David Eastwood

Sir David Stephen Eastwood, DL, FRHistS (born 5 January 1959), is a British academic who has been Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham since 13 April 2009.^[1]

Early life

Eastwood was born on 5 January 1959 in Oldham, Lancashire^[2] and educated at Sandbach School. In 1980, he graduated from St Peter's College, University of Oxford with a First Class Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Modern History, and was promoted to Master of Arts (MA) in 1985. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in 1985, also from the University of Oxford.^[3]

Career

Eastwood has held the posts of Chief Executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Board and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Swansea University. His academic specialism is modern history, and he was fellow and senior tutor of Pembroke College, Oxford.

He was Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), a post he had held since September 2006.^[4] Former posts also include Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia and Chief Executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Board.

On 13 April 2009, he succeeded Michael Sterling as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham. In March 2011, he announced plans to raise the undergraduate tuition fees at the University of Birmingham to the maximum of £9000 (subject to OFFA approval) for courses commencing 2012/13.

He is also Chair of the QAA Steering Group for Benchmarking and a member of the QAA Board. He has contributed numerous times to several newspapers, among them The Guardian,The Sunday Telegraph and The Times. His specialist subject is 19th and 18th century British and American politics.

Honours

Eastwood was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS)^[5] in 1991.^[2] On 25 January 2012, he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the West Midlands.^[6] He was knighted in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to higher education.^[7][8]

Clubs

He is a member of the Athenaeum Club.

References

1. "Profile: Professor David Eastwood". University of Birmingham. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
2. "Prof David Eastwood". People of Today Online. Debrett's. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
3. "EASTWOOD, Prof. David Stephen". Who's Who 2012. A & C Black. 2012.
4. "Professor Eastwood appointed Chief Executive of HEFCE". HEFCE. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
5. "Fellows of the Royal Historical Society". Royal Historical Society. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
6. The London Gazette: no. 60072. p. 3907. 28 February 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-21.
7. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 60895. p. b2. 14 June 2014.
8. "Queen's birthday honours list 2014: Military". The Guardian. 13 June 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2014.