I'm delighted that we are to recruit a Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Doctoral and International. We really need the additional senior-level support for our doctoral agenda - there are few topics which I consider as important, but despite having loads of help I have struggled to give this topic the attention that it deserves. Having someone to work alongside me - with shared interests but a slightly different agenda - is going to make a huge difference to the speed with which we can move the project along. And the link with International works for me as well: not just because many of our doctoral students come from overseas, and that is where we might find the most exciting opportunities in the coming years, but because I firmly believe that in the next stage of our development on the global stage we need internationalisation to become more grounded in our own University. Doctoral students must lie at the heart of our international strategy and having the joint responsibility in a single post will tie global developments much more strongly to campus activities.
And of course, I have no intention of losing touch with the doctoral developments either, and so can look forward to having someone to work with to make the most of the massive contribution doctoral students make to our research profile.
