Professor Jane Longmore was appointed Vice-Chair of Council in November 2024.
Her long career has spanned many aspects of higher education, including teaching, research and leadership roles. Professor Longmore served most recently as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Chichester (2017-2024) where she led the completion of the £35m Creative and Digital Technology Park and opened a new School of Nursing and Allied Health to support the provision of higher skills across West Sussex.
Strongly committed to widening educational opportunity, Professor Longmore chaired the University Vocational Awards Council, a national consortium of higher education institutions working on the development and delivery of degree apprenticeship and technical education, as well as chairing the Sussex Learning Network of Universities and FE Colleges (2017-21) and the University of Chichester Multi-Academy Trust (2017-24). Building on her earlier work in adult and continuing education, she also chaired the Student Loan Company's National Stakeholder Forum (2021-24), supporting the development of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement to be introduced in September 2026.
Professor Longmore read Modern History at the University of Oxford, gained a PCGE from the University of Durham and was awarded her doctorate by the University of Reading. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, she is an Emeritus Professor of Urban History and is currently editing a history of eighteenth-century Liverpool for Liverpool University Press. Her contribution to the promotion and knowledge of History led to the award of an Honorary Fellowship of the Historical Association in 2013.
Professor Longmore was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of West Sussex in 2022 and awarded a CBE in 2025 for services to higher education.