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Professor Roni Brown to step down from her role as Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic at end of this academic year

Roni Brown smiling, sitting in front of rolls colourful fabric
  • Written byPress Office
  • Published date 15 May 2025
Roni Brown smiling, sitting in front of rolls colourful fabric

Professor Roni Brown will be stepping down from her role as Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic at the end of the Academic year, retiring from a full-time commitment to explore new ways to support the creative and higher education sector.

Roni has served the higher education sector for 35 years, mostly in specialist art and design institutions, including 6 years at UAL, the world’s leading creative arts institution. During her time at UAL, Roni has succeeded in re-visioning the way the University operates putting creative teaching and learning, research and Knowledge Exchange at the very heart of UAL’s strategy, 'The World Needs Creativity,' championing the needs of the teaching community in their delivery of world class education.

She developed the Academic Capacity and Experience (ACE) programme to transform the way teaching teams and learners are supported - designing the resource and service environment in ways that support teaching excellence; she has transformed the way UAL approaches quality enhancement, championing institution-wide accountability for the quality of teaching, and as a life-long advocate for access to creative education Roni has led the creation of the new School of Pre-Degree Studies at Lime Grove and UAL’s strategy for fully online education, with our first Masters programmes launching in September 2025.

These programmes and others have re-positioned UAL as a University that is driven by its educational purpose and mission and recognises the different and invaluable contribution of all colleagues in making UAL an exceptional place: UAL continues to be ranked 2nd in the World; was named the Sunday Times Specialist University of the Year 2025; and is now ranked 13th in the Guardian University Guide.

Roni joined UAL in 2019 as Pro Vice-Chancellor/Head of London College of Fashion and became Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 2021 to support delivery of UAL’s strategy “The World Need Creativity”. Previously she was Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA), leading UCA to attain “Gold” in the Teaching Excellence Framework in 2020. She has advised on creative education among sector agencies and institutions nationally and internationally.

Roni’s has supported creative organisations and agencies throughout her career, as Chair of Area Council and member of the Board of Arts Council England; as Chair of Artswork, a charity committed to empowering young people; and currently in her capacity as a commissioner for UAL’s Creative Arts Education Commission exploring the challenges to delivering arts education in the school curriculum.

Over the 9 months I have worked with Roni, I have been so impressed with her commitment both to the UAL vision, to the centrality of the student experience and with her strategic and creative thinking as a leader. She fully recognises the need to be innovative and proactive, taking a student-centred approach to learning and teaching, research and knowledge exchange,  and to provide our students with tools to thrive. Her knowledge and her contribution to UAL and to Art & Design creative education in the UK is outstanding.   While we will miss her, I am confident that she will continue to positively impact creative education, and will always be a friend to us. I wish her all the best for her future endeavours.

— Karen Stanton
I will miss UAL of course - it is an astonishing University - brimming with possibility and ideas. I have enjoyed every day and have felt privileged to serve UAL staff and students. I will remain a firm friend and ally of UAL and a very fierce advocate for the distinctive role and needs of specialist institutions in the higher education sector. I look forward to seeing the way UAL will evolve; as an institution it is so well placed to bring about the change the world needs.

— Roni Brown