus and focus on food, sustainability and technology innovation there, noting that the impact of Brexit on agriculture entails a very different approach but also new areas of collaboration. In conclusion Ken reflects on what is still an unusual journey in the UK from administrator to VC.