Robert Gordon University
Lay Chair of Board of Governors
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The Role
RGU is one of Scotland's leading universities. As the 2026 Scottish Herald HE Institution of the Year, our work-integrated approach to learning sets us apart in a crowded sector. At RGU, that means a deliberate range of opportunities designed to build students' capabilities through real, work-focused activity: working with employers, professional bodies, community partners, in real world professional contexts, so that learning and practice come together rather than sitting side by side. Students leave RGU ready for work because the university has built that readiness into everything it does, not bolted it on as an afterthought.
Higher education is not standing still. Funding, regulation, demographics and public expectation are all shifting, often at the same time. The universities that come through this period well will be the ones prepared to evolve. RGU intends to be one of them, and its next Chair will lead the Board through that work.
This is a governance role, not an operational one. The Chair leads the Board, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal leads the university. But the Chair sets the tone for the Board, sharpens its thinking, and ensures it asks the right questions of the executive at the right time. Done well, that combination of support and challenge is what keeps a university performing at its best.
We need someone with substantial senior leadership experience and proven experience chairing a board or sub-committee, ideally one operating in a complex, regulated or public facing environment. You will understand the financial complexities of a £100m plus organisation and the duality of public good and commercial mindset required of a university. You will understand the difference between governance and management, and you will know how to use that distinction to strengthen an institution rather than slow it down.
You do not need a background in higher education, though an understanding and affinity will help. What matters more is judgement: the ability to read a fast-changing external environment, ask hard questions without grandstanding, and build a genuinely close working relationship with the Vice-Chancellor and Principal built on trust rather than distance.
RGU's culture is collaborative. We are looking for a Chair who leads in the same spirit: someone who talks about "we" rather than "I", and who wants to strengthen a board that already works well rather than remake it in their own image.
This is a chance to chair the board of a university with real momentum, at a moment when that momentum needs careful, confident stewardship. You will work closely with a strong Vice-Chancellor and Principal and executive team, a committed Board, and a university community that takes real pride in what RGU does.
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Purpose of the Role
- Lead the Board of Governors and chair its meetings, ensuring effective, well-informed decision-making.
- Build and maintain a strong, trust-based working relationship with the Vice-Chancellor and Principal, providing support and constructive challenge in equal measure.
- Ensure the Board provides robust governance and oversight of strategy, risk and performance, including delivery of the university's 2030 strategic plan.
- Represent the university externally where required, and act as an ambassador for its work-integrated mission.
- Lead the Board's response to external pressures facing the sector, ensuring RGU is positioned to adapt rather than simply absorb shocks.
- Oversee the effectiveness, composition and succession of the Board, including the appointment and induction of governors.
- Ensure the Board meets its legal, regulatory and constitutional responsibilities.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic Leadership
- Provide strong, clear leadership of the Board through a period of sector-wide change, ensuring the university adapts where it needs to without losing what makes it successful.
- Support the Principal in leading the institution toward delivery of the 2030 strategic plan and the work-integrated mission, ensuring clear accountability and progress.
- Ensure the Board takes a forward-looking view of risk, including financial sustainability, regulatory change and competitive pressure across the Scottish and UK HE sector.
Governance
- Chair Board meetings effectively, ensuring all governors can contribute and that decisions are reached on the basis of good information and proper debate.
- Maintain a clear separation between the governance role of the Board and the executive role of the Principal and senior team.
- Lead the Board's annual cycle of business, including strategy, risk, audit and performance reporting.
- Chair the process for evaluating Board and individual governor effectiveness.
- Ensure the university meets its obligations under the Scottish Code of Good Higher Education Governance and relevant regulatory frameworks.
Relationships
- Build a close, candid working relationship with the Principal and Vice Chancellor, based on mutual respect and honest challenge.
- Work with the University Secretary to ensure the Board is well supported and properly informed.
- Engage with the Scottish Funding Council and other external bodies as required.
- Act as a visible and credible ambassador for RGU, including with students, staff, alumni and external partners.
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People and Culture
- Set a tone for the Board that reflects RGU's values and culture, including a genuinely collaborative way of working.
- Support the development of a Board that reflects a range of perspectives and experience relevant to RGU's mission.
- Work with the Vice-Chancellor and Principal, to ensure the Board has appropriate opportunities to engage staff and students in a structured and representative way.
Person Specification
Essential Criteria
- Substantial senior leadership experience, gained at board level in a complex organisation.
- Proven experience as a chair of a board or sub-committee, ideally in a regulated, public facing or stakeholder-heavy environment.
- Experience of financial oversight at board level, including reading and challenging annual accounts, budgets and financial forecasts in a £100m plus organisation.
- A track record of leading through change, not just managing stability.
- Strong understanding of good governance, including the distinction between governance and management.
- Ability to build a genuinely strong working relationship with a Principal or chief executive, combining support with honest, constructive challenge.
- Sound judgement and the ability to read a complex, fast-moving external environment.
- Personal commitment to RGU's values, work-integrated mission and its 2030 strategic plan.
- Ability to chair meetings well: fairly, efficiently, and in a way that draws out the best thinking in the room.
- Comfortable using collaborative language and working as part of a team, not as a figurehead.
- Available for the time commitment set out below, for the full term of office.
Desirable Criteria
- Direct experience of the UK or Scottish higher education sector, or of another regulated public-benefit sector facing comparable change.
- Experience of board-level oversight during a period of financial, regulatory or reputational pressure.
- An existing understanding of the Scottish higher education landscape and the specific challenges facing RGU's peer institutions.
- Experience of board or organisational mergers, partnerships or major structural change.
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