Advance HE chief executive Alison Johns to retire

The founding chief executive of a UK higher education “super-agency” has announced her retirement.

Alison Johns has led Advance HE since it was formed in 2018 through the merger of the Equality Challenge Unit, the Higher Education Academy and the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education.

She will retire in June 2025, after a 34-year career in higher education. Before the formation of Advance HE she was chief executive of the Leadership Foundation, and previously held senior roles at the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

At the time of Advance HE’s formation Johns told Times Higher Education that she wanted the new organisation to become the “go-to for how-to” in the sector across a range of issues, in contrast to the more adversarial approach of the English sector regulator, the Office for Students, which was launched in the same year.

She has been credited with overseeing growth in Advance HE’s membership to 450 institutions, including 120 outside the UK, relaunches of the organisation’s equality quality marks – Athena Swan, covering gender, and the Race Equality Charter – and a doubling of the number of Advance HE teaching fellows to just shy of 200,000, spanning 117 countries.

Under Johns’ tenure the organisation has grown its leadership development activities – now boasting more than 60 vice-chancellor alumni of its Top Management Programme for Higher Education – and put a greater focus on governance effectiveness, in the UK and around the globe.

“I have been fortunate enough to work with some extraordinarily gifted and talented people in higher education throughout my career. I am especially proud of the work we have delivered at Advance HE with and on behalf of our members and I thank my colleagues and all those who have contributed to our work for their exemplary dedication and commitment,” Johns said.

Mark Smith, chair of Advance HE’s board, hailed Johns as “an empathetic, insightful and respected leader who has been an inspiration to those that have worked both with and for her”.

“Alison’s energy and leadership of Advance HE has been outstanding. From the challenges that came with merging three different organisations, to steering the team through the uncharted waters of the pandemic, and now in an era of significant sector financial challenge, her guiding hand has been firmly on the tiller throughout,” said the University of Southampton vice-chancellor.

“In particular, her ability to connect with members and wider stakeholders to understand their strategic and contextualised challenges has been vital.”

A recruitment process for a new chief executive will be announced in due course.

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com