Invited Speakers

Lynn Arnold is World Vision’s regional vice president for Asia and the Pacific.  He is responsible for World Vision’s relief and development programs in eighteen countries in the region, and is associated (through board membership) with WV fundraising entities in six other Asian countries. He is in addition responsible for World Vision’s tsunami response programs in India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand. In this role, Lynn Arnold oversees the implementation of more than 1,500 projects aimed at providing health care, education, clean water, food, shelter and technical expertise to millions of people in Asia. In total, in 2005, he oversaw budgets totaling $US 360m and the employment of 6,000 people.

Prior to assuming his current role, Lynn Arnold worked for six and a half years as chief executive officer of World Vision in Australia.  Under his leadership, World Vision Australia increased 126% in revenues and reduced operating cost ratios from 31.6% to 22%.

Before joining World Vision in 1997, Lynn Arnold was an executive consultant with a large Spanish media company, helping to direct investment growth.  Between 1979 and 1994 he served as a member of the South Australian Parliament including over 11 years in Cabinet.  Lynn Arnold’s cabinet service included fifteen months as Premier and significant periods as Minister of Education, Tertiary Education, Agriculture and State Development services in South Australia.  He also worked on a number of professional boards including the Australian Foreign Minister’s Aid Advisory Council, and the Australian Council for Overseas Aid.  Lynn Arnold has led delegations on trade and other issues to China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and Vietnam; in addition he headed the World Vision International delegation to the Second World Congress against the Sexual Exploitation of Children, held in Yokohama in 2001 .

Lynn Arnold holds a PhD (in sociolinguistics), as well as Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education degrees; all of these were from the University of Adelaide in South Australia.  He also holds a DipADE (diploma in senior company administration) from the Escuela Superior de la Alta Dirección de Empresas (ESADE) in Barcelona, Spain. 

In 2001, Lynn Arnold received the Australian Centenary Medallion for services to Australian society; and in 2004, he was awarded the Order of Australia (AO) for his services to Australia through the South Australian Parliament as Premier, and internationally through development and humanitarian aid assistance.

Professor Surabhi Banerjee, has been Vice-Chancellor at Netaji Subhas Open University Kolkata,  India since November 2001.  Professor Banerjee, was formerly  Pro-Vice-Chancellor  ( Academic  Affairs  ) University  of  Calcutta and Professor and Head of the Department of  English , University of Calcutta.

Svava Bjarnason
Director
ACU/UUK Observatory on Borderless Higher Education

Svava Bjarnason is the Director of Research and Strategy at the Association of Commonwealth Universities.  She holds a joint appointment as the Director of the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education – a joint initiative of the ACU and Universities UK.  Prior to joining the ACU in 1998, she was an independent consultant working in areas of policy development in higher education in the United Kingdom.

Tessa Blackstone
Vice-Chancellor
University of Greenwich

Tessa Blackstone has been Vice-Chancellor of the University of Greenwich since 2004. After Teaching at the London School of Economics, she became an adviser in the Cabinet Office. Since then she has been Deputy Education Officer of the Inner London Education Authority, Master of Birkbeck College, University of London, Minister of State for Education & Employment and Minister for the Arts.

Denise Bradley
Vice-Chancellor and President
University of South Australia

Professor Bradley has been the Vice Chancellor and President of the University of South Australia since 1997. She has been extensively involved in national education policy groups for more than two decades and currently is Chair of IDP Education Australia, Chair of the Australian Technology Network (ATN), Executive Member of the International Association of University Presidents (IAUP), Member of the Board of the Australian Vice Chancellor’s Committee and Member of the Board of Directors of the Australian-American Fulbright Commission.

Professor Bradley was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1995 and was awarded a Centenary Medal in 2003. In the same year she was named one of Australia’s top 25 leaders by the Australian Financial Review's BOSS magazine and in 2005 was named an Asia Pacific Woman of Distinction in Education by the Asia Pacific Women’s Business Council Inc. On Proclamation Day, Professor Bradley was named the 2005 South Australian of the Year for her significant contributions to the State. She is one of only two women to win the prestigious award in almost 20 years.

