In another big shake-up for the University of Melbourne leadership team, Mark Considine will replace Margaret Sheil as the University’s provost in February 2018.

The decision comes after the University announced last month that Cambridge’s Duncan Maskell will succeed Glyn Davis as the University’s vice-chancellor in October next year.

In September, Sheil announced that she would be moving to the Queensland University of Technology, where she will be vice-chancellor.

Considine is the current dean of both the Faculty of Arts and the Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences. A seasoned academic, he has conducted research on governance, social policy and public sector reform.

In an email to staff, Davis said that he had reached the decision in consultation with the incoming vice-chancellor.

“After consulting with colleagues, the chancellor and, importantly, Professor Maskell, I write to announce new appointments to ensure a strong leadership team and stability through the year ahead,” he said.

In 2007 and 2008, Considine oversaw staffing and subject cuts to the Faculty of Arts to prevent a deficit. Considine became a controversial figure among senior academics in the Faculty, who disagreed with Considine and Davis’s cost-cutting approach.

“The place is riven with controversy and there’s almost total demoralisation,” an academic told Crikey in 2009, in reference to Considine’s reappointment as dean despite the controversial restructures to the Faculty.

As provost, Considine will lead the chancellery, as well as develop and oversee academic policies, program development and learning and teaching activities.

The change means that three of the most important members of the University executive—the vice-chancellor, provost and dean of the Faculty of Arts—will change in less than a year. The University is also currently searching for a new deputy vice-chancellor (international).

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