David Eastwood
Sir David Stephen Eastwood,, is a British academic and long serving university leader who was Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia and of the University of Birmingham.
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 degree 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.
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. In March 2011, Eastwood announced plans to raise the undergraduate tuition fees at the University of Birmingham to the maximum of £9,000 for courses commencing 2012–13. Eastwood retired from the position in December 2021 and was succeeded by Adam Tickell.
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 18th and 19th century British and American politics.
He has been a member of the board of the Universities Superannuation Scheme since 2007.