Vice-Chancellor Professor Jackie Dunne awarded MBE in New Year Honours
Professor Jackie Dunne, Vice-Chancellor of Birmingham Newman University, has received an MBE in the 2026 New Year Honours List for services to Higher Education.
Jackie has dedicated her career to creating education opportunities for others. Responsible for leading Birmingham Newman through a sustained period of success, Jackie has been instrumental in enhancing and promoting pathways to success for students in the West Midlands and beyond.
During her five-year tenure, the University has taken an increasingly prominent role in regional civic engagement as an inclusive institution that recognises the power of lifelong learning. Birmingham Newman University has recently been named the Times and Sunday Times University of the Year for Social Inclusion in the 2026 Good University Guide.
On being appointed an MBE, Jackie said:
“This has been a lovely, wonderful surprise. For more than thirty years, I have been fortunate to have worked in roles which have allowed me to focus on ensuring that education is an entitlement, not a privilege, and accessible to all.
“I am honoured, humbled and taken aback to have received this recognition in the Honours List, for work that I am deeply passionate about.”
Working closely with external partners, Jackie has reshaped the University’s portfolio of courses, most notably through the introduction of our School of Nursing and Allied Health. Through these advancements, the University has become increasingly integral to efforts to meet regional skills gaps. The University is also at the forefront of a drive to widen participation in the West Midlands, through the growth of its student population.
Jackie’s entire career has been typified by a constant commitment to the values of inclusivity, the importance of social mobility, and the great power that education can have to transform opportunities for others. Prior to joining Birmingham Newman, Jackie was Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Wolverhampton, designing and leading on significant investments which changed the education landscape in the Black Country. She was responsible for education initiatives that spanned both compulsory and post-compulsory education; examples include leading the development of the university’s flagship Springfield campus, its regional learning centres, its Apprenticeship Hub, and its Multi Academy Trust of 15 university sponsored schools.
Jackie has been an active member of many regional and national organisations which have furthered opportunities for lifelong and life-wide learning. Currently chairing Universities West Midlands, and a member of the GuildHE Executive Board, she previously has been Chair of the national board of the Children’s University, and Chair of the Cathedrals Group of Universities. In her time at Wolverhampton, she also sat on the Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership Board, chaired their Employment and Skills Group, and was a member of the West Midlands Skills and Productivity Commission.
