Professor Stuart Bartholomew is a graduate of universities in the UK and Canada. He has held posts at McMaster University, Ontario; the University of Calgary; the University of Derby; the Open University and as Dean of Media at The University of the Arts, London. He joined the Arts University Bournemouth as Principal and Vice Chancellor in 1997 where he remained until his retirement in 2020. With expertise in the field of media and broadcasting, Professor Bartholomew worked extensively with the British Film Institute and has served with national validating and awarding bodies and the Quality Assurance Agency. He was Vice Chairman of the Council for Higher Education in Art and Design and Chair of UKADIA the national association of specialist arts and design institutions and is widely acknowledged as one of the champions of specialist provision in these subjects. He has been an adviser to the British Broadcasting Organisation, The Independent Broadcasting Authority, UNESCO and OECD.
He has been active in regional, national and international matters related to the creative economy. Professor Bartholomew has served on the Regional Development Creative Industries Task Force advising the government department of Culture Media and Sport on entrepreneurship in the creative industries. A member of the former Prime Minister’s Initiative Strategy Group he advised on the implementation of higher levels skills at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. At the Arts University he was instrumental in establishing with the support of the former Regional Development Authority the “Enterprise Pavilion” which provided incubation facilities for graduates commercialising creative ideas. Building on a concept of “agency” he has promoted connections between school, higher education and enterprise. Professor Bartholomew was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts in 1999 and was a Visiting Professor at The University of the Arts, London. He was awarded a CBE for services to the arts and higher education in the Queen’s New Years Honours in 2016. In 2019 he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant in the County of Dorset.