Keohane was made the first Rector of the newly formed Roehampton Institute of Higher Education in 1976, a position he held until his retirement in 1988.
After a year of his degree he joined the Royal Air Force as part of the war effort, reaching the rank of Flight Lieutenant working on radar.
After leaving the RAF, Keohane completed his degree and joined the University of Bristol initially as a physics researcher on the optics of the eye, before taking the role of lecturer in anatomy, followed by becoming a reader in biophysics.
As part of his involvement, he pushed the government for the funding and introduction of the new chair of Science Education, the first in Britain, which was created in 1967.
"[11] During the early 1970s Keohane was critical with the re-organisation of Higher Education, especially with Catholic Colleges, stating "One seriously wonders in all this what professional advice has been heeded in this administrative exercise of reorganisation.
"[12] In 1976, Keohane left his position at Chelsea College of Science and Technology to become the first Rector of the newly created Roehampton Institute of Higher Education.
As the founder of the Journal for Education Policy, he had worked his way up to be Vice Chair of the Taylor and Francis publishing business, a position he held until 1993.