God save our gracious... Chancellor?

Our chancellor may seem like a far-away figure running the well-oiled machine that is Newcastle University. But, as students here, it is paramount that we understand what their actual role is, behind the flashy title and well-maintained LinkedIn profile. Do chancellors serve a proper purpose, or could they be considered as our very own monarch?

To begin with, who is our chancellor? Imtiaz Dharker became chancellor in 2020, and is known as a poet, artist, and filmmaker. She is a Poet in Residence at Cambridge University Library and was even awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2014. She is connected to Newcastle through the art projects she has worked on across Leeds, Newcastle, and Hull. Her role at our university is to act as a ceremonial head that represents rather than runs the institution. In this sense, we can almost compare her to our monarch – though King Charles is now the face of England, his actual position is far more symbolic than functional. In contrast, the vice-chancellor handles the day-to-day operations of our institution. The current VC is Christopher Day, who was previously a Consultant Heptologist with an international reputation in medical research. He has served on the council of the Medical Research Council and is currently a member of the Universities UK Board. His role is to provide leadership in both an academic and administrative sense; secure a sufficient financial base for the university’s objectives and, in briefer words, run the whole show. From this, we can compare him to the Prime Minister – they, alongside their government, are the people who actually manage the country.

So, with this set-up explained, is it effective? It seems a little perverse to place the chancellor above the vice-chancellor, when it is the VC who does most of the work. But in another light, it is incredibly important that we have a good representative of our university, who can successfully save us a place at the national and international table. The actual power of the chancellor over the university itself is limited, like that of a modern-day monarchical figure. However, I believe they serve an important role because, without an ambassador, a sense of identity both internally and externally would be lost. For any institution to work effectively, there must be a shared purpose and ambition. In my eyes, our university chancellor acts as a consolidatory figure, bringing together all the essential qualities we need to continue prosperously.