David Roberts

One of Europe’s first and most experienced university sector marketers

David is the UK’s most experienced education marketer with almost 30 years in the field working in-house as research, consultant and agency director. He is the co-creator and Managing Director of ‘The Knowledge Partnership’, a research-led strategy agency that works around the world in the field of marketing and reputation. The company devised and leads the W100 Reputation Network, a membership club for directors of international communications and marketing working in the world’s leading academic institutions. Prior to this, David was CEO of HEIST for 15 years, a non-profit body created to build the capacity of UK higher education marketing. A qualified town planner, David has a Masters degree in social science. He entered higher education in 1987 as the UK’s first institutional head of marketing after work that focussed on education’s contribution to city regeneration. He has published widely on topics as diverse as student demand, the impact of fees, pricing practice, word-of-mouth marketing, reputation management, course development and social inclusion. He has participated in over 100 conferences in the field of education marketing and his consulting and research work has taken him to many countries across Europe, as well as to New Zealand, Australia and the USA.