In November 2025 he received the outstanding lifetime achievement award by Times Higher Education. The citation stated that it is “hard to think of an academic who has had more influence on the course of UK higher education over the first quarter of this century”than Smith. “This breadth of impact put him at the heart of major policy reforms that helped to shape the university sector as we know it today.”[2]
Early life
Smith was born on 4 February 1952 in Norwich,England. He attended the City of Norwich School,then a grammar school,on Eaton Road,Norwich. His parents were from working class backgrounds. At a parents' evening,his form master told his parents about their son that "people like you don't go to university". The school afterwards suggested finding a low-skilled job for him.[3][4]
From 1976 to 1978,Smith lectured at Huddersfield Polytechnic. From 1979 to 1992,he lectured at University of East Anglia,becoming director of the Centre for Public Choice Studies at UEA.[6] He was a professor at the university from 1990 to 1992. From 1992 to 2002,he was senior pro vice-chancellor (academic affairs),as well as professor of international politics at University of Wales,Aberystwyth and head of the Department of International Politics.[6]
In 2012,Sir Steve Smith,together with the vice-chancellor of Plymouth University announced the demerger of Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry,and the establishment of the University of Exeter Medical School and the Plymouth University "Peninsula" Schools of Medicine and Dentistry. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.[10]
In October 2022 the University of Exeter named its Living Systems Institute in honour of its former Vice-Chancellor. His portrait (by Alastair Adams,2022) hangs in Sir Steve Smith building.[16] The university also awarded Smith with an honorary LLD in July 2023.[17][18]
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