About Alan Gilbert

Alan David Gilbert AO (11 September 1944 – 27 July 2010) was an Australian historian and academic administrator who was until June 2010 the president and vice-chancellor of the University of Manchester.

During his tenure (1996–2004) as vice-chancellor of the University of Melbourne, he pushed for and established Melbourne University Private, a private university offshoot which ultimately failed. This, and his well-known controversial views on private funding of universities, led to Richard Davis in 2002 dubbing him the "doyen of economically rationalist vice-chancellors".