Professor Petra Wend FRSA FRSE awarded CBE
Professor Petra Wend PhD, FRSA, FRSE awarded a CBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List
Petra Wend, Professor Emerita and retired Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Queen Margaret University (QMU), has been awarded a CBE in the New Year’s Honours list, for services to higher education.
Professor Wend was at the helm of QMU for a decade until 2019, joining the University two years after it moved to its current campus. Under her leadership, QMU leapt up the rankings in terms of research excellence and greatly expanded the range and depth of such work. It nurtured and expanded on its local and national partnerships and connections alongside growing its international footprint and outlook.
A committed internationalist, Professor Wend has worked consistently throughout her career as an academic to cross borders, geographically and socially, in order to realise the full potential of the institutions with which she has been associated. While Professor Wend was Principal, QMU won the top award in the Outstanding Leadership and Management Team category of the Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards 2012. In March 2015, she was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, in recognition of her inspirational leadership in higher education (FRSE).
Although she had never lived or worked in Scotland before joining QMU, she soon established herself firmly here both in the higher education sector and in broader civic life. In addition to her role at QMU, she has been a member or chair of a significant number of national and international boards. These roles include the Chair of the National Implementation Board for Teaching Scotland’s Future, a Commissioner on the Commission on Widening Access, Vice-Convener of Universities Scotland, member of the Council of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and also their Education Committee, Director on the Board of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, Chair of the Common Purpose Edinburgh Advisory Group, and membership of the British Council Scotland Advisory Committee. She is Chair of the Global Universities Leaders’ Council. She is also a member of the Council of the University of Hamburg.
