Vice-President, Academic

Professor Michelle Bellingan
Professor Michelle Bellingan

About the Vice-President, Academic

As the Vice-President, Academic Professor Michelle Bellingan is responsible for leading the creation and implementation of the University’s strategic and operational priorities, related to educational design and delivery, as well as ensuring the quality of our courses. Professor Bellingan is also responsible for ensuring that the University is able to recruit, retain, and mentor an outstanding academic and teaching staff.

Professor Bellingan drives this agenda through the Tertiary Education Division (TED) portfolio and works with a leadership team comprising Deputy Vice-Presidents, Deans and Directors to ensure the delivery of high quality and innovative courses and qualifications and learning experiences for our students.

As part of the Senior Executive team, Professor Bellingan plays a primary role in institutional strategy and operations, including oversight and implementation of relevant organisational systems and quality assurance processes, budget allocation, and general management across the Division.

The Vice-President, Academic role also provides executive leadership to deliver meaningful integration of the vocational and higher education portfolios expected of a fully comprehensive (dual sector) university. The role also nurtures and facilitates the development of new courses, qualifications, retention and growth in student load, as well as engagement with the University’s wider communities in terms of teaching, accessibility and educational quality.

The Vice-President, Academic is supported by the Deputy Vice-President, Education and Quality, the Deputy Vice-President, VET and Business Development, Deans of the Schools of Health, Medical and Applied Science; Nursing, Midwifery and Social Sciences; Business and Law; Education and the Arts; Engineering and Technology; and Associate Deans of Access Education and School of Trades; and the Directors of Learning, Design and Innovation, Educational Quality and Integrity and VET Learning and Teaching. 

Together the TED leadership team oversees a Tertiary Education agenda that provides high quality, compliant and industry and professions-focused education and training across the entire Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF).

About Professor Michelle Bellingan

Professor Bellingan commenced as Vice-President, Academic in January 2023, bringing three decades of tertiary education, academic management and research experience to the role. 

In her previous role as Dean of the University’s largest School (Health, Medical and Applied Sciences), Professor Bellingan oversaw the delivery of a number of transformative projects, including the implementation of CQUniversity's Regional Medical Pathway.  She has also been responsible for developing several industry collaborations and partnerships to deliver seamless Vocational and Higher Education opportunities which support workforce growth in our regions.

Professor Bellingan provides strategic and academic leadership in her role as Vice-President (Academic), with a focus on educational design and delivery that meets the ever-evolving needs of students and industry. Together with her leadership team, comprised of the University’s Deputy Vice-Presidents and Deans, she engages with the University’s wider communities to shape the future for CQUniversity to be Australia’s most supportive and engaged University. Professor Bellingan has a particular interest in facilitating the development and delivery of high quality, innovative courses of study and learning experiences for students.

Professor Bellingan’s qualifications include a PhD (Nelson Mandela University 2006), Master of Science (University of Port Elizabeth 1993) and a Bachelor of Pharmacy (University of Port Elizabeth, 1992). She currently serves on the Steering Committee of the Regional Medical Pathway and the Board of Queensland Minerals and Energy. 

Susan Praed

Julie Meehan