Alastair has 28 years’ experience in the HE sector and prior to joining GCU in April 2020, was Director of Teaching and Learning Enhancement at Abertay University for seven years. Alastair also has extensive experience of supporting quality enhancement at the national level through positions at the Higher Education Academy (2005-13) and QAA Scotland (2003-05). He is Chair of the Scottish Higher Education Enhancement Committee (SHEEC) and has previously served as Vice Chair of the UK Heads of Educational Development Group (HEDG).
His experience extends to a number of areas influencing the student learning experience, particularly, academic leadership, strategic change, technology enhanced learning, learning spaces, student engagement and national HE policy development. His latest research is on evidencing so-called intangible assets: factors that contribute to student success in higher education that are not easily quantifiable through metric proxies such as student satisfaction, educational outcomes and graduate salaries. Alastair’s academic background is in solid state inorganic chemistry.