Higher Education by Peridot Partners

Transforming leadership, inspiring change.

Higher Education Recruitment

Values-led board and executive search committed to creating an inclusive, high-quality education sector.

Why we work in the higher education sector.

At Peridot Partners, we are proud to work in partnership with higher education providers - from small and specialist through to large, global institutionscommitted to providing inclusive, highquality education to students from the UK and across the world. In a landscape of policy change and competition, we understand that universities need to continually attract diverse and talented people to maintain the highest standards across teaching, research, professional services and governance.

At Peridot Partners, we provide a bespoke

and personal approach to the recruitment of leadership and governance roles. We specialise in the appointment of experts and professionals from across every sector and industry imaginable to governing councils and committees, to provide a diversity of experience and thought that will ensure the highest standards of governance and support the development of ambitious strategies that will elevate standards, student experience and institutional reputation.

How we can support you.

We understand your challenges and know how important it is to recruit experienced and skilled people to deliver complex change management.

We’re plain-talking and transparent, and the organisations that we work with are too. They understand the value of having an open and trusted relationship.

We can help you with the recruitment of:

• Council and committee members / governors

• Chairs of Council and Committees

• Chief Executives and Officers, Vice and Deputy Vice Chancellors, Provosts, and Deans

• Directors, Heads and Managers

Specialist areas we recruit to include:

• Executive and senior leadership

• Non-executive directors and governance professionals

• Academic, teaching and quality

• Research, innovation and impact

• Professional and support services

• Business engagement, partnerships and apprenticeships

• Fundraising and alumni

• And more

Higher education recruitment services.

The Peridot ethos.

Placing purpose and quality before profit, Peridot Partners is an executive search business, transforming leadership and inspiring change in organisations with a social purpose.

Our values lie at the very heart of everything we do, and this reflects how we do business and how we work with both our clients and candidates. We don’t set our consultants KPI’s — instead, we focus on the quality of our delivery and building longterm relationships with organisations that reflect our values.

We work as a team to draw together our diverse knowledge and expertise, share our networks, and challenge traditional thinking to deliver better outcomes for our clients and candidates. We do not overpromise and will always be open and honest at every stage of our process. Our values are key to how we work and what it feels like to work with us.

Who we are.

Professional, expert and empathetic, our carefully sourced team really love what they do. They know the HE sector, they’ve worked in it and they continue to offer their support by training and mentoring students and graduates.

Dr Sophie Carney

Managing Consultant | Higher Education Appointments

07399 528307 | Sophie@peridotpartners.co.uk

With over 10 years of experience in FE, HE and students’ unions and with 16 years of experience being a student, researcher, lecturer, and student services manager, Sophie is passionate about all things education.

Keaton Sharpe

Senior Consultant | Higher Education Appointments

07498 071857 | Keaton@peridotpartners.co.uk

With his passion for higher education and providing a highquality service to clients, Keaton brings experience of working with a range of universities to support recruitment to academic and professional services leadership roles.

Higher education recruitment services.

Investing in higher education.

Higher education provides opportunities for individuals to develop relevant skills, build confidence and gain the right qualifications to help them improve their life chances. With the economic, social, and cultural benefits to individuals and society as a whole because of higher education knowledge creation, development and exchange, institutions and universities are only as good as those who lead them. Find leaders and non-executive directors with the courage to make big decisions that will impact the experience of your students and that will drive your organisation to greater success.

1. Our proposal.

We work with you to understand your challenges, establishing the experience and skill set required to support and enable the success and sustainability of your organisation, now and in the future.

We are advocates of having an open and honest conversation in a consultive manner in the spirit of partnership.

2. Building the relationship.

Through our comprehensive briefing process, we will get to know your organisation to enable us to build a relationship with you. We strive to ensure that our relationships are longterm, not just a quick fix.

Our values uphold our ambition to maintain relationships with our clients and work together for the future success of the organisation.

Through this, we gain trust and are able to discuss opportunities with prospective candidates with both insight and integrity.

Higher education recruitment services.

3. The search.

We work with you to build a comprehensive digital candidate pack to provide all the information that a potential candidate needs.

We provide weekly progress reports, detailing market feedback, candidate interest and any challenges being faced by our team –along with ideas about how to overcome these together. Every search we do is fresh.

We don’t just use a database or target the same candidates each time. We do our research, dig deeper and identify candidates that meet your bespoke needs. At the end of the search period, we will provide a detailed report and assessment of all applications received. We assess skills, knowledge, and experience. We work with you to agree to the list of candidates to be invited to interview.

4. Selection and assessment.

We work with you to structure the next steps of the assessment and selection days, along with recommending questions and additional activities to gain assurance around candidates’ suitability. This can be achieved through either a one or two-stage process, depending on the level or technical ability required.

