About the President & Provost
Biography: Dr Michael Spence
Dr Michael Spence AC joined Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê as President & Provost in January 2021, joining the university from the University of Sydney where he was Vice-Chancellor from 2008 to 2020.Ìý
- Click to read more
- Since arriving, he has led a year-long university-wide consultation to develop the Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê Strategic Plan 2022-27, which sets out Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê’s priorities and ambitions for the next five years in order to strengthen the excellence of Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê’s education, research and innovation, underpinned by a robust financial strategy and improvement of the processes and services that underpin academic excellence. Work to implement the plan is now underway.
In his first years at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê, he has led the university through the complexities of reopening campus following the end of Covid lockdowns and the transition from online back to in-person learning for a global community. He has also overseen the opening of Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê East, Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê’s major new campus in East London, in September 2022, building key strategic relationships with local government, businesses and community organisations in that area.
As a long-standing proponent of universities as crucibles for debate and dialogue, he has established himself as a leading voice within the UK and beyond promoting the art of ‘disagreeing well’, and is spearheading a new programme of activities shortly to launch at Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê which will explore approaches to developing the skill of constructive debate around challenging issues.
As Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney, he led the university’s rise to first in Australia and fourth in the world for graduate employability. He was responsible for raising a record one billion Australian dollars through the INSPIRED philanthropic campaign, which transformed the university’s campus by funding major new research and education centres, bringing resources to life-changing medical research and providing more than 2,000 scholarships and education initiatives for new and existing students.
Dr Spence is recognised internationally as a leader in the field of intellectual property theory and holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Oxford, where he headed Oxford’s Law faculty and Social Sciences division.
An alumnus of the University of Sydney, Dr Spence has a BA with first-class honours in English, Italian and Law. His other languages include Chinese and Korean.
In 2017, Dr Spence was named a Companion of the Order of Australia in recognition of his service to the higher education sector and in 2018 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales.
May 2023Ìý
Ìý