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	Professor James McWha, Vice-Chancellor and President The University of Adelaide

About the Vice-Chancellor and President

Professor James McWha is the University of Adelaide's 19th Vice-Chancellor since 1874. He began his Vice-Chancellorship on 5 August 2002. Professor McWha came to Adelaide following a highly successful term of office as Vice-Chancellor and President of Massey University in New Zealand from 1996-2002, where he was also Chairman of the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors' Committee in 2001-2002.

Professor McWha has an outstanding record as a teacher, researcher, manager of research institutes, academic administrator and communicator. A native of Northern Ireland, he graduated with BSc and BAgr (with Honours in Agricultural Botany) from the Queen's University of Belfast in 1969 and 1970. He received his PhD from Glasgow University in 1973, prior to taking up an appointment at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, where a period as a lecturer in the Department of Botany was followed by a term as Head of the Department of Plant and Microbial Sciences.

In 1985 he returned to Northern Ireland to take up a joint appointment as Professor and Head of Agricultural Botany at the Queen's University, Belfast, and Deputy Chief Scientific Officer in the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture. In 1989 he was appointed Director of the Fruit and Trees unit of the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and from 1992-95 was Chief Executive Officer of HortResearch (the Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Ltd).

Professor McWha is actively involved in the higher education sector on a global level. He was a Council Member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities in 2001 and again in 2006-07, and has been elected Honorary Treasurer of the ACU from 2007-09. Beyond the Commonwealth, he was Secretary-General of the International Association of University Presidents from 2002-05. He played a formative role in the development of the New Zealand universities' quality assurance system, and has been a Board member of the Australian Universities Quality Agency since 2003.

Professor McWha was among the citizens of South Australia to be recognised in 2003 by the award of the Centenary Medal for his services to education, and in May 2004 was awarded the degree of Doctor of Science (honoris causa) from Massey University in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Massey and his advocacy for New Zealand's education system.