International Women's Day: top universities led by women

[Celerity]

Only 43 of the top 200 universities in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings are run by women

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/best-universities/top-10-universities-led-women



​It is striking that still only a few of the world’s top universities are led by women. In fact, analysis of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2022 reveals that just 43 of the top 200 institutions are currently led by women. What is promising is that this is an increase from the 41 universities led by women last year and now amounts to a fifth of the top 200 universities in the world. The current number one institution (the University of Oxford) is led by political scientist Louise Richardson, while three of the prestigious Ivy League institutions in the US, the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University and Brown University, have female leaders. The US, France, Netherlands and the UK are some of the countries with high numbers of female-led institutions. Below, we take a look at the achievements of the female vice-chancellors of the top 10 universities and the journeys that brought them to where they are now.

1. University of Oxford, Louise Richardson

Louise Richardson has been vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford since January 2016. She was previously principal of the University of St Andrews for seven years – the first woman to occupy this position. Richardson’s academic focus has been on international security with an emphasis on terrorism, and has taught the world-renowned Harvard undergraduate course in terrorist movements in international relations. She has received teaching awards from the American Political Science Association and from Pi Sigma Alpha for outstanding teaching in political science. Richardson will be leaving her position at the University of Oxford in December 2022 and will take up the position of president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York in January 2023.




2. University of California, Berkeley, Carol Christ

Carol Christ is the first female chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, having replaced Nicholas B. Dirks in July 2017. She was previously the executive vice-chancellor and provost of Berkeley between 1994 and 2000. She then became president of liberal arts institution Smith College for more than a decade before returning to Berkeley. She is a celebrated scholar of Victorian literature. Since taking on the presidential role at Berkeley, she has worked to target sexual violence and sexual harassment on campus and to create a long-term housing plan for students.




3. Imperial College London, Alice Gast

Alice Gast is originally from Houston, Texas, and completed her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering at the University of Southern California and her postgraduate degree at Princeton University. She was named president of Imperial College London in 2014 and has led the university for the past seven years. Prior to this she was the president of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. In 2008, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers named Gast one of the top 100 “Modern Era” engineers in the US in the “Leadership” category. Hugh Brady, the vice-chancellor of the University of Bristol, will be taking over the position from August 2022.



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