Australian Catholic University (ACU) has conferred an Honorary Doctorate on the outgoing Vice-Chancellor of the University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA), Professor Francis Campbell.
Professor Campbell has served as Vice-Chancellor of UNDA for six years, commencing the role at the outset of the COVID pandemic.
The honorary degree from ACU acknowledges Professor Campbell’s service to the Church and community, especially in higher education, and his long career as a diplomat. This is his seventh honorary doctorate and the first from an Australian university.
Professor Campbell said the honour came as a “great surprise” and was a humbling way to conclude his service to Australian higher education.
“I want to thank the Chancellor, Deputy Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and Senate of Australian Catholic University for this very kind act. It is humbling to be considered for such an award,” he said.
“I have worked closely with ACU in this role and in my previous role in London, and it is wonderful to be associated with the university through this award.”
The honorary award comes as Professor Campbell prepares to leave his post at UNDA for another career venture. Earlier this year he announced he would step down as Vice-Chancellor and relocate to the Bahamas to work for the philanthropic organisation the Templeton World Charity Foundation.
During Professor Campbell’s tenure, UNDA has achieved enormous growth in its international student community and historic enrolment numbers across its three campuses in Fremantle, Broome and Sydney.
“Over the last six years, we have expanded our international reach considerably to include a vibrant international student community across our campuses. We now have our largest number of students in our history and that is poised to grow in the coming years,” Professor Campbell said.
UNDA and ACU are Australia’s only Catholic universities, servicing both the east and west coast of Australia.
UNDA was established as a private Catholic university in Perth in 1989 to train Catholic teachers and nurses. It was established under a partnership between the Archdiocese of Perth and the University of Notre Dame in the United States.
In 1991, ACU became the first national Catholic university following the amalgamation of four Catholic tertiary institutions in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT.
Professor Campbell said, together, the two universities had flourished in their shared mission to serve Australia and the global Church in the Catholic intellectual tradition.
“We both see Catholic education as a gift to the world, and a vital mission of the Church in the world,” he said.
“Both institutions also have a shared mission, as the late Pope Francis set out, to serve communities on the margins of society. That service is an invitation each day to form the next generation.”
Born and raised into a Catholic family in Northern Ireland, Professor Campbell spent his early years immersed in politics and diplomacy. He was a former advisor to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and the first Catholic Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the Holy See since the Reformation.
“Politics and diplomacy were powerful anchors, and at a special time in my life as my home society changed and transitioned to peace,” Professor Campbell explained.
“Higher education was there at the very outset and had it not been for the allure of diplomacy and the call to practice, I would have continued with my postgraduate studies.
“But it was to come back into my life in 2014 when I moved from the Foreign Office to St Mary’s University, and now I am about to enter the world of Foundations with my shift to the Templeton Foundations.”
Professor Campbell said his career pivots all shared one common thread.
“All three areas have a shared commonality. Whether it is government, diplomacy, higher education or charitable foundations, they commit to serve the common good of society,” he said.
“The words of St John Henry Newman speak to me quite strongly in this regard when he writes about us perhaps not knowing what our true purpose has been in this life, but it will be revealed to us in the next, and all we are asked to do is to be open to God’s will.”
Offering advice to those students who may be uncertain about the future, Professor Campbell urged them to remain open to and take opportunities as they arise.
“I always encourage students to avail themselves of time abroad to study and to experience different cultures and societies,” he added.
“It opens the mind and helps a student to become more resilient and to see themselves and their own society in a new light.
“The beauty of God’s gift of life is its potential, and that is what gives us hope despite the challenges that can arise in life from time to time.”