New Executive Director for AQA

The Board of the Academic Quality Agency for New Zealand Universities (AQA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Sheelagh Matear as its new Executive Director.

Professor Matear is currently a Professor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Quality and Student Experience) at Lincoln University. She will commence her new role on 29 February 2016 following the retirement of Dr Jan Cameron after six years in the position of AQA Director.

Emeritus Professor Pat Walsh, Chair of the Board of AQA, said that Professor Matear brings a wealth of academic quality and management experience to the role and will continue on the good work undertaken by Dr Cameron and her predecessors.

In addition to her leadership of the academic quality, learning and teaching functions for Lincoln University, Professor Matear is a current member of the Committee on University Academic Programmes (CUAP), a current AQA academic auditor and on numerous national working parties and steering groups. Most recently she has developed and led a comprehensive reform of Lincoln University’s postgraduate, bachelors and vocational and pathway qualifications.

Prior to her appointment to Lincoln University in 2004, Professor Matear previously held academic and industry positions in the US and the UK, and was an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Marketing at the University of Otago.

Date: 18 November 2015
Contact: comms@aqa.ac.nz or phone 04 801 7924