Sir David Melville
Patron of 157 Group
Sir David Melville has been a Patron of 157 since 2007. Previously he was Chief Executive of the Further Education Funding Council, and before that he was Vice-Chancellor of Middlesex University and Vice-Chair of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals (now UUK) and Chair of its Longer Term Strategy Committee. He began his career as a lecturer in physics at Southampton University and became Professor of Physics and Head of the School of Physics and Astronomy and subsequently Assistant Director and Vice-Rector of Lancashire Polytechnic. He was a member of a number of Research Council committees and panels, the Tomlinson Review of 14-19 Curriculum and Qualifications, the Foundation Degree Task Force, the Foster Review of the Future of Further Education Colleges and chaired the UK Universities Race Equality Consultation Project.
He has been a board member of the Higher Education Careers Services Unit and The Place and a member of the Council for Industry and Higher Education, the South-East Regional Assembly, the South East Science, Engineering and Technology Advisory Committee, the Kent Partnership Board and the Medway Renaissance Partnership, and Chair of the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the University Vocational Awards Council, the Kent and Medway Learning and Skills Council and Higher Education South East and Vice-Chair of the Kent Public Service Board.
He is currently Chair of the Committee of Inquiry into the changing learner experience, a board member of Edexcel, the Institute of Financial Services, the Learning from Experience Trust, West Kent College and a member of the QCA Qualifications and Skills Advisory Group, the Advisory Board of the Black Leadership Initiative, the All Souls Group, the Thames Gateway Strategic Partnership, the DIUS 14-19 Higher Education Project Board and the DIUS/DCSF STEM High Level Strategy Group, and Vice-Chair of the Marlowe and Folkestone Academies. He is the Thames Gateway Skills Envoy and a patron of the 157 Group and Comprehensive Future.
He was educated at Sheffield and Columbia Universities, is an Honorary Professor of the Universities of Central Lancashire and Middlesex and Emeritus Professor of the University of Kent, has Honorary Degrees from Southampton, Derby, Middlesex and Sheffield Universities and was awarded a CBE in 2001 and a KBE in 2007 for services to further and higher education.