First-class Brain Up to the Challenge

The Guardian interviews Julie Maxton, the first female registrar of Oxford University since the role was created 550 years ago. Maxton previously worked with the Oxford vice-chancellor, fellow New Zealander John Hood, at Auckland University and has joined his team at a time of academic vs. administration infighting and major institutional restructuring. The Guardian: “At times her modesty is almost comic. She laughs off any suggestion she is ‘running’ Oxford and asked how many people work for her she replies ‘roughly 12.’ My jaw drops. But, of course, she means the people who report directly to her, head of estates and so on. In fact, the buck for more than 4,000 staff, from administrators to librarians, technical people to cleaners, stops at the registrar’s neat desk. But it would be unwise to underestimate Maxton, well regarded in NZ as a person and as a first-class legal brain.”