Tim Quine is Professor of Earth Surface Science and the President’s Special Envoy at the University of Exeter-Zhejiang University of Technology Joint Institute (ZUTE) in Hangzhou, China. There he is leading ZUTE’s portfolio of research, business engagement and education, including joint postgraduate and undergraduate programmes in digital media, big data and energy transformation.

He has recently completed a 10-year term as Vice-President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education & Student Experience) at the University of Exeter. Prior to taking on the role of Vice-President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor in September 2015, Tim was the Academic Dean for Students having been the Associate Dean for Education for the College of Life and Environmental Sciences. Tim undertakes research in Earth Surface Science that focuses on perturbation of the terrestrial carbon cycle and ecosystem services by soil erosion and sediment deposition and the implications for the delivery of wider ecosystem services. His research has a strong international dimension and projects have seen him collaborate with researchers in universities and institutes in China, India, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Bolivia, Saudi Arabia, Australia, New Zealand and many European countries.

As the Vice-President (Education & Student Experience), Tim developed and delivered Exeter’s ‘Education Strategy 2019-25’ and led our Strategy 2030 Education and Student Experience theme. Central to these was ‘Success for All our Students’, which focused on providing an outstanding experience, ensuring equality of opportunity, and eliminating experience and awarding gaps. He collaborated with ten cohorts of student leaders to ensure that strategy, policy, and practice were always student-centred. Tim established the Exeter Education Incubator, which supports academics passionate about education and learning and promotes pedagogic innovation and led the creation of our global collaboration, Future-17, with QS and partner universities. He championed diversification of routes to an Exeter degree through the development of Exeter’s sector-leading Degree Apprenticeship portfolio and, more recently, the growth of online provision. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Tim chaired the Russell Group network of Pro-Vice Chancellors (Education) and guided Exeter’s response, developing Project Enhance to support colleagues in the pivot to hybrid and remote teaching and learning, and leading the creation of the sector-leading no-detriment policy to support student learning and wellbeing through the uncertainty of the time. Under Tim’s leadership, Exeter was awarded Gold in the UK government-led Teaching Excellence Framework assessments of 2017 and 2023.