Kerry Matthews

Kerry has been Chief Student Officer at the University of Surrey since September 2022 and is a member of the University’s Executive Board.

Kerry started her career in investment banking after graduating from the University of Southampton with a degree in IT.  Kerry found her own University experience personally transformational and was motivated by the idea of working in the sector to enable future graduates to also have a transformative and positive University experience.  This motivation resulted in Kerry taking her first role in Higher Education at the University of Southampton in 2009 and this remains a core part of Kerry’s values today. Kerry worked at Southampton in a range of roles within student support and administration before moving into the role of Director of Student and Education services prior to her move to Surrey.

As Chief Student Officer, Kerry is responsible for ensuring that our students get the experience they expect and deserve from their time at university. Kerry has direct line responsibility for the student facing support services and academic administration functions within the Chief Student Officer portfolio.  In addition, Kerry is executive sponsor on our strategic workstreams related to providing a Seamless Student Journey and Employability Headstart, which is our programme to support students into graduate employment.  Kerry also has institutional responsibility for the University’s Access and Participation Plan and is executive lead in our partnership with Learning Partners to launch a Surrey Maths School for September 2024, which will be one of only 11 such schools in the country.