At a meeting of ACU Council held yesterday in London, Professor Jan Thomas and Professor Cheryl de la Rey were appointed as Chair and Vice-Chair respectively of the ACU Council for a two year period from 2015-2017.

Professor Dato' Dr Mohd Amin Jalaludin, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Malaya, Malaysia, was also co-opted as a member of Council during the meeting. Earlier in the year, Professor James McWha was re-appointed as Honorary Treasurer, and Professor Ranbir Singh, Vice-Chancellor of the National Law University, Delhi, India and Professor Paul Boyle, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Leicester, UK, were both co-opted as members of Council.

The Council is the governing body of the ACU and comprises of up to 23 members, who represent constituencies covering all major regions of the Commonwealth. The Chair and Vice-Chair are elected by fellow Council members.

Professor Jan Thomas is Vice-Chancellor of the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. She was previously Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Notre Dame in Western Australia. She was also Vice-Chair of the ACU Council between 2013-2015. In addition to her extensive organisational leadership, she has an international reputation in her own academic background in veterinary and biomedical sciences.

Professor Cheryl de la Rey is Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria, South Africa, since November 2009. Her previous executive positions include being the Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Higher Education, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Cape Town and Executive Director at the National Research Foundation. She has published books and several journal articles in her discipline, Psychology.

Read more about the ACU Council and governance structure