Honorary graduates 2023

Professor Sir Steve Smith (LLD)

Monday 17 July 2023 11:45am

Professor Sir Steve Smith is the UK Government International Education Champion, and the Prime Minister’s Special Representative to Saudi Arabia for Education. He was previously Vice-Chancellor of the University of Exeter from 2002-2020.

He holds a BSc, an MSc, and a PhD in International Relations from the University of Southampton. He served as President of the International Studies Association from 2003-2004, and is the author/editor of 17 books and over 100 journal articles.

Sir Steve was President of Universities UK (UUK) from 2009-2011. He was a Board member of the Russell Group (2012-2020); Chair of UUK's International Policy Network (2015-2020); Member of the UUK Board (2006-2020); Chair of the UCAS Board (2013– 2019); Board member of the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (2013-2020).

He is currently a Fulbright Commissioner, a Trustee of the Education and Employers Task Force, a Non-Executive Director of Unite Students, Chair of the Liveable Exeter Place Board, and a Patron of Exeter College. From 2006 he has been on the Board of Governors of RSIS at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. In 2012 he was awarded the University of South Florida's Global Leadership Award.

From June 2007 until May 2010, he led for higher education on the Prime Minister’s National Council of Excellence in Education. In 2000 he was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of the Learned Societies in the Social Sciences (FAcSS). He was knighted in the 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours for services to higher education. In 2019, he was made a Freeman of the City of Exeter for his contribution to Exeter.