Smith to leave Southampton v-c role for new post at Oxford

The University of Southampton’s vice-chancellor has announced he is moving to the University of Oxford next year.

Mark E. Smith will become pro vice-chancellor at the top-ranked university in May 2026, ending his six-year stint running Southampton.

He departs after setting up the first branch campus in India, with Southampton’s new Delhi site starting courses in September.

Smith told Times Higher Education earlier in this year that the move was “just the start” for the university, with several other destinations under consideration for branch campuses.

A nuclear physicist, Smith was deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Warwick before taking his first vice-chancellor position at Lancaster University.

He also holds several sector-wide roles including chair of the board of Advance HE and serving on Research England’s council.

Smith previously chaired the Universities and Colleges Employers Association during a tumultuous period from 2016 to 2022 which saw widespread strikes held across the sector over pay and pensions.

He was awarded a CBE for services to research and higher education in the 2019 birthday honours.

Southampton also credited Smith’s leadership with “transforming the student experience” and its “exceptional performance” in the Knowledge Exchange Framework as well as a pledge to become a civic university.

Smith said it was a “difficult decision” to leave Southampton and it had been an “enormous privilege” to lead the university.

Ian Diamond, the chair of the university’s council, said that Smith’s leadership has had “a profound and lasting effect on the university”.

“His ambitious vision and outstanding leadership have secured some of the greatest achievements and accolades in our history.

“Southampton is the first – and currently only – international university to have opened a campus in Delhi, a remarkable milestone that has strengthened the UK-India trade relationship and earned recognition from both governments.”

Southampton said that it will confirm interim arrangements “as soon as possible” before beginning a recruitment process for a permanent replacement.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com