Professor Bradley’s background is in teacher education and she has presented keynote addresses and published in the fields of flexible delivery of education, education policy, quality in education and educational equity.

Chris Brink
Rector and Vice-Chancellor
University of Stellenbosch

Professor Chris Brink is the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa since January 2002.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, a former President of the South African Mathematical Society and a Founder Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa.

Rajagopala Chidambaram
Principal Scientific Adviser
Government of India

Chairman
Scientific Advisory Committee to the Cabinet

Brett Cornwell
Manager, Commercialization Services
Texas A&M University

Brett Cornwell is Manager of Commercialization Services for the Technology Commercialization Center at Texas A&M University and is responsible for services offered in support of the commercialization of technologies from the Texas A&M System. He is also a faculty member of the IC2 Institute at The University of Texas at Austin in the Master's of Science in Science and Technology Commercialization program.

Kerry Cox
Vice-Chancellor and President
The University of Ballarat

Kerry Cox was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ballarat in January 2001 after being Deputy Vice-Chancellor (at Ballarat) and ProVice-Chancellor (Academic), Head of Faculty of Science and Engineering and Dean of Biological Sciences (all at Flinders University in South Australia). Kerry has published extensively in the international literature on autoimmune disease and the mechanisms of immunological self-tolerance and has taught microbiology and immunology to science and medical students.

Committee/Board memberships include the National Council on Environmental Education in Australia; the Business-Higher Education Round Table; the Victorian Education Research Network; the Victorian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (Chair) and the Australian Higher Education Industrial Association (President). He is active in a range of other local, national and international bodies all dedicated to increasing participation in quality education in the 21st Century.

John Daniel
President and CEO
Commonwealth of Learning

Sir John's appointment to the Commonwealth of Learning in June 2004 was the culmination of an international academic career that included 17 years as a university president (Laurentian University, Canada and the UK Open University) and experience as Assistant Director-General for Education at UNESCO.

Graeme Davies
Vice-Chancellor
the University of London

Sir Graeme is currently Vice-Chancellor of the University of London. He was Principal of the University of Glasgow from 1995 to 2003. He was Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England. from 1991 until 1995 having been Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool from 1986 to 1991. He was Professor of Metallurgy in the University of Sheffield. He was educated in the School of Engineering of the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Glyn Davis
Vice Chancellor
University of Melbourne

Professor Glyn Davis is Vice Chancellor of the University of Melbourne, Foundation Chair of the Australia and New Zealand School of government, and President of the group of Eight, representing Australia's leading research universities.

The University of Melbourne, established in 1853, has a student body of 42,000, more than 6,400 staff and an annual budget approaching $1.2 billion.

Dato' Abdul Razak Dzulkifli
Vice-Chancellor
Universiti Sains Malaysia

Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.  Appointed:  1st December 2000.  Currently:  He is a member of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Policies and Management, since 1995 – present, and a member of the WHO Scientific Advisory Committee on Tobacco Product Regulation, between 2000 and 2002.  Currently he is the Chairman, Malaysian Examination Council; a member of the National Higher Education Council of Malaysia; Board Member, Open University of Malaysia; Chairman Malaysian VC Council and a member of the Committee on Higher Education Policy in Malaysia, and Deputy Board member of the International Association of Universities (IAU).

Helen Garnett
Vice-Chancellor
Charles Darwin University

Professor Helen Garnett is Vice-Chancellor of Charles Darwin University, having commenced in that role in October 2003.

Before taking this role, Professor Garnett was the Executive Director of the Australian Nuclear Science & Technoloy Oranisation (ANSTO) from 1994.

She has played a significant role in numerous international initiatives and has a personal interest in 'Development issues'.

