Professor Steve Smith BSc Politics and International Studies, MSc International Studies, PhD in international relations

Vice-Chancellor (University of Exeter)

Throughout my time at Southampton I was lucky enough to have wonderful teachers who inspired their students with their passion for the subject.

Professor Steve Smith, vice-chancellor of the University of Exeter and the head of Universities UK, looks back with affection on his student years. He worked for his undergraduate, masters and PhD degrees in politics and international relations at Southampton and is sure the experience transformed his life. He was knighted for services to higher education in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in 2011.

He was the first in his family to enter higher education: "I grew up in Norwich at a time when most young people ended up working in the local shoe factory. In fact, a teacher told my parents at an open day, 'People like you don't go to university'."

Politics fascinated Steve from an early age, thanks to an inspirational teacher of British government at school. He chose to go to Southampton because it offered a course which combined politics with economics: "In my first year, I went to lectures in political theory by the Polish academic Joseph Frankel and was fascinated. Studying international politics from the late 1970s was absorbing; the world seemed to change almost every day. Throughout my time at Southampton I was lucky enough to have wonderful teachers who inspired their students with their passion for the subject."

Now, Steve is equally enthusiastic about giving young people from all backgrounds the chance to experience the benefits of higher education. "University changes lives," he says. "Widening participation is still vitally important and we must do all we can to extend this opportunity to all who want to learn."