The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has named the senior academics and higher education figures who will oversee its quality assessment review.
An 18-strong steering group, chaired by Professor Dame Shirley Pearce, HEFCE Board member and former vice-chancellor of Loughborough University, will lead and shape debate in the coming weeks on how quality assessment should be conducted in future.
The news follows an invitation from the funding council for bids from private companies, government agencies and charities to take on quality assurance work currently the responsibility of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA), raising questions over the future of the watchdog.
The new steering group also includes HEFCE's chief executive Professor Madeleine Atkins and deputy chief executive Steve Egan, and nominees from higher education bodies including Universities UK, the National Union of Students, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, the Association of Colleges and the Association of Heads of University Administration.
The group will oversee the evidence submitted to the consultation from higher education providers, students and other voices in HE, and will draw evidence from other quality assessