2024 University of Oxford Chancellor election
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The 2024 University of Oxford election for the position of Chancellor became necessary upon the resignation of the incumbent Chancellor, Chris Patten, to take effect at the end of the Trinity term of 2024.
Patten had been elected as Chancellor of the University of Oxford in March 2003. In February 2024, he announced in a letter to the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Irene Tracey, that he would retire as Chancellor at the end of the academic year, after twenty-one years in post.[1]
In resigning, Patten quoted from the University of Oxford's statutes of 2002: "the Chancellor shall be elected by Convocation and shall hold office during his or her life or until his or her resignation."[1]
Electorate
The electorate consists of all members of the University of Oxford holding the degree of Master of Arts.[2]
Process
To stand for election, a candidate needs to be nominated by fifty members of the university's Convocation. The election of 2024 will be the first to take place on the Internet. At all previous elections, ballots needed to be cast in person in Oxford.[2]
Apart from the basic rules established by its Statutes, the university has stated that "The process and timetable for the election of the Chancellor by members of the University's Convocation will be announced in due course."[3]
Possible candidates
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On 7 February 2024, The Daily Telegraph reported that the former Conservative minister Rory Stewart, of Balliol College, had emerged as front runner in the election with the bookmaker William Hill.[2] By chance, Chris Patten and his two predecessors, Harold Macmillan and Roy Jenkins, were also Balliol men.[4]
Other potential candidates have been reported as former British prime ministers Theresa May, Tony Blair, and Boris Johnson, former prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan,[5] who is also a former Chancellor of the University of Bradford,[6] and Elish Angiolini, Principal of St Hugh's College, Oxford, and one of the pro-vice-chancellors of the University.[2] All of these are members of the University of Oxford,[5][2] although this qualification is not strictly required, and in principle anyone can be nominated.[2]
On 7 February 2024, William Hill had Stewart favourite in the betting odds at 5/6, May at 7/4, Blair at 4/1, Johnson at 13/2, and Khan at 10/1.[7]
See also
Notes
- ^ a b "Lord Patten’s letter of retirement to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Irene Tracey"; University of Oxford, 5 February 2024, accessed 8 February 2024
- ^ a b c d e f Louisa Clarence-Smith, Dominic Penna, "Rory Stewart tipped as next chancellor of Oxford University: Former Tory minister emerges as front runner as institution prepares to hold online vote for the largely ceremonial role", The Daily Telegraph, 7 February 2024, accessed 8 February 2024 (subscription required)
- ^ "Lord Patten of Barnes announces his retirement as Chancellor of the University of Oxford", ox.ac.uk, February 2024, accessed 9 February 2024
- ^ Harry Mount, "Patten ahead in race to be Oxford's new chancellor", The Daily Telegraph, 15 March 2003, accessed 9 February 2024
- ^ a b Ethan Croft, "Boris Johnson vs Theresa May? The race for Oxford Chancellor is on: The forthcoming election is the first to be held online", The Standard, 5 February 2024, accessed 8 February 2024
- ^ "Imran Khan Chancellor 2005–2014", University of Bradford, undated, accessed 11 February 2024
- ^ Jack Peat, "Rory Stewart and Theresa May in the running for top job", The London Economic, 7 February 2024