Professor Garnett is an Emeritus Professor of the University of Wollonon and prior to joining ANSTO was Professor and Head of the Department of Biology at the University of Wollongong, Australia (1987-1992) and Foundation Professor and Head of the Department of Microbiology, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa (1979-1986).

Professor Garnett was born in Australia and educated at the University of Sydney, where she gained first class honours for her Bachelor of Science degree (1969), the University of London, and the University of Wales, where she completed her Doctor of Philosophy in 1974.

Peter George
President and Vice-Chancellor
McMaster University

Dr. Peter George is a well-known scholar and educator. He was appointed President and Vice-Chancellor of McMaster University, on July 1, 1995.

An economist with strong interdisciplinary interests, Dr. George is the author of many publications. His research has contributed to our Understanding of the historical economic factors that have influenced the development of Canada, our northern aboriginal societies, and our local community.

Brenda Gourley
Vice-Chancellor
The Open University

Appointed as Vice-Chancellor of the United Kingdom's largest university, The Open University, in 2002, Professor Brenda Gourley was previously Vice-Chancellor at the University of Natal. During her leadership she steered the University through a successful transformation in a time of political change in South Africa.

A Professor of Accounting and Finance, some-time Dean of Economics and Management, and a professional accountant, Professor Gourley shares with The Open University a social justice agenda, recognition of increasing global interconnectedness, and a belief in education as a tool to tackle the growing inequalities between the haves and have-nots in the global society.

Christine Hallett
Principal & Vice-Chancellor
University of Stirling

Professor Christine Hallett is Principal & Vice-Chancellor of the University of Stirling. She was appointed Professor of Social Policy in 1995 and has held academic posts at the Universities of Oxford, Leicester, Keele and Western Australia. Professor Hallett's research has been concerned with social policy analysis in the areas of child welfare; the personal social services and women and social policy.

Eon Nigel Harris
Vice-Chancellor
University of the West Indies

Eon Nigel Harris is Vice Chancellor of The University of the West Indies, and has held this position since October 2004. Previously, he was Dean and Senior Vice President of the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia from 1996 to 2004.

Professor Harris received his B.S. degree in Chemistry (Phi Beta Kappa honours) from Howard University in 1968, Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) degree in Biochemistry from Yale University (1973) and M.D. (with Honours) from the University of Pennsylvania (1977). After completing his M.D. degree, he moved to The University of the West Indies at Mona in Jamaica, where he completed a residency in internal medicine, receiving a D.M. (Doctor of Medicine) in 1981. Subsequently, he went to the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital in London, England. to do a Fellowship in Rheumatology. It was at the Hammersmith Hospital, in collaboration with Dr. Azzudin Gharavi and Dr. Graham Hughes, that he devised the anticardiolipin test, which is now used widely in the world today for the diagnosis of an auto immune disorder that they named the "Antiphospholipid Syndrome" - a disease which causes recurrent blood vessel clotting (resulting in strokes, deep vein thrombosis etc) and pregnancy losses (due to clotting of the fetal placenta). He returned to the USA (the University of Louisville) in 1987, where he and a colleague, Dr. Silvia Pieraneli, continued to do work on the Antipholspholipid Syndrome. They developed a mouse model of the disease to understand its pathogenesis and introduced a modified test for diagnosis that is used commercially.

Professor Harris has published over 150 papers. He has received the Centennial Award of the National Medical Association (1996) and shared in the Ciba-Geiy Prize awarded every four years by the International League Against Rheumatism. He was promoted to Professor of Medicine at the University of Louisville in 1992, and appointed as Dean of the Morehouse School of Medicine in 1996. He has served on several boards and committees in the USA, including the Arthritis Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Association (FDA), the Advisory Committee on Human Research Protection to the US Department of Health and Human Services, the Executive Committee of the Council of Deans (Association of American Medical Colleges - AAMC) and a member the National Advisory Research Resources Council (NARRC) of the National Institute of Health (NIH).

