A message from Professor Julie Sanders, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Royal Holloway, University of London

As a University, our Strategic Plan requires us to address the challenges of our modern times to ensure we are meeting the needs of our current and future students, and that we are positioned competitively within the Higher Education sector.

We have recently completed a six-year process, alongside the other federal colleges of the University of London, to gain a University title. This means that moving forward we can refer to ourselves as a University, which will greatly benefit our reputation and student recruitment in the UK and internationally. However, we are still retaining our position as a College within the University of London, our degrees are still awarded by the University of London and our name remains unchanged.

As part of this process, we have been looking to update our governance so that we are best positioned to develop and implement the long-term vision and strategy for the University. It is hoped that some of the modernisations will benefit our current students and staff, as well as bring us in line with other comparable universities in the sector. As part of these changes, we are:

• Extending the title of Principal to include Vice-Chancellor
• In the process of changing the titles of Senior Vice-Principals to Pro-Vice-Chancellors and Vice-Principals to Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellors

I hope that by implementing these changes it makes a positive statement that our University is future focused and adapting our approach with positive and proactive purpose, whilst ensuring that the rich tradition and history of our two founding colleges is not lost.

Professor Julie Sanders
Vice-Chancellor and Principal
Royal Holloway, University of London