‘I thought I couldn’t lecture with a stammer – now I’m a v-c’

When Deborah Johnston first embarked on an academic career, she was initially unsure whether the vocation was right for her. 

“I certainly came to academia later because I…didn’t know if there was a role for someone like me,” she said. “Because of the fact that I stammer…when I did my PhD I’d never imagined that I could be a lecturer.”

But that mindset didn’t last, the new vice-chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire said. “I realised that actually being a lecturer didn’t mean I had to be word-perfect every time. What it really meant was that I came to those lectures with really good materials, really clear intent, and I could engage well with students.  

“I think that forced me to really think what it meant to be good at this particular role.”

Since then, Johnston has gone on to hold a series of university leadership positions, including at SOAS University of London and London South Bank University (LSBU), alongside her academic work on development economics, where she focuses on inequality and poverty. In June, she took over at Bedfordshire.

Throughout her career, Johnston has championed disabled academics and students and, in 2024, she was awarded an MBE for her work on stammering recognition in higher education. She also helped spearhead the Disabled Student Commitment, a voluntary scheme to which 45 universities are currently signed up. 

“The issue is – what about the others?” Johnston said. With much of the sector facing financial challenges and increased competition, she said she worried that this work could fall down the priority list because of “limited bandwidth”. 

But she added: “By getting it right for disabled students…you’re improving your financial sustainability, and you will be moving up the league tables because you’ll have more satisfied students that complete their degrees and that have really good outcomes”.

Johnston said she was also concerned about the impact of looming policy changes on disabled students. In June, the government announced that it would consult on introducing minimum entry standards for access to student loans, probably focusing on an English language GCSE requirement.

She said she worried what this could mean for students with undiagnosed disabilities.

“We know that those rates of diagnosis have got a really heavy correlation with social class and so…if there are reasons where students are struggling with maths because of dyspraxia or with English because of dyslexia that hasn’t been diagnosed, you’re then giving them an additional hurdle.

“It’s a significant proportion of young people that don’t get both GCSE maths and English at the passing grade at Level 2,” she continued. “By cutting people off from that…we are really in danger of making that university experience even more focused on the privileged few.”

Like many British universities, Bedfordshire has been hard hit by international student policy changes and cost pressures in recent years. 

The number of international students enrolled at the university halved between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years, falling from 5,490 to 2,705 students. Under Johnston’s predecessor, the university underwent a round of job cuts in an attempt to address its financial deficit. 

For Johnston, although it is still early days, the future of the university is likely to focus on cementing its place within the local region, including appealing to domestic students in that area, rather than necessarily restoring international student numbers. 

“We would be delighted…if we still continue to be that strong draw for international students but we’re very aware of the wider environment,” she said. “All universities have to be realistic about what wider government policy goals are there and so I think that we’re working with that full awareness.

“We’re really keen to ensure that we’ve got really strong recruitment from the region, really strong recruitment nationally and…widening other offers as well.”

Those other offers could include apprenticeships and skills. Johnston came to Bedfordshire from LSBU, known for its integrated HE-FE model.

She said she would “love to see” Bedfordshire “really expand that skills offer” and support “regional economic growth”.

But that doesn’t mean replicating LSBU’s model, she added, noting that simply understanding how other parts of the tertiary education sector work is key.  

“There’s a lot of change at level 3 in particular, so are universities keeping on top of that?” she asked, adding that having a “joined-up” approach could help open pathways to different kinds of learners.

“Only 40 to 43 per cent of young people go to university,” she said. “What about the others?”

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com