John Hay
Vice-Chancellor
The University of Queensland

Professor John Hay AC is the Vice-Chancellor of The University of Queensland and was previously Vice-Chancellor of Deakin University. He is currently Chair of Universitas 21, a consortium of comprehensive, research-intensive international universities and Chairs the Board, of, among other bodies, the Carrick Institute for Learning & Teaching in Higher Education.

Peter Høj
Chief Executive Officer
Australian Research Council

Professor Peter Høj commenced as CEO of the Australian Research Council in 2004. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), a member of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) Council, a member of the Expert Advisory group which will develop a Research Quality Framework for publicly funded research and a member of the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Committee.

Professor Høj served as a Private Member of the Prime Minister's Science Engineering and Innovation Council (PMSEIC) from 1999-2004 and was Managing Director of the Australian Wine Research Institute (1997 - 2004) following a traditional academic career from post doctoral fellow to Professor (1987 - 1997) based in Adelaide.

John Kirkland
Executive Secretary
Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the United Kingdom

Deputy Secretary-General (Development)
ACU

Dr John Kirkland is Deputy Secretary-General (Development) at the Association of Commonwealth Universities. In this capacity he has been responsible for the development of ACU's networks in Research

Primrose Kurasha
Vice-Chancellor
Zimbabwe Open University

Dr P. Kurasha: The Vice Chancellor of Zimbabwe Open University made history by becoming the first woman Vice Chancellor in Zimbabwe in July 2003. She holds a PhD from the Potchefstroom University, Republic of South Africa, MBA from Bridgeport University, U.S.A and a BBS (Hons) degree from the University of Zimbabwe.

Silas Lwakabamba
Rector
Kigali Institute of Science, Technology and Management

Born in 1947 and educated in Tanzania, Professor Silas Lwakabamba had to go to the University of Leeds for his training in Engineering as there was no Engineering school in Tanzania. After graduating with a BSc (1971) and PhD (1975) in Mechanical Engineering from Leeds, he returned to Tanzania to join the staff of the Faculty of Engineering, which had just started at the University of Dar es Salaam.

He progressed rapidly through the ranks to obtain professorship in 1981. He gained managerial experience along the way, becoming Head of Department, Associate Dean and eventually Dean of the Faculty of Engineering

In 1985, Professor Lwakabamba joined the UN-sponsored African Regional Centre for Engineering Design Manufacturing (ARCEDEM), based in Nigeria, as a founding Director of Training and Extension Services. For the next 12 years he was responsible for organizing many workshops and training programs for the benefit of the whole region.

As founding Rector of the Kigali Institute of Science, Technology and Management since 1997, he is now in a still more challenging pioneering role: developing a programme to train both Engineering and technician personnel, of which there was always a shortage, but which scarcity was exacerbated by the Rwandan Civil war and genocide of 1990-1994 which depleted the country's human resources.

Professor Lwakabamba is a member of several boards and committees, national, sub-regional and international. He is particularly proud to have participated in the setting up of the African Network of Scientific and Technological Institutions (ANSTI) under UNESCO, and especially the setting up of the sub-networks on Water Resources Engineering, Mechanical/Production and Energy/Power (1976-1986).

Stuart McCutcheon
Vice-Chancellor
The University of Auckland

Professor Stuart McCutcheon is Vice-Chancellor of The University of Auckland, a post he has held since 1 January 2005. He was previously Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Massey University (1994-2000) and Vice-Chancellor of Victoria University of Wellington (2000-2004). Professor McCutcheon was Chair of the New Zealand Vice-Chancellor's Committee 2004-2005.

Kottilil Mohandas
Director
Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology

Chair
Association of Commonwealth Universitiies (ACU)

A postgraduate in anaesthesiology, Dr.Mohandas was Professor and Head of the Department of Anaesthesiology and later the Dean of the Institute, before being appointed as the Director in 1994, thus becoming the first anaesthesiologist to head a University. Recognizing his professional, academic and research contributions to anaesthesiology, the Royal College of Anaesthetists of the United Kingdom recently conferred FRCA on him. An honorary Professor of the University of Minnesota, Dr.Mohandas was the President of the Association of Indian Universities last year. He is currently the Chairperson of the Association of Commonwealth Universities. 

