Dean of the School of Arts & Humanities

CLOSING DATE: 9 July 2019

SCHOOL/AREA: School of Arts & Humanities

PROGRAMME/​DEPARTMENT: School of Arts & Humanities (Central)

REQUIRED HOURS: Full Time

SITE: Kensington & Battersea

SALARY: Competitive

The Royal College of Art is the world’s leading university of art and design. Founded in 1837, it is also the world’s oldest art and design university in continuous operation and exclusively focused on research and postgraduate level education. The RCA has been ranked by the highly regarded QS survey, as the number one art and design university in the world for the five consecutive years in which the survey has been conducted between 2015 and 2019.

The RCA is organised across four Schools, each led by a Dean: Architecture; Arts and Humanities; Communication; Design. In addition, the RCA has a number of established and planned research centres: the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design; the Material Science Research Centre (which includes the Burberry Materials Futures Research Group); the Intelligent Mobility Design Centre, the HELIX Centre, and future centres in Computer Science and in Drawing.  The RCA is also home to one of the UK’s most successful university incubators, InnovationRCA.

The RCA now wishes to appoint a new Dean of the School of Arts & Humanities to provide dynamic academic leadership ensuring that the RCA remains a first-choice centre of excellence for the highest quality students from around the world, and that the highly successful growth in student enrolments and quality is maintained over the coming years as the School takes occupancy of the new campus at Battersea South in 2021.  In addition, the incoming Dean will focus on the enhancement of student experience through the implementation of a new College-wide academic model, flexible learning, interdisciplinary opportunities, excellence and growth in externally-funded research, and expansion in the School’s engagement with the for-profit creative industries, cultural not-for profits, and other universities internationally.

Reporting to the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost, Professor Naren Barfield, the incoming Dean will also play an important role as a member of the College’s senior management team, and will contribute to the College’s expanding portfolio including the new Graduate Diploma, flexible and blended learning, and a planned professional doctorate. They will play an important role in supporting the Deputy Vice-Chancellor in delivering the College’s ambitious internationalisation strategy.

It is essential that the Dean is able to think dynamically and entrepreneurially about the future of fine & applied arts and humanities education both within the School of Arts & Humanities and in its broader connections across the RCA and externally, and is able to align and motivate staff at all levels to achieve the College’s and the School’s strategic ambitions, including in the areas of scale, flexible learning, and earned value.

For further details and information on how to apply, please visit https://candidates.perrettlaver.com/vacancies/ quoting reference 4191.

The deadline for this application is midday (BST) on 9 July 2019.

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