Michael Spence

Michael James Spence (born 10 January 1962) is an Australian university administrator who served as the vice-chancellor and principal of the University of Sydney from 2008 to 2020. He is currently the president and provost of University College London. Spence has a background in intellectual property theory and was also ordained as an Anglican priest in 2006. Early life and education Spence's father was a high-school headmaster and his mother was a manager of the Bjelke–Petersen School of Physical Culture. He attended Knox Grammar and the University of Sydney, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with first-class honours in English and Italian in 1985 and a Bachelor of Laws degree with honours in 1987. At Oxford, Spence obtained his DPhil degree in law and became a fellow of St Catherine's College. In the 20 years he spent at the college, he lectured for the university, obtaining a Postgraduate Diploma in Theology from the university. Faculty head at Oxford Spence served as head of the law faculty at the University of Oxford and would eventually head the Social Sciences Division, one of the four divisions that constitute that university. One of Spence's priorities at Oxford was to actively encourage fundraising and sponsorship from benefactors and corporate groups. He was a driving force behind the establishment and financial support of a number of Oxford's new research centres and institutes, such as the Oxford Centre for Educational Assessment and the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. His responsibilities included oversight of research units, including the James Martin 21st Century School and the Oxford-Man Institute of Quantitative Finance.