Claire Morris
President and CEO
Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada

Claire M. Morris is President and CEO of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada since April, 2004.

Prior to joining the AUCC, she was deputy minister of intergovernmental affairs in the Privy Council Office of Canada. Ms. Morris joined the government of Canada in December 1998, serving as associate deputy minister and deputy minister of Human Resources Development Canada, deputy minister of Labour and concurrently chairperson of the Canada Employment Insurance Commission.

Prior to joining the federal government, Ms. Morris served as New Brunswick's highest ranking civil servant as secretary to the Cabinet and clerk of the Executive Council. She was a member of New Brunswick's civil service since 1970, holding a series of progressively senior positions in both policy and operational areas, including deputy minister of Health and Community Services and deputy minister of the Policy Secretariat.

Ms. Morris has a longstanding interest in the well-being of Canada's universities. She served as a member of the board of governors of St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and chaired the university's strategic planning committee. She has also served in an advisory capacity for the school of public administration at Dalhousie University, the faculty of social work at Université de Moncton, and the faculty of administration at the University of New Brunswick. She served as chair and member of the Maritime Rhodes Scholarship selection committee, and has also chaired the selection committee for women's doctoral scholarships in New Brunswick.

Ms. Morris currently serves on the boards of various organizations, including the Canadian Labour and Business Centre, the Directing Group of the Programme on Institutional Management in Higher Education of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the International Commission of the American Council on Education, the International Commission of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, and the Advisory Panel of Australia Education International.

Najma Najam
Vice-Chancellor
Fatima Jinnah Women University of Pakistan

The first Vice-Chancellor of the Fatima Jinnah Women University of Pakistan, has been trained as a brain-behavioural scientist from the US. Dr Najam is a Fulbright Alumnus (1975-1980, MA, PHD and 1995-1996 Senior Fulbright Fellow) who has attended Bowling Green State University, OHIO, and was visiting researcher/faculty at Vision Research Center at the Psychology department University of Georgia, Athens GA (US)and CEDAR, Westerns Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She is an active researcher and teacher within the public sector university system of Pakistan and has been an involved in the reforms of HE through the President's Task Force on Higher education reform, and the Steering Committee for reform.

She is presently chair of the Committee for Development of Social and Human Sciences of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. Among her major areas of concern is working to develop networks for and training of women in Higher Education management in Pakistani Universities

Njabulo Ndebele
Vice-Chancellor
University of Cape Town

President
Association of African Universities

Professor Njabulo S Ndebele is currently Vice-Chancellor & Principal of the University of Cape Town, having started his first term of office in July 2000. An established author, Njabulo Ndebele recently published a novel The Cry of Winnie Mandela to critical acclaim.  He is a key figure in South African Higher Education.  He has served as Chair of the South African Universities Vice-Chancellor’s Association from 2002-2005, and he recently became President of the Association of African Universities and Chair of the Southern African Regional Universities Association.

Loyiso Nongxa
Vice-Chancellor and Principal
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Prof. Loyiso Nongxa was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in May 2003 and installed in September 2003. Prior to this appointment, he served as the acting Vice-Chancellor from November 2002 and Vice-Principal from April 2002 and also held the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) from October 2000. Loyiso is a mathematician who has lectured at the University of Fort Hare, the National University of Lesotho, the University of Natal and the University of the Western Cape (UWC). He was also a Professor in Mathematics and Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at UWC.

Tom Phillips
Chair
South Australian Training and Skills Commission

Recently retired as CEO and President of Mitsubishi Motors Australia Ltd, Tom Phillips is respected locally and internationally as a business leader with a longstanding record in workforce development. 

