Marketing academic, Professor Simon Bell, has been announced as the new Head of School at the University of Melbourne’s School of Professional and Continuing Education (MSPACE).
Launched in 2017, MSPACE provides lifelong learning opportunities through a comprehensive range of high-quality professional, continuing and executive education programs – delivered in-person and online.
Professor Bell has worked at the University of Melbourne in various roles since 1997. Additionally, he worked at the Judge Business School at Cambridge University, where he remains a fellow.
“It’s wonderful to have a longstanding University leader like Professor Bell at the helm of MSPACE. Professor Bell brings his experience in corporate education to MSPACE and I look forward to working with him to develop this important new enterprise to deliver a whole-of-university approach to professional, continuing and executive education,” said the University’s Provost, Professor Mark Considine.
Professor Bell plans to make his marketing expertise central to his role as Head of School.
“The University has done a great job of becoming more student-centric and I want to turbo-charge that at MPSACE. We need to think about our stakeholders and students as customers, which will help us design and deliver educational experiences that delight,” he said.
He has worked extensively with industry for the purposes of research, consulting and executive education, working with firms such as Goldman Sachs, Telstra, Shell, Agricultural Bank of China, IBM, Clayton Utz, and PWC, among others.
“Simon’s track record in executive education provides a perfect fit to his new role leading MSPACE,” Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics, Paul Kofman, said.
“He is taking on this important role at a pivotal time in the development of the University’s strategy to build our local and global presence in the emerging area of professional and continuing education.”
As for his vision for the future of MSPACE, Professor Bell is committed to furthering the quality and innovativeness of MSPACE’s offerings.
“It’s key we continue to make the most of the University’s high-quality insights to create research-led, engaging programs,” Professor Bell said.
“I’ve always been a huge fan of education that is useful and practical. I want what we teach to be highly relevant to what our students and stakeholders do at work on a Monday morning.”