Andrea Bolshaw is a very experienced Higher Education leader. She has worked in HE for 20+ years, spanning 7 diverse universities: Russell Group; Post-92s (with extensive international work); and smaller/specialist institutions.  Andrea is now successfully working in the Interim Executive space having a role first at Leeds Beckett University.  She is currently at the University of Brighton providing strategic leadership for the university’s professional services and is also responsible for supporting university governance: https://www.brighton.ac.uk/about-us/governance-and-structure/leadership/university-executive-board/andrea-bolshaw.aspx

This is Andrea’s third university executive role (her first started in 2016 which she held for seven years).  Prior to this she was an Academic Registrar and also worked at progressive levels of responsibility across a range of university business areas (including medical schools).  She has recently featured in the first episode of Season 2 of the podcast Job Shadowing HE: https://www.jobshadowinghe.com giving her insights on what it is like to work as a HE interim: https://www.jobshadowinghe.com/e/andrea-bolshaw-being-an-interim

Andrea has a significant depth and breadth of expertise and a proven track record of providing trusted advice and guidance. An example list of areas that she has managed within her leadership portfolio and/or been involved in directly is provided below and the recommendations on her LinkedIn profile (link below) evidence the extent of Andrea’s impact.

Andrea has been a Chartered Manager for 15 years. She has a BSc in Physical Geography and an MBA specialising in organisational behaviour. She completed the sector’s flagship leadership programme TMP in 2022 with AdvanceHE. She has led conference sessions, workshops and blogs for the Association of Higher Education Professionals (AHEP formerly AUA) and has sat on a number of panels at national HE Sector events. She has served as a non-executive director outside of HE, and currently sits on a number of boards and has held additional roles during her career advising the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA), and mentoring and then examining on AHEP’s PG Certificate in Professional Practice. In 2012 Andrea received Fellow of the Association of Higher Education Professionals (FAHEP) in recognition of her contribution to the HE Sector and in 2015 her team was ‘highly commended’ at the Times HE Leadership & Management Awards. 

Throughout her career, she has benefitted from the opportunity to work with a diverse range of multi-disciplinary teams and stakeholders with various approaches and personal styles. She builds positive working relations with the appropriate influence in order to achieve operational and strategic objectives. She has worked with vice-chancellors, pro-vice-chancellors, deans, solicitors, academics, students, NUS representatives, trades union representatives, government and agency representatives, law enforcement officers, professional body representatives, clinicians, NHS CEOs and Health Authority executives, university registrars, as well as financial, technical and IT professionals. She has also worked in an ambassadorial capacity with VIPs, business and religious leaders.

Example list of areas that Andrea has been involved in:

  • Managing pivotal relationships e.g. between Council/Boards, Senate and the University Executive
  • Developing the University’s governance capability – elevating its maturity from pre-University approaches (including refreshing recruitment, running strategy days, developing and designing induction programmes)
  • Vice-chancellor recruitment and selection (twice) and other high-profile board-level appointments (PVC, Chancellor and Chair of Council/Board)
  • Board development including the induction and relationship development of new Chairs of Council/Boards.
  • Change management restructuring processes (including large-scale strategic and cultural transformations)
  • Re-drafting and modernising the University’s Articles of Governance (including university name change).
  • Implementing and developing a scheme of delegation to cover the entire organisations decision-making approaches
  • Regulatory interpretations, changes and new developments (including securing OfS Registration)
  • SU Union understanding, liaison, governance and education act compliance
  • Developing a new University’s Strategic Framework with underpinning KPIs and Risk Register
  • Risk Management Process implementation and ongoing management
  • Business Continuity and Incident/Disaster Response and Recovery
  • Managing critical incidents and reputations management that occur within the University community involving high-stake issues
  • Health & Safety
  • Safeguarding (including, Designated Institutional Safeguarding Officer, Prevent (including Prevent statutory returns)).
  • Quality Assurance, including DAPs (previously the QAA institutional contact)
  • OfS Registration and Regulatory compliance (including reportable events)
  • Professional body matters (worked at two medical schools)
  • Planning, Evaluation and Policy
  • Collaborative Provision (including chairing validation and approval panels in both the UK and extensively overseas)
  • Student and staff disciplinary (including board of governor level appeals, final stage grievances and employment tribunal court appearances)
  • Dealing with Human Resource procedures as a senior executive officer (NDAs, contracts etc)
  • Legal Services
  • Library Services
  • Information Services
  • Estates
  • Residential and Hospitality Operations
  • Student Services
  • Philanthropy and Alumni Development and Engagement
  • Registry Services
  • Sponsorship Licence (T4 and T2) licence revocation (Home Office Authorising Officer)
  • Internal Audit
  • University Complaints (including Whistleblowing) and OIA interactions (including high stake circumstances involving fitness to study/practice matters)
  • Information Governance (including Data Protection and FoI)
  • Student recruitment and admissions
  • Marketing and communications

Legal status Sole trader

VAT registered No

LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/andreabolshaw/

Email Andrea.bolshaw@live.com

Phone 07736678027

Twitter @BolshawAndrea