David Eastwood


Sir David Stephen Eastwood, , is a British academic who has been Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham since 13 April 2009.

Early life

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

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, a post he had held since September 2006.
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 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.
He has been a member of the board of the Universities Superannuation Scheme since 2007.

Honours

Eastwood was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 1991. On 25 January 2012, he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the West Midlands. He was knighted in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to higher education.

Clubs

He is a member of the Athenaeum Club.