Role
Jane McNeil took up the role of Pro Vice-Chancellor Education at Nottingham Trent University in April 2020. She 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’s perspective on education has been shaped by her experience as a lecturer, a practice innovator and a policy developer. Central to this is a dedication to addressing structural inequalities in higher education. She has a long-standing commitment to the University and to students’ education. From early roles lecturing in medieval history and developing elearning in the Humanities, she expanded her interests to wider topics – factors underpinning 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, followed by a project across three universities in 2017–2019 to test the efficacy of active learning to address barriers to student success. This interest continues, alongside work on the development of technical and vocational 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.