Mr Phillips’ distinguished career in the Australian automotive industry includes roles with General Motors and Toyota.  He was recognised by his peers with the award of Businessman of the Year in 2002.

Ongoing business interests for Mr Phillips include directorships with a number of South Australian and national companies, including Australia Post. 

Mr Phillips is a member of the Flinders University Council, and is a member or chairman of the governing bodies of several charitable and arts organisations.  He is the chairman of SafeWork SA.  He holds an MBA from the University of New England and is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Nyameko Barney Pityana
Principal and Vice Chancellor
University of South Africa

Prof N Barney Pityana is Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of South Africa in the City of Tshwane, South Africa since 2001. UniSA is among the world's mea distance education institutions with some 220000 registered students and 5000 staff and academics. He was previously Chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission, one of the independent constitutional institutions established to protect democracy in South Africa (1995-2001). He has also served as a member of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights for a term of six years.

Dr Pityana read law in South Africa and is an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa. He also studied theology at King's College London and trained for the Anglican ministry at Ripon College Cuddesdon Oxford. He served as a curate in the Ecumenical Parish of Woughton in Milton Keynes, Diocese of Oxford and was Vicar of Immanuel Highters Heath Birmingham. He has also served as Director of the World Council of Churches' Programme to Combat Racism based in Geneva (1988-1992). He received the PhD in Religious Studies at the University of Cape Town in 1995.

Prof Pityana has published extensively in theology, human rights law and politics. He holds the ad hominem Chair in Law at the University of South Africa. He has also held various positions in Africa and internationally relating to his interests and commitment to human rights. Among these are serving on the Chairman of the AU Commission's Steering Committee on African Intellectuals and the Diaspora; the African governance Institute, and as Chairman of the African Council for Distance Education. In South Africa he is prominent in higher education leadership and advocacy as Chairperson of Higher Education South Africa (HESA) which is the voice of the higher education vice chancellors and institutions.

Akilapa Sawyerr
Secretary General
Association of African Universities

Professor Akilapa Sawyerr is the Secretary-General of the Association of African Universities (AAU), an international nongovernmental organisation with a membership of 194 institutions, headquartered in Accra, Ghana.

Professor Sawyerr was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana. from 1985 to 1992, after teaching law at the Universities of Dar es Salaam, Papua New Guinea and Ghana, and holding fellowships and visiting appointments at universities in Europe and the US.

Professor Sawyerr studied law at the Universities of Durham, London and California (Berkeley), where he obtained the degree of Doctor of the Science of Jurisprudence (JSD). He has since been awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters (Honoris Causa) by the University of Ghana and the University of Development Studies, in Ghana. Professor Sawyerr is a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, chairman of a number of international bodies, including the Executive Council of the Third World Network - Africa Region (TWN-Af), and a member of Editorial Advisory Board, Journal of Human Development. He was previously President, Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) (1995-1998), and Chair of the Global Development Network (DN), and the Steering Committee of the Secretariat for Institutional Support for Economic Research in Africa (SISERA). He currently serves on several national and international bodies, including the Council of the United Nations University.

Deryck Schreuder
Chair
Australian Universities Quality Agency

Professor Deryck M Schreuder FAHA FRHS LL D is the current Chair of the Board of Directors of the Australian Universities' Quality Agency and was previously a Vice Chancellor of two Australian universities, and the President of the Australian Vice Chancellors' Committee. He has had extensive experience of transnational education, and was a member of the Council of the ACU and the Advisory Board of its Borderless Education Observatory. As an historian he has recently edited the "Australia" volume of the Oxford History of the British Empire, and served as President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He writes on a wide range of educational and historical issues in the media.

David Skegg
Vice-Chancellor
University of Otago

Professor David Skegg is Vice-Chancellor of the University of Otago in New Zealand. After graduating in Medicine in New Zealand, he was a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford. He was then a lecturer in epidemiology at the University of Oxford, before taking up the Chair of Preventive Medicine at Otago in 1980. He has chaired the Health Research Council of New Zealand and the Public Health Commission, and has also been a consultant to the World Health Organization.

