Nicola Owen MA

Registrar, Secretary, and Chief Operating Officer

Contact details

Email: n.c.owen@bham.ac.uk

For any enquiries regarding admissions, please contact: admissions@contacts.bham.ac.uk

For any enquiries relating to the verification of student exam and degree results, to degree certificates, or to academic references for employers, please contact the Academic Registrar's office: references@contacts.bham.ac.uk

The Registrar, Secretary and Chief Operating Officer, Ms Nicola Owen, is responsible for the University's Professional Services . She is a member of the University Executive Board and is involved in University strategy and policy and providing advice to the Vice-Chancellor and other senior colleagues. As Secretary to the Senate and Council, she is responsible for University governance.

Nicola is involved in national and international work in Higher Education. She is currently Chair of the UK Association of Heads of University Administration since 2020 and represents the association on a number of national sector bodies and initiatives. She co-ordinates the UK-Sweden Registrars’ Group and was a member of the Heads of University Management Network Europe (HUMANE) steering committee from 2020-2025.

Nicola is supported by the Executive Support Division, led by the Chief of Staff. The Division includes the Executive Office, the Governance team, Strategic Planning and Performance Insight, Strategic Programmes and Change, and Legal Services.

Biography

Nicola joined Birmingham as Registrar, Secretary and Chief Operating Officer in September 2025. She has over 30 years' experience of management in Higher Education. Following undergraduate and postgraduate study in politics, she held a range of management posts initially at the University of East Anglia from 1995, moving to the University of Warwick in 2001 where she held a number of senior posts, including Academic Registrar (2007-2010), Deputy Registrar (2010-2013). She then moved to Lancaster University as Chief Administrative Officer, becoming the Deputy Chief Executive (Operations) and Secretary in 2020.

Nicola has held a number of role in support of the HE sector’s development, with 10 years on the Executive Committee of the UK Association of Heads of University Administration, which she has Chaired from 2020, and on national groups and initiatives, including for UUK and CUC. She gave evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on the operation of the Office for Students and was on the Jisc Audit Committee (2014-2020) and JISC DQB Oversight Committee (2020-2024). Nicola is a EMCC Accredited qualified Coach and Team Coach and contributes regularly to conferences and development programmes in the sector.