Symposium Speakers

Alan Gilbert was named President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester in 2003. He was previously Vice-Chancellor of the University of Tasmania (1991-1996) and Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Melbourne (1996-2004). During his tenure at Melbourne, Dr. Gilbert was Chair of Melbourne University Private Limited, a private university operating in partnership with the University of Melbourne. Dr. Gilbert has also served on the Australian Higher Education Council (1991-1995), the Hong Kong University Grants Committee (1998-2000), and chaired the "Group of Eight", an incorporated association of Australia's leading research universities (2003). From 2002-2002, he was a member of a group advising the Australian Ministry of Education, Science and Training on higher education regulatory and funding reforms.

In 1996, Dr. Gilbert initiated the Universitas 21 network of international research universities and served as the organization's inaugural Chair after its 1999 incorporation. Under his leadership, U21 negotiated a joint venture with the Thomson Corporation to create Universitas 21 Global, an on-line university based in Singapore.

Dr. Gilbert holds an M.A. in History from the Australian National University (1967) and a D.Phil. in Modern History from the University of Oxford (1973). Before taking on administrative responsibilities, he published widely on Australian and British history, and the secularization of modern Western culture.