Currently serving as Pro-Vice Chancellor of Student Success and Provost at London Met, Nona will step into the new role effective immediately
Date: 13 August
Following an internal recruitment process, the Board has approved Professor Nona McDuff OBE, current PVC Student Success, as interim Deputy Vice Chancellor and Provost for the next academic year.
Nona will continue to lead on the Student Success Strategy and now will also oversee Student Support, The Registry, The Centre for Equity and Inclusion and International Compliance.
She will chair Learning and Teaching and Quality Committee and Collaborative Partnerships Committee. Nona will also work closely with the Vice Chancellor on all other academic matters including research and knowledge exchange and portfolio development.
The Deans will report directly into the Vice Chancellor.
Professor Julie Hall, newly appointed Vice Chancellor at London Met, commented: ‘I am so pleased that Nona, with all her experience and knowledge, has taken up this interim role. The arrangement provides the university with expertise and stability, while we consider the senior structures required at this challenging time for the sector so that we can extend our Strategic Plan to 2030 with confidence.”
A wealth of higher education experience
Nona is widely acclaimed for her work to drive change and create inclusive and accessible courses that meet the needs of students at institutions with diverse student populations, bringing over 30 years of experience in higher education to the position of DVC.
Her career journey so far has focused on leading the debate on race, racism and the academy, shining a light on the degree awarding gap and the need for a whole institution approach to improving social mobility. Nona has advocated for leadership action, policy change and co-creation. In 2017, she was awarded an OBE for her work in this area and received the Guardian Teaching Excellence award.
Nona has helped shape the national agenda and has actioned impactful change within the institutions she has worked at. She is a National Teaching Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a member of the Advance HE Peer Review Quality Committee and has participated in several sector committees such as the UUK’s Racial Harassment Advisory Group and the ministerial group to create step changes in social mobility. Nona currently sits on the British Council’s Education Advisory Group and on the Board of the National Saturday Club.
Before joining London Met, Nona was the founder and first Director of Student Achievement at Kingston University, and more recently served as Pro Vice-Chancellor, Students and Teaching, at Solent University.
Nona’s research interests include inclusive curricula and differential attainment, and she is regularly invited to speak on disability and widening participation nationally and internationally.
Professor Nona McDuff, newly appointed interim Deputy Vice Chancellor and Provost, said: “I am thrilled to be appointed as the interim Deputy Vice Chancellor of London Met. Since joining the university, I have thought what a great place it is to work in. Honestly for the first time in my career I feel I have ‘come home’, all because of the values, mission and passion of the fantastic people who make up this marvellous institution. “
She added: “I look forward to working with colleagues and the Students Union to build on Julie’s achievements and to achieve great things for our diverse student body. On a personal note, I wish I could tell my parents that their daughter, an immigrant and person of colour is now the DVC of London Met – they would have been so proud, as I am.”
Nona will take up the position effective immediately.
Prof. Nona McDuff, newly appointed interim DVC