Mike Nicholson

Director of Recruitment, Admissions and Participation, University of Cambridge

Mike joined the University of Cambridge in October 2021, having previously worked as Director of Undergraduate Admissions and Outreach at the University of Bath (2014-21) and University of Oxford (2006-2014), and Head of Undergraduate Admissions and Student Recruitment at the University of Essex (1998-2006).

Mike heads the team responsible for supporting undergraduate and postgraduate student admissions, student recruitment and marketing (UK and international), scholarships and funding, and widening access and participation. He also has oversight of the team developing the University Foundation Year for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, which had the first intake in October 2022. He is also one of four Deputy Heads in the Education Services department, with a particular responsibility for admissions, access and participation. He is also a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

He is Vice Chair of the UCAS Council, the stakeholder advisory group that advises the UCAS Trustee Board on sector issues. He is also a Trustee and Treasurer of the Council of International Schools (Chairing the Finance Committee) and a Trustee of the AQA Exam Board and chairs their Higher Education Advisory Group. He has recently joined the Sutton Trust’s Education Advisory Board, and the Rethinking Assessment Advisory Board.

Mike graduated in 1990 from the University of Sheffield with a degree in English and History and attended Allegheny College, Pennsylvania for a year as an exchange student. He was the first member of his extended family to go to university, after attending state-funded comprehensive schools in Gateshead.