Michael Sterling
Vice-Chancellor and Principal
University of Birmingham

Professor Sterling was appointed Vice-Chancellor and Principal at the University of Birmingham in October 2001, after 11 years as Vice-Chancellor at Brunel University. He began his career as an electrical engineer in 1964 joining AEI (later EC) as a student apprentice with a scholarship to the University of Sheffield to read Electronic and Electrical Engineering, graduating with a 1st class Honours degree and subsequently a PhD in Computer Control in 1971. He subsequently held appointments as Lecturer/Senior Lecturer at the University of Sheffield followed by a Chair at the University of Durham.

Derrick Swartz
Vice-Chancellor and Principal
University of Fort Hare

Derrick Swartz is currently the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Fort Hare (UFH), one of South Africa's oldest and most revered universities. He was appointed to the leadership of the UFH in 1999, and has led the university into a period of reconstruction and development aimed at reviving the fortunes of Fort Hare in the democratic era.

Born in Port Elizabeth in 1960, Professor Swartz is a political sociologist by training, with a BA degree from UWC, Masters and Doctoral degrees from Essex University in England. His areas of special interests are political sociology, political economy and public management In recent years, he has been particularly interested in the changing political economy of higher education and the developmental role of universities in developing countries. He is currently conducting research on the economic role of universities, based on work done in Japan in 2003.

Before his appointment as Rector of Fort Hare, Professor Swartz served on various high-level policy 'think tanks' in national and provincial governments, including the Presidential Review Commission expert team; reports on restructuring of public sector departments; training forums and advising the Premier of the Eastern Cape on education and administration since 1994. He was the founder of the Fort Hare Institute of Government, having specialized in public management research, training and policy advice at local, provincial and national government levels for 10 years.

Eric Thomas
Vice-Chancellor
Bristol University

Professor Thomas, who is 52 years old and married with two children, studied medicine at Newcastle University. He taught and researched at Sheffield and Newcastle universities before being appointed Professor of Obstetrics and gynaecology at Southampton University in 1991. In the same year, he became a Consultant Obstetrician and gynaecologist at Southampton University Hospitals Trust.

He was made Head of Southampton's School of Medicine in 1995 and Dean of its Faculty of Medicine, Health and Biological Sciences in 1998.

Richard Trainor
Principal
King's College London

Rick Trainor is principal and professor of social history at King's College London. Educated at Brown, Princeton and Oxford (where he was a Rhodes Scholar and took his D.Phil), he spent 21 years at Glasgow University, ultimately as vice-principal. He was vice-chancellor of the
University of Greenwich from 2000 to 2004.

He is a US/UK Fulbright commissioner and a Higher Education Academy board member. He also chairs the advisory panel of the National
Teaching Fellowships Scheme (individual strand), London Metropolitan Network and the advisory council of the Institute of Historical Research.

He has published widely on 19th and 20th century Britain and on the use of computers in teaching.

Jos Walenkamp
Director Development Cooperation
Netherlands Organization for International Cooperation in Higher Education and Research

Jos Walenkamp obtained a Masters and a Doctorate degree in Biology at Leiden University in the Netherlands and a Masters degree in Fisheries Biology and management at the University of Wales.

He worked in Mozambique at the Eduardo Mondlane University, where he was zoology professor and Dean of the Biology Faculty. After that he was responsible for the management of the Training and Research Programmes of the Europrean Commission in Nigeria.

He is at present Director Development Cooperation of the Netherlands Organization for International Cooperation in Higher Education and Research, the Nuffic.

Ewart Wooldridge
Chief Executive
Leadership Foundation for Higher Education

Ewart Wooldridge took up his appointment as Chief Executive of the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education in January 2004.

His role is to create from scratch a new organisation to support and promote the development of leadership, governance and management skills in the Higher Education sector. 

