Dame Julia Goodfellow (Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kent) has been appointed the new President of Universities UK.  An interview with Julia was published on the 8th September in the Times Higher.

Dame Julia Goodfellow

Since UUK was established in 1918, under its former name of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the United Kingdom, it had only ever had male presidents until Dame Julia took up her post. Expanding on the question of why it took so long for a woman to become president, Dame Julia noted that there are “relatively few female vice-chancellors” and that just a fifth of UK professors are women.  “It takes time for that leaky pipeline to come through. But it’s only been 100 years,” she joked.  She continued: “I just think it’s sad that in the 21st century we’re still talking about being the first woman to do a job.” Dame Julia added that “making sure that women can progress through university life and through their career structure is obviously important to me personally – it is at Kent – and I think it is for universities generally”.

Follow this link to read the full article – UUK President