An update from the Vice-Chancellor and President
An email sent to all colleagues from Professor Simone Buitendijk, Vice-Chancellor and President, on 4 October 2023.
Dear colleagues,
I am writing to inform you that today I am announcing my intention to step down as Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Leeds, concluding my appointment on 31 December 2023 to seek new leadership opportunities in higher education.
I will effect a smooth transition so that from 1 November 2023, the University will be led by the Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Hai-Sui Yu whilst a global recruitment competition is held to identify the University’s next Vice-Chancellor.
I have truly enjoyed leading the community at Leeds and believe that our collective work to develop our strategy ‘Universal Values, Global Change’ has set the University on an ambitious course as a world leading institution with a unique emphasis on collaboration rather than competition to create a better world for all.
Together we have achieved so much over the past three years, and with the conditions for the University’s future success now in place, I feel the time is right for me to start the next chapter of my career in leadership in UK and international higher education.
I would like to thank everyone in the community for their support, their friendship and their collective endeavours to make the University of Leeds such a special place in which to learn, to teach and to undertake research.
I know the University will be in excellent hands under Hai-Sui’s interim leadership and I wish the next Vice-Chancellor every success in taking the University on the next steps of its journey to help shape a better future for all.
Best wishes,
Simone
Professor Simone Buitendijk
Vice-Chancellor and President