An Australian by birth, Gillies graduated with a degree in classics from the Australian National University, and subsequently earned a further degree in music from the University of Cambridge. He has been awarded a master"s degree from King"s College London, and doctoral degrees in music from the University of London and the University of Melbourne. In 1983-1985 he was a Hungarian Government Scholar at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest.
Gillies was deputy vice-chancellor (education) and then vice-president (development) of the Australian National University, based in Canberra, Australia, and later at Yale University in the United States. From 1998 to 2001 he was the president of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. And in 2004-2006 the inaugural president of the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences.
In 2007 he moved to the United Kingdom to become vice-chancellor and president of City University, London.
He was described as "well-liked and respected, popular with staff and highly regarded in universities for his thoughtful and imaginative approach", but resigned in the summer of 2009, apparently following disagreements with the governing body. While at City University, he was also an alternate director of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator.
Vice-chair of London Higher (an umbrella body representing over 40 publicly funded universities and higher education colleges in London). A Trustee of the City of London Academy, Islington.
And on the Research Policy Committee of Universities United Kingdom. In November 2009 he was appointed vice-chancellor and chief executive of London Metropolitan University.
In office, he oversaw a programme of course closures and staff redundancies. In April 2012 a survey of staff instituted by the University and College Union (with a turnout of 338) returned a 91 per cent vote of no confidence in his management. He serves on the Nyenrode Foundation Board, responsible for the Nyenrode Business University and the Nyenrode Estate in the Netherlands.
And is an adjunct professor in creative industries of Queensland University of Technology, Australia.
Gillies has been chair of London Higher, chair of AccessHE, and a member of the International Network of Universities United Kingdom.
