Dame Nicola Whitmont Dandridge was the

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the

Office for Students The Office for Students (OfS) is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Education, acting as the regulator and competition authority for the higher education sector in England. In February 2021, James Wharton, Baron Wharton of Yarm ...

between July 2017 and April 2022. She was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the 2015 Birthday Honours List for services to higher education and

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(DBE) in the

2023 New Year Honours The 2023 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebration ...

, also for services to higher education. She was previously Chief Executive of

Universities UK Universities UK (UUK) is an advocacy organisation for universities in the United Kingdom. It began life in the early 20th century through informal meetings of vice-chancellors of a number of universities and principals of university colleges and ...

Early career

Dandridge originally qualified as a lawyer, initially working in the City before moving to Glasgow to requalify in Scotland where she worked for 10 years specialising in equality law. She was educated at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, London Metropolitan and

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

universities and found them all "completely outstanding".

Equality Challenge Unit

From 2006 to August 2009 Dandridge was Chief Executive of

Equality Challenge Unit Equality may refer to: Society * Political equality, in which all members of a society are of equal standing ** Consociationalism, in which an ethnically, religiously, or linguistically divided state functions by cooperation of each group's elit ...

(ECU) who promote the equality and diversity for staff and students in higher education across all four nations of the UK, and in colleges in Scotland. Whilst at ECU Dandridge restructured their work to focus on the equality implications of key issues for the higher education sector, such as research assessment, admissions, work placements, governance and internationalisation.

Universities UK

On 1 September 2009 Dandridge became the Chief Executive of

(UUK) replacing Diana Mary Warwick, Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe. Whilst in post, Dandridge chaired a Taskforce to examine violence against women, harassment and hate crime affecting university students, with a focus on the issue of violence against women and sexual harassment. Dandridge's support for optional

gender segregation Sex segregation, sex separation, gender segregation or gender separation is the physical, legal, or cultural separation of people according to their biological sex. Sex segregation can refer simply to the physical and spatial separation by sex w ...

in universities received much scrutiny in the British media in late 2013; the shadow business secretary,

Chuka Umunna Chuka Harrison Umunna (; born 17 October 1978) is a British retired politician who served as Member of Parliament (UK), Member of Parliament (MP) for Streatham (UK Parliament constituency), Streatham from 2010 United Kingdom general election, ...

, said in a radio interview that he was "horrified" by Universities UK's position, and promised to make segregation illegal should the Labour Party come to power. Following an intervention from Prime Minister

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

, Dandridge announced that UUK had withdrawn their previous guidance which stated that gender segregation should be allowed if requested by the lecturer and students.

Office for Students

In July 2017 Dandridge was announced as the inaugural Chief Executive of the

, a new public body created as part of the

Higher Education and Research Act 2017 The Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (c. 29) was enacted into law in the United Kingdom by the Houses of Parliament on 27 April 2017. It is intended to create a new regulatory framework for higher education, increase competition and student ...

to regulate the higher education sector. Having previously led the higher education sectors lobbying group UUK, there were questions as to whether her appointment was "poacher turned gamekeeper". Since being in post, Dandridge has been critical within the media of vice-chancellor salaries, grade inflation and unconditional offer making.

Publications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dandridge, Nicola Living people British educational theorists Alumni of London Metropolitan University Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Oxford Year of birth missing (living people) Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire