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Jane McNeil

Jane McNeil

Pro Vice-Chancellor - Education

Directorate

Role

Jane McNeil took up the role of Pro Vice-Chancellor Education at Nottingham Trent University in April 2020.

In this role, she supports the Deputy Vice-Chancellor - Academic Development and Performance, and is responsible for influencing policy and strategy for student access and participation, curriculum and pedagogy, and student outcomes and employment.  She is also chair of the University’s Academic Standards and Quality Committee.

Career overview

Jane has a long-standing commitment to the University and to students’ education. Her early roles as a medieval history lecturer and developing online learning in the Humanities led to a wider interest in pedagogic innovation. This was realised in subsequent roles, including institutional lead for quality enhancement, Director of Academic Development (2011-18), and from 2018 as Executive Dean for Learning and Teaching. Her perspective on education has therefore been shaped by her experience as a lecturer, a practice innovator and as a policy developer. Central to this is a dedication to addressing structural inequalities in higher education.

Research areas

From early work on eLearning and assessment, Jane’s interests developed to consider wider topics related to student success, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and the evaluation of educational development.

In 2012, Jane led the first institutional trial in the UK of the active learning approach, SCALE-UP.  Following wider adoption of this pedagogy, in 2017–2019 she led a project with three universities, funded by the Office for Students, to test the efficacy of active learning to address barriers to student success. This interest continues alongside work on learning spaces and strategies for institutional educational change.

External activity

Jane is a Governor at Derby College Group (DCG), supporting governance oversight of the College’s higher education provision. In addition to acting as HE link governor, she has recently become the EDI link governor.

She is a Trustee at TASO, The Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education, part of the UK Government’s What Works Movement. TASO is committed to the generation, synthesis and dissemination of high-quality evidence about effective practice in widening participation and student outcomes.

Jane is also Chair of the Nottingham Priority Education Investment Area Local Partnership Board, an expert group providing advice to the DfE Regional Director on how to improve attainment at KS2 and KS4.