Professor Richard Follett
Vice-President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement)
Professor Richard Follett leads the development and delivery of the University’s Global Strategy and has oversight of the University’s global activities, including student recruitment, global experiences for staff and students, establishing and leading the University’s relationships with key global partners, and engaging alumni around the world.
An elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Richard is also Professor of American History and a specialist on the history of African American slavery.
Richard joined Exeter in January 2023 from the University of Sussex. He is a graduate of the University of Wales, the University of London, and the University of Illinois. He obtained his doctorate from Louisiana State University where he was a Fulbright scholar.
Richard’s remit is captured in Exeter’s Global Strategy, which lays out Exeter’s vision to be a truly global institution by extending our presence, reach and impact around the world. It seeks to realise Exeter’s ambitions to be an internationally recognised leader in human health and wellbeing, sustainability, and social justice; to grow our mutually beneficial partnerships; to diversify our international student community; and to provide an inclusive and world-class staff and student experience.
In his role, Richard works with Exeter’s leading international partners and networks. The University’s partnerships include the University of Queensland, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Tsinghua University, Université Paris-Saclay, Arizona State University and Duke University. The University is a member of the prestigious Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) and Venice International University (VIU) and has recently become an affiliated member of the European University Alliance for Global Health (EUGLOH).
Richard also leads on delivering the University’s ambitious Transnational Education (TNE) Strategy, which includes launching the University’s first major TNE project – a Joint Education Institute with Zhejiang University of Technology in China - in September 2026, and partnership with Ain Shams University in Egypt to set up a branch campus on their new International Campus.
Richard has lived in Spain, Ireland, the US, and worked in more than 30 countries, including visiting appointments at the Universities of Lagos, Nanjing, Peking and Heidelberg, and the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He was Chair of Universities UK Africa and Middle East Network from 2020-2023 and currently serves on the Governing Council of UK Research and Innovation’s Arts and Humanities Research Council.
Contact
Helen Tarrant (Executive PA), Dr Helen Butler (Business Manager) or dvc-globalengagement@exeter.ac.uk.
Phone: 01392 723004
Address: University of Exeter, Northcote House, The Queen’s Drive, Exeter, EX4 4QJ