Executive Dean of SBC

Welcome to SBC and thank you for choosing to study with us. In doing so, you have not only chosen a key provider of international higher education, located in one of the most exciting cities and countries in the world, but you have also placed yourself at the centre of a prestigious network of universities involved in an innovative and unique Sino-British collaboration.

Each year the College welcomes around 400 students attracted by the scope, rigour and relevance of our programmes and the enormous opportunities they offer. Whether you have chosen to follow a degree course in engineering or in business, you will be supported by committed and experienced teaching, research, administrative and technical colleagues. They offer you a breadth of experience and support covering all aspects of the curriculum and the world of work beyond your degree. SBC provides a resource for industry and businesses regionally, nationally and internationally. Our collaborating institutions, USST in China and 9 UK partner universities in the United Kingdom, are also important resources supporting the educational journey you are beginning now.

To achieve a degree obviously demands hard work and considerable amounts of your own time. It cannot, and should not, be any other way, but we are here to help. My colleagues and I are committed to ensuring that your association with the College is enjoyable, successful and, I hope, as one of our future alumni, long-standing. I’m sure you will establish many lifelong friendships and future professional contacts.

In addition to doing all we can to ensure you are successful academically, we will also encourage you to develop particular attributes linked to three overarching themes within the College, i.e. those relating to ‘responsible leadership’ (linked to the fact that SBC is a signatory to the United Nations initiative of Principles for Responsible Management Education), ‘enterprise and innovation’ and, finally, ‘cultural empathy’. These principles are important to each of us as individuals and to society and your mastery of them will also greatly enhance your future employment prospects.

The College is committed to facilitating and responding to feedback and, to this end, formal mechanisms have been established but please do not hesitate to convey your views directly to me should you wish to do so.

As the Executive Dean of SBC, I wish you every success and look forward to beginning our SBC journey together.

A native of Manchester, UK, he was educated at the University of Manchester where he was awarded an M.Phys. (Hons) in Physics with Theoretical Physics in 1997 and a PhD in Quantum Physics in 2001.

Working initially as a computing lecturer, he became a Senior Lecturer at the University of Huddersfield in 2005, a Subject Area Leader in 2007, and the University’s youngest-ever Head of Department in 2009. During his six years as Head of Department for Computer Science, he was also de facto Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning introducing individually, and as part of teams, a number of learning innovations within both the School of Computing and Engineering and the University as a whole. These innovations were recognized nationally seven times in seven years, including being highly commended in the Times Higher Education Leadership and Management Awards, and led to individual recognition as a UK National Teaching Fellow in 2013.

Between 2015 and 2017, Rupert was seconded to Buckingham Palace to work as a Special Adviser to the Royal Household and Project Lead for iDEA (idea.org.uk). During this time, he also co-developed one of the leading global technology acceptance models (GETAMEL).

Returning to Huddersfield in 2017, he became Associate Dean (International) within the School of Computing and Engineering where he led the establishment of a Joint Institute with Fujian Normal University and significantly increased international recruitment and income within the School. The outstanding growth in overseas earnings within the School was recognized through the award of The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise (International Trade) to the School of Computing and Engineering in 2022.

Through his research expertise in learning innovation, digital skills, badging, and micro-credentialing, he currently takes the roles of Director of Strategic Partnerships, and a member of the Executive Board, of the International Council on Badges and Credentials (ICoBC). He is also a member of the BCS Accreditation Committee and the BCS Registration and Standards Committee, a former board member of the Council for Professors and Heads of Computing, a Fellow of the British Computer Society, a Chartered Engineer, a Chartered Manager and a Chartered IT Professional. He is an international keynote speaker and has authored two books on Personalised Learning (Personalised Learning for the Learning Person; Getting Personal: How we learn and why we don’t).