Professor Shân Wareing celebrated her inauguration at a ceremony in Hendon on Wednesday reports David Floyd
Professor Shân Wareing (left), holding the university mace – (Credit – Middlesex University)
Students, academics and local dignitaries came together in Hendon this week for the inauguration of the new vice chancellor of Middlesex University.
The event on Wednesday (15th) was the official celebration of the appointment of Professor Shân Wareing, who joined the university in April last year.
Following an inauguration ceremony led by the university’s chancellor Dame Janet Ritterman in which she was presented with the university mace, Professor Wareing gave a lecture where she talked about her career in higher education and her aspirations for Middlesex, while also drawing on her experiences as a competitive rower.
Talking about her work on improving education and leadership within universities, Professor Wareing said: “I wanted to make changes in higher education through leadership and to change leadership itself – who leads and how we lead – and I was able to enter dialogue with the wider sector through contributing to courses and higher education platforms such as Wonkhe. This was connected to my original goal as a student and academic of wanting to learn from others, share what I was learning, and enable others to grow.”
Professor Wareing acknowledged the challenges facing higher education but expressed her confidence that the University would emerge successfully, pointing to the changes it had already come through over its 146-year history since it started as a teacher training college in Tottenham.
She celebrated achievements including producing 1,800 graduates in nursing and midwifery every year, and close to 500 teachers and 230 social workers, to training 1,443 apprentices and helping under-represented groups into careers in the creative industries.
Professor Wareing told her audience, which included the mayor of Barnet, Cllr Tony Vourou, and the borough’s deputy lieutenant, Martin Russell, that: “Our vision is to transform outcomes for individual students and for the communities and regions in which we’re embedded. University is both an individual and public good from which we all benefit. It underpins our collective prosperity, our services and our professions. It supports culture and the arts, and the UK’s international reputation.”
Rebecca Lawrence, chair of the university’s board of governors congratulated Professor Wareing on her appointment. She said: “Professor Wareing has built over 20 years of distinguished leadership experience in higher education. She is a leader who has always focussed on the development of the student and a commitment to excellence.
“She has a passion for broadening access to high quality education rooted in place: in the North London community of this great global city and the regions in which the University operates around the world.
She added: “Professor Wareing’s experience gives this University the strength and leadership it needs to meet society’s quite rightly high expectations of higher education and to ensure our students and communities continue to thrive.”
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