Exeter Vice-Chancellor to be next President of Universities UK

Professor Smith said: “I am very much looking forward to taking up the UUK Presidency next year. 2009 will be a year of changes for the organisation, and no doubt for the higher education sector itself, so it will be an exciting and challenging time to be President.”

Appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Exeter in October 2002, Professor Smith has been Chair of the 1994 Group of universities since August 2006. He has been Vice-President and Chair of UUK’s England and Northern Ireland Council since August 2007. He is a member of the UUK Board and Research Policy Committee, and of UUK’s Delivery Partnership Steering Group, which will implement the Government report on post-qualifications admissions.

Professor Smith is Chair of HEFCE’s Financial Sustainability Strategy Group (formerly TRAC Strategy Group), on the Board of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), and a Member of the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) Advisory Group. In June 2007, Prof Smith was appointed to the Prime Minister’s National Council for Excellence in Education (NCEE), which provides advice to DCSF and DIUS on measures to achieve world-class education performance for all children.

Having obtained his BSc, MSc and PhD degrees from the University of Southampton, Professor Smith was Professor of International Relations at the University of East Anglia before becoming Professor of International Politics at the University of Wales Aberystwyth. He served as Head of Department between 1995-1999, and from 1999-2002 as Senior Pro Vice Chancellor. He is the author/editor of 15 books, most recently (edited with John Baylis and Patricia Owens) The Globalization of World Politics (4th edition, Oxford University Press, 2008), and (edited with Tim Dunne and Amelia Hadfield) Foreign Policy: Theories, Actors, Cases (Oxford University Press, 2008). His main academic interests have been foreign policy analysis, the theory of international politics, international security, and the impact of globalisation on political and economic life. Born in Norwich in 1952, he remains a committed supporter of Norwich City Football Club.

Professor Rick Trainor, President, Universities UK, said: “I am delighted that Steve Smith will be taking on this role. He has been closely involved with Universities UK in recent years and has broad interests across the higher education sector – his experience and expertise will stand UUK in good stead as it faces new challenges and opportunities in the next couple of years.”