University’s Vice Chancellor to continue to lead on its success for the next five years

​The University of Northampton is pleased to announce that Professor Nick Petford has signed a new five-year contract which will secure his position with the University through the  planned move to its brand new state-of-the-art £330m campus in 2018.

Professor Petford took up the Vice Chancellor post in September 2010 and under his leadership, the University has achieved many of its strategic goals earlier than planned.

After steadily rising up the league tables, the University has secured its position as a top 50 university in the Guardian League Table for 2014 and 2015 and has retained its enviable high employability rating. With a huge focus on student experience, the University has also achieved an overall satisfaction rating of 89 per cent in the 2014 National Student Survey, which places it three percentage points above the sector average of 86 per cent for Higher Education (HE) institutions in the UK.

Since 2010, the University has delivered several ‘firsts’ for the HE sector.  It was the first UK university to be awarded ‘Changemaker Campus’ status by Ashoka U, the world’s leading network of social entrepreneurs, in recognition of the University’s commitment to social enterprise, social innovation and entrepreneurship in its teaching, learning and research.  The University also launched the UK’s first credit union for University students and staff.

More recently, the University of Northampton became the first university to have a bond guaranteed by the HM Treasury – £231.5 million in regards to the new campus development. This guarantee signifies the importance of this large-scale project and has set a precedent for future HE funding.

Professor Petford commented:  “Together, we have achieved some outstanding results and I am immensely proud of our work. The University has gone from strength to strength and plans continue apace for the development of our innovative new campus.  I would like to thank all staff and students for their dedication and commitment to the vision.”

Andrew Scarborough, Chairman of the Board of Governors, commented: “These are exciting times at the University of Northampton and Professor Petford’s vision and drive have been central to the achievements of the University over the last five years.  All of us on the Board are delighted that Nick has agreed to continue to lead the University as we implement our move to our new campus, further strengthen our already good academic performance and work to continue to deliver an excellent all-round experience for our students.”