Diversifying Leadership in Elite Universities
Project Workflow
Project Overview
Key Milestones in Project Development
Work Package 1: Prosopography
May 2025
The first stage of the project employs prosopography, to analyse the career biographies of elite university leaders. This project, for the first time in the field of higher education, will strive to depict university leaders in elite universities in their relations to each other; describe the ties they form in their affiliations and networks, and lay out their careers and their characteristics in order to identify the sociodemographic and career characteristics that contribute to the trajectory of leadership
Work Package 2: Analysis of Candidate Packs
October 2025
Documentary analysis of job and person specifications (candidate packs) to identify patterns and criteria used in recruitment. Comparative analysis will then be undertaken in relation to findings from WP1, thereby providing an insight into what extent the ‘success’ factors identified via collective biographies were evident in the job and person specifications.
Work Package 3: Interviews
April 2026
Interviews with institutional leaders, Executive Search Firms, and Chairs of Governing Bodies. Our aim is to examine university leaders’ understanding of their career trajectories including examining their conscious awareness of the success factors required to gain capital to increase one’s power and position in the field of higher education. Executive Search Firms (ESFs) and Chairs of Governing Bodies will reflect on the traits, characteristics and attributes deemed desirable to appoint Vice Chancellors/Presidents.