Our team manage interview scheduling and provide candidate support. Your consultant will attend the interviews, and act as an advisor to the panel so that a full offer can be made to the selected candidate(s). Constructive feedback is provided to those who are not successful.

Our processes can be bespoke to align with the organisations’ recruitment procedures and ensure all appointments are accessible and inclusive to meet diversity and inclusion objectives.

Higher education recruitment services.

Case study Governing Council University of Derby

Located in the heart of England, the University of Derby has built on the region’s heritage of innovation to provide industry-relevant, expert teaching, from foundation degree through to postgraduate study and research across four colleges, comprising of 29,000 students. Ambitious to continue its growth and positive impact as an anchor institution in Derbyshire, the University is committed to aligning its curriculum and degree offer to the current and future skills needs across a wide range of sectors and industries and provide the best opportunities for its graduates.

Peridot Partners is proud to have been selected to work with the University of Derby on multiple occasions to recruit to the Governing Council and we have run highly effective campaigns to recruit to a range of governance roles, including:

• Chair Elect

• Vice Chair of Council and Chair of Remuneration Committee

• Chair of Skills Committee

• Independent Governors

•

Co-opted Committee Members for Audit & Risk, Skills, and Strategy, Finance and Planning

We supported the University’s commitment to diversifying the Council and its Committees to be more representative of its diverse and inclusive student cohorts and staff. We did this by collaborating with the University’s Race Equality Charter Group to develop the candidate briefs and support an inclusive and equitable recruitment process.

We engaged hundreds of candidates with senior, strategic experience from across a broad range of sectors and industries and were able to produce high quality longlists, with 60% of applicants identifying with diverse characteristics across gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and disability.

Over the last three years, we have helped the University with its governance succession planning by ensuring a smooth transition to a new Chair and Vice Chair, diversifying and improving the expertise across Council, and providing opportunities for individuals to develop as non-executive directors.

These successes have led to a long and productive relationship with the University and we have continued to support appointments across academic and professional services leadership teams, including Directors and Heads of Services and Heads of School.

Higher education recruitment services.

Our selected governance track record.

Organisation Role recruited

Bishop Grosseteste University

Conservatoire of Dance and Drama

Coventry University

Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA)

TASO – Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education

University of Bath

University of Derby

University of Northampton

Chair of the University Council

3x Council Members

Chair of the Board

Chair of the Audit Committee

Independent Governing Council Members

4x Board Directors

4x Trustees

Independent Governing Council Members

Chair Elect of Council

Vice Chair of Council/Chair of Remuneration Committee

Chair of Skills Committee

Independent Governors

Committee Members for Audit and Risk, Skills, and Strategy, Finance and Planning

Chair of the Board

Independent Governor

Case

study Chief Executive and Dean Institute of Law Jersey

The Institute of Law Jersey was incorporated by the Royal Court of Jersey in 2008 to nurture the rich legal heritage of the island and offer students and law professionals the opportunity to qualify as an Advocate or Solicitors for the Jersey Bar. The Institute now offers a variety of internationally recognised degrees and professional courses, including the University of London LLB Law degree and a double degree in partnership with the University of Toulouse. As a recognised teaching centre of the University of London, their UK degrees are regulated by the OfS and QAA.

Research and brief.

Following the departure of its Chief Executive and Dean earlier in the year, the Institute required support to engage an interim leader and a permanent Chief Executive and Dean.

Peridot Partners was selected by the board to support the appointment of both positions and following in-depth briefings with the Chair, members of the Nominations Committee and the small staff team, including the Deputy Dean, we established a clear candidate profile for each role and a timeline that ensured the Institute would have a leader in place with immediate effect to oversee a period of transition to the permanent postholder once appointed over a six to nine month period.

Process.

We ran an extensive search to engage an interim higher education leader with significant experience in managing centralised registry and admissions processes. Within two weeks, we had successfully identified and engaged an experienced academic and interim leader with a significant track record of managing change and transformation projects in different curriculum and professional service areas across several UK HEIs.

We then began the search for the permanent Chief Executive and Dean, a role that required someone with a significant academic record, proven leadership abilities and commercial acumen, as well as the commitment to relocation.

Diverse candidate pool.

We identified and approached over 150 candidates working across the UK higher education sector and successfully secured 14 applications. Applicants included Heads of Law Schools from several top-ranking Law Schools in the UK.

Outcome.

Through a robust application and selection process, the Institute longlisted five candidates for remote interview and shortlisted three candidates, who were invited to attend an interview day in Jersey at the Institute. Peridot managed the whole process, attending the interviews in Jersey to oversee a stakeholder panel and final stage panel interview.

The successfully appointed candidate was the Dean of Faculty for Arts, Business and Social Sciences for a Midlands-based university and former Head of the Law School for a large university in North West England.

Higher education recruitment services.