Professor Wendy Alexander

Wendy Alexander is Vice-Principal (International), a Professor of International Education leads the University's international strategy and is a member of the University Executive.  Her responsibilities include strategic leadership of the University’s global engagement strategy.  She has championed growth in international students, new international collaborations and the role of edtech in international student recruitment. She has nurtured international alumni ambassadors, pioneered a Humanitarian Scholars programme, Chairs the board of International College Dundee and was instrumental in the establishment of the School of Business.  She represents the University, and the sector, at the highest levels of Government, industry, higher education, in the UK and internationally.

Wendy serves as the Scottish Government’s International Trade & Investment Envoy for Higher Education and is a member of the Department for Education’s Education Sector Advisory Group. She Chairs the Global Advisory Board for Times Higher Education Student and is a past Co-Chair of UUK Pro-Vice Chancellor’s International network. She is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, a Patron of Social Investment Scotland and a member of the Investment Advisory Board of Scottish Equity Partners LLP.

Previously at London Business School (LBS), she managed their degree programmes globally.  Wendy also spent over a decade in government and public service. She served in the first three Scottish Cabinets, including as Minister for Further and Higher Education, holding the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, Transport and Communities portfolios and also served as Scottish Labour Leader in the Scottish Parliament. Prior to that she worked in international strategy consultancy with Booz & Co. in US, Europe and Asia.>

Educated in Canada, US and France, Wendy is a graduate of Glasgow and Warwick Universities and holds an MBA from INSEAD, France.  As a Visiting Professor at Strathclyde University, she led the Allander Series bringing Nobel Laureates to Scotland and co-editing New Wealth for Old Nations: Scotland's Economic Prospects (Princeton University Press, 2005).