Alastair Sim is a highly experienced leader in the fields of policy, advocacy and strategy. He is passionate about higher education’s success, and its contribution to the common good.
Alastair served for 14 years at the executive head of Universities Scotland, the representative organisation for Scottish higher education institutions. In that role he achieved a 24% increase in public funding for universities during a time of austerity; led the Scottish university sector’s response to the Covid emergency and secured over £220m of additional funding; and navigated the university sector through the tricky political waters of the referendums on Scottish Independence and on Brexit. He led policy development that put Scottish universities at the forefront of widening access for learners from disadvantaged backgrounds, and led the creation of a new higher education code of governance for Scotland. Alastair has been a frequent voice on TV, radio and the press and in Parliament championing the university sector’s interests.
Prior to that, Alastair managed the enduring corporate turnaround of the University of Glasgow, leading the creation of a new strategy and achieving financial, reputational and academic results that put the university on course for new levels of success.
Alastair was a fast-stream Senior Civil Servant for 20 years. During a diverse career he led action to transform the environmental sustainability of farming, developed legislation to protect the natural environment, and contributed to building Scotland’s devolution settlement. He developed a track-record of turning underperforming business units into high-performing teams, and led fundamental governance change for Scotland’s law courts.
Alastair is also an experienced non-executive director. He is a Board member of Prosper, formerly the Scottish Council for Development and Industry. He also serves on the Board of Disclosure Scotland,
Alastair holds degrees from the Universities of Oxford, Delaware and Glasgow, and a postgraduate diploma in public affairs (with distinction).
He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, and a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.
Alastair is also an internationally-published novelist, and leads history tours in his native Edinburgh.