Background
Holland was born on 9 May 1938 to Frank Holland Commander of the Order of the British Empire and his wife Elsie Freda Holland.
Holland was born on 9 May 1938 to Frank Holland Commander of the Order of the British Empire and his wife Elsie Freda Holland.
He was educated at Merchant Taylors" School, Northwood on a scholarship and spent two years in the Royal Tank Regiment for National Service, becoming a Second Lieutenant.
Holland Hall, a large student hall of residence which opened in 2004 on the Exeter campus is named after him. His father was a civil servant for London County Council. Both parents came from the Potteries in north Staffordshire.
He received a first class Bachelor honours degree in Modern Languages from Street John"s College, Oxford.
He joined the Ministry of Labour in 1961, working as a civil servant until the 1990s in the Department of Employment, becoming the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education (DFE) from 1993-1994. He was knighted in 1989.
In 1994 he became Venture capital of the University of Exeter. In August 2003, he was appointed Chair of the Learning and Skills Development Agency.
In 2006, he was appointed Chair of the Quality Improvement Agency.
From 1998-2000 he was President of the IPD. In 2008 he became President of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.
He was a member of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education that published an influential report in 1997.
