A fall this year for the Liverpool vice chancellor and UUK president – reflecting a bruising year of battles over pensions. As good a communicator as she is, 2018 feels like the year she’s taken a step back from the limelight, with UUK CEO Alistair Jarvis taking on most of the heavy lifting in the public eye and in the corridors of Acas.
Recently we’ve had a reminder of her strengths as she took on the cause of international students and the UUK proposals to reinstate post-study visas – a well received campaign that had been very carefully calibrated.
That the Migration Advisory Committee made significant (if less impressive) moves towards this was lost slightly in the general disappointment that international students would remain in the national migration target, for now.
Closer to home Liverpool, like many universities, experienced bitter and protracted industrial action over the spring – including a student occupation.