David S Latchman

The Vice-Chancellor is the chief academic and administrative officer of the College. Appointed by, and accountable to, the Governors, he is responsible for promoting the continuous development of Birkbeck's record of academic excellence in both teaching and research. The title of Vice-Chancellor replaced the former title of Master and came into effect in August 2020.

The Vice-Chancellor is also the designated Accounting Officer to the Office for Students (OfS) and previously HEFCE.

Professor David Latchman took up his appointment at Birkbeck in 2003 and has been Professor of Genetics at University College London since 1999. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2010 for his services to higher education.

Since his appointment, Professor Latchman has been an advocate of lifelong learning, in a system that focuses on funding school leavers’ degrees over others.

In 2007, Birkbeck lost 70% of its income when students who already had a first degree were prevented from obtaining loans to cover the cost of tuition fees to study for qualifications that were at an equivalent or lower level than ones they already had (ELQ). In response, Professor Latchman developed a strategic plan which resulted in the award of a £10 million grant from the central government which was used to reach out to new groups and students and introduce new three-year programmes that would allow working people to complete degrees at the same pace as full-time day students.

His advocacy for lifelong learning has seen further funding for part-time students and the universities that serve them, with fee loans and maintenance loans being made available to part-time undergraduate students and full-time postgraduate students, and the upper age limit of postgraduate loans being set at 60 years of age, a 30-year increase on the previous age limit.

Professor Latchman continues to advocate for lifelong learning, publishing opinion pieces in the Guardian and the Financial Times, and is a member of the Lifelong Education Commission at ResPublica.

In his role at Birkbeck, Professor Latchman has overseen significant development of the College’s estate, including the development of the Clore Management Centre, Wohl Wolfson ToddlerLab, and 373 Euston Road. In 2021, Birkbeck acquired the former Student Central building from the University of London, which is scheduled to reopen in 2024 increasing its teaching, learning and student social space by 25%.

Since Professor Latchman's appointment, the College has been awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for the work on the BabyLab. It has also been highly rated in successive government research and teaching assessment exercises and it has significantly increased its income from philanthropic sources.