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8:30am on Thursday, 18th April, 2024:
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Last year, the Vice Chancellor of Essex University decided to retire and handed in his notice, giving us a year to find a replacement.
An extensive international recruitment process was begun, but there were problems behind the scenes. Candidates were interviewed but either we turned them down or they turned us down (I don't know which, but probably both), so the search continued. It's hard to figure out exactly what happened, because all this happens behind closed doors for reasons of confidentiality; an unsuccessful candidate could have problems with their current institution if word of their ambitions got out. Nevertheless, we knew a month ago that there were still some issues, and yesterday all members of staff were sent an email saying that the recruitment process has not been successful and we're soon to be short one VC.
A professorial member of the University Senate will be appointed as acting VC in the meantime. There will definitely be candidates for this, because it's only for a year. Whether the acting VC will want to apply to become full-time VC when the advertisements go out again remains to be seen/
This reminds me of when we tried to appoint a replacement professor of computer games. Our requirements were set so high that world-class researchers weren't even approached, they were removed from the shortlist on the grounds that they didn't quite tick all the boxes. I don't know if it's the same with the search for a VC, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me if Essex University's own view of its status is somewhat higher than that of potential applicants for the post.
What's certainly true is that having a well-publicised £13.8m shortfall in the university's projected income next year won't make finding a replacement easier.
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