Previously he was the Chief Executive and Director of the Civil Service College, now known as the CMPS, the Government’s Centre for Management and Policy Studies.  He was also a director within the corporate development group of the Cabinet Office actively working on civil service reform and the modernisation of public services.  He was also the Cabinet Office champion for relations with the voluntary sector and played an active role in promoting equality and diversity.

His previous career spanned HR and line director positions in the private and public sectors in engineering, printing and the media (Granada plc and TVS television). 

From 1992 – 96 he was Director of Operations at London’s South Bank Arts Centre.  He worked closely with all the other South Bank businesses and institutions to improve the environment of the area with schemes such as the transformation of Hungerford Bridge and the London Eye.  He led the project which created the People’s Palace Restaurant in the Royal Festival Hall.

He then became a Chief Officer of Hampshire County Council with responsibility for lifelong learning, culture, countryside and community services.  He was responsible to the Lord Lieutenant for Hampshire’s millennium celebrations.

He is a Companion of the Institute of Personnel and Development.  He was a Vice President of the CIPD from 1993 – 1995 and chair of the National Forum on Counselling and Career Management for many year after that.

He helped found the Winchester Festival and is active in his local community in Hampshire.

Hashim Yaacob
Vice Chancellor
University of Malaya

Dato’ Professor Dr Hashim Yaacob was appointed the eighth Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malaya on April 1, 2003. Born in Tanah Merah, Kelantan in 1949, he had his early education in Tanah Merah and Kuala Krai, Kelantan as well as MARA Institute of Technology, Petaling Jaya. He obtained his BDS from the University of Otago, New Zealand in 1974, MSc from University of London in 1978, Fellow in Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow (FDSRCPS Glasg) in 1986 and Diploma in Islamic Studies (DIS) from the International Islamic University, Malaysia (IIUM) in 1992.

He was conferred Fellow in Dental Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (FDSRCS Eng Ad eundem) in 1995, the Foundation Fellow of the Faculty of Oral Pathology of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, Australia (FFOPRCPA) in 1996, the CBiol, MlBiol (Chartered Biologist) by the Institute of Biology, United Kingdom in 1996, and the Fellow of the Academy of Sciences, Malaysia (FASc) in 2000.

He has held several high-ranking positions prior to his appointment as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malaya. He was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Student Affairs (2001-2003); member of the University of Malaya Council; Senate member and member of the Promotion Panel for the posts of professor and associate professor. He was also the Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry (1987-1989; 1994-2001), the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry (1983-1986) and the Head of Department of Oral Pathology, Oral Medicine and Periodontology, Faculty of Dentistry (1980 – 1983). Presently, he is a Captain in the Royal Malaysian Navy Reserve Forces.

Throughout his academic and professional career, he has contributed significantly to his discipline of Oral Pathology and Oral Medicine and to the University. His outstanding academic achievements were recognised in 1987 when he obtained his professorship in the year 1987. During his tenure as the Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry, he was also responsible in raising the standard of the Bachelor of Dental Surgery degree programme by obtaining recognition from the General Dental Council of the United Kingdom in 1997.

Being an active researcher internationally, he has received several distinguished awards which include the Gold and Silver Awards (with his co-researchers) for the scientific invention of a pharmaceutical product called Remopain at the International Invention competition in Geneva in 2001. His research interests are in the fields of facial pain and oral diseases.

John Yovich
Vice Chancellor and President
Murdoch University

Professor John Yovich has been Vice Chancellor and President of Murdoch University since 2002. Prior to his appointment as Vice Chancellor, he was the inaugural Executive Dean for Murdoch University’s Division of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, during which time Professor Yovich concurrently served a period as Acting Pro Vice Chancellor (Research).

He currently represents the higher education sector on the Business-Industry-Higher Education Collaboration Council and is a member of various working parties established by the Australian Vice Chancellors Committee on Engagement and Auditing of University Quality.