Dr Rebecca Court appointed as the new Dean of Academic Strategy at Central Saint Martins

We are delighted to announce that Central Saint Martins (CSM) has appointed Dr Rebecca Court as their new Dean of Academic Strategy. Rebecca will be starting in her new role in mid-June 2026 and reporting directly to Professor Rathna Ramanathan, the Provost of CSM and Executive Dean for Global Affairs within the wider University of the Arts London (UAL).

CSM is a world-leading centre for transdisciplinary art and design education, with courses covering a wide range of creative arts disciplines from art and architecture to business and curation, fashion, industrial and material design, and performance.  

The Dean of Academic Strategy will work with the Provost to provide leadership of the delivery and development of Central Saint Martins’ Academic Strategy and the academic aspects of the College Operating Plan. Rebecca will become a key member of the College Executive Group and will work with the three Deans of School and the Dean of Research and Knowledge Exchange to provide strategic coordination of the development and deployment of resources to ensure a culture of continuous improvement of academic provision and the student experience.

Rebecca is joining CSM from the University for the Creative Arts, where she is currently Associate Dean within the Farnham School of Creative and Cultural Industries, looking after a 2,500-student cohort. She brings fourteen years’ experience of leadership in the higher education sector, specifically within the Arts. Prior to her role at UCA, she was at Birmingham City University for over six years and she began her career at Goldsmiths University and the Royal Drawing School. As a Senior Fellow of Advance HE, with a PhD by Practice, Rebecca is an experienced trustee and sector contributor, bringing deep strategic understanding of creative education strategy, practice-led research cultures, and the integration of academic, spatial, and organisational planning.

Commenting on the appointment, Professor Ramanathan said:

“I'm pleased to welcome Becky Court as CSM’s new Dean of Academic Strategy. Becky has shaped academic strategy in complex institutions and led teams through transformation while keeping students and courses at the core. Becky’s own practice is in both Fine Art and pedagogy. This combination of strategy grounded in educational practice is what we need as we launch UAL’s new Education Strategy and activate our own college transformation through ‘Schools of Thought’."

Rebecca added:

“It’s a privilege to join to Central Saint Martins as Dean of Academic Strategy at a pivotal moment for the College and for creative education. The way CSM is building structures and cultures that give real agency to staff and students to rethink what creativity can be and do across social, cultural and economic contexts is both important and urgent. I look forward to working with this extraordinary community to help shape what comes next."

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Rebecca, and to wish both her and CSM every success.