Anthony Pritchard

Who is Anthony Pritchard?

Anthony Langley Pritchard was a teacher and university administrator. He was the foundation Chief Executive Officer of Open Learning Australia.

Pritchard was born in Melbourne, Australia on 31 July 1940 and moved with his family to country Victoria from where he was sent to Melbourne Grammar School. He completed science and education degrees at the universities of Melbourne and Queensland and taught science and mathematics in government and independent secondary schools in Victoria and Tasmania.

From 1969 to 1975, he taught in a Papua New Guinea government high school before taking up a lectureship at the Goroka Teachers' College. From Goroka, he was invited to join the staff of the Institute of Technology in Lae, where from a senior administrative position, he assisted the Director and later Vice-Chancellor develop the institution for university status as Papua New Guinea's University of Technology.

In 1975 he was appointed as the Executive Officer of the Interim Council of Victoria's fourth university, Deakin University, arriving some months ahead of the foundation Vice Chancellor, Professor Fred Jevons. During the next ten years, Pritchard became University Secretary and Registrar as the university grew and became a leader in open and distance education.