Chris Cobb
Chris Cobb, born around 1964, is a British computer scientist and university administrator. He is the pro vice-chancellor and chief operating officer at the University of London, and has previously held similar roles at Roehampton University and the London School of Economics. In 2020 he became chief executive of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, even though he is not a professional musician.
Cobb trained in business and computing in the late 1980s. He started at the LSE as an analyst programmer and later led its business systems division. He moved to Roehampton in 2005 as pro vice-chancellor, and returned to the University of London in 2011 as chief operating officer and university secretary; he was promoted to pro vice-chancellor in 2014.
He teaches IT management and has done research on IT use in universities abroad. He has served on many national groups related to IT in higher education and is a strong advocate for shared services across universities, chairing the university’s shared services company, Co Sector Ltd.
Cobb has advised on IT integration for university mergers and led efforts to create service-oriented IT architectures to improve efficiency. He is a frequent speaker on university efficiency, serves as a judge for major education awards, and has earned several honors, including Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. His work has also sparked controversy: he faced protests from students and some politicians, and was criticized by some for remarks about peaceful protest. He has commented on how technology is shaping education, from Wi‑Fi and flipped classrooms to BYOD study spaces and digital library resources.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 10:23 (CET).