This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous.Find sources: "David Eastwood" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Sir David Stephen Eastwood, DL, FRHistS (born 5 January 1959), is a British academic and long serving university leader who was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham between 13 April 2009 and December 2021.[1][2]

Early life

Eastwood was born on 5 January 1959 in Oldham, Lancashire,[3] and educated at Sandbach School. In 1980, he graduated from St Peter's College, Oxford, with a First Class Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree 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.[4]

Career

Eastwood has held the posts of Chief Executive of the Arts and Humanities Research Board and Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Swansea University.[5] His academic specialism is modern history, and he was fellow and senior tutor of Pembroke College, Oxford.[6]

He was Chief Executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), a post he had held since September 2006.[7] His 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.[8] In March 2011, Eastwood 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.[9] Eastwood retired from the position in December 2021 and was succeeded by Adam Tickell.[2]

Eastwood is a former chair of the QAA Steering Group for Benchmarking and a former 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.[10][citation needed]

He has been a member of the board of the Universities Superannuation Scheme since 2007.[11]

Honours

Eastwood was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS)[12] in 1991.[3] On 25 January 2012, he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the West Midlands.[13] He was knighted in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to higher education.[14][15]

References

  1. ^ "Profile: Professor David Eastwood". University of Birmingham. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
  2. ^ a b "University of Birmingham appoints new Vice-Chancellor". University of Birmingham. 25 June 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Prof David Eastwood". People of Today Online. Debrett's. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  4. ^ "EASTWOOD, Prof. David Stephen". Who's Who 2012. A & C Black. 2012.
  5. ^ "What Should Universities Be? David Eastwood". arts.brighton.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  6. ^ Richards, Huw (15 February 2005). "David Eastwood: Road runner". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  7. ^ "Professor Eastwood appointed Chief Executive of HEFCE". HEFCE. Retrieved 9 June 2010.
  8. ^ Lipsett, Anthea (16 June 2008). "Eastwood named as new head at University of Birmingham". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  9. ^ Keogh, Kat (25 March 2011). "University of Birmingham to charge students £9,000 per year". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  10. ^ "David Eastwood". The Conversation. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  11. ^ "The Board". USS.
  12. ^ "Fellows of the Royal Historical Society". Royal Historical Society. Archived from the original on 27 August 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  13. ^ "No. 60072". The London Gazette. 28 February 2012. p. 3907.
  14. ^ "No. 60895". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 June 2014. p. b2.
  15. ^ "Queen's birthday honours list 2014: Military". The Guardian. 13 June 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2014.
Academic offices Preceded byVincent Watts Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia 2002–2006 Succeeded byBill MacMillan Preceded byMichael Sterling Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham April 2009-December 2021 Succeeded byAdam Tickell
Categories