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Vice-Chancellor and Principal Dr Michael Spence AC
Promoting and developing our University
Our Vice-Chancellor is the University's principal executive officer and is instrumental in determining our strategic direction.
The Vice-Chancellor leads the University and determines its overall direction, in close consultation with the Chancellor and other Fellows of Senate, senior leaders and the Academic Board.
Improving lives through leadership
Dr Michael Spence AC BA LLB Sydney DPhil PGDipTheol Oxford
Dr Michael Spence AC has led the University of Sydney as Vice-Chancellor and Principal since 2008 and is the University’s 25th vice-chancellor. Under Dr Spence’s leadership, the University has:
- risen to 1st in Australia and 4th in the world for graduate employability
- earned a regular ranking in the top 50 universities in the world
- transformed its undergraduate experience to give our students the confidence to become tomorrow’s leaders
- raised a record $1 billion during the INSPIRED philanthropic campaign
- excelled at collaborative, multidisciplinary research to find solutions to the world’s most pressing issues
- created partnerships with leading industry, government and community organisations across the globe
- simplified our administrative processes to achieve efficiencies and ensure strategic use of resources
- fostered deeper engagement with China, India and Southeast Asia
- embedded diversity, inclusion and cultural competence as bedrocks of a values-driven culture, where respect and disagreeing well are the norm
- transformed our campuses for generations of students and staff
- progressed its vision for a second principal campus in the heart of Western Sydney.
An alumnus of the University, Dr Spence has a BA with first-class honours in English, Italian and law. His other languages include French, Chinese and Korean. He 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 its social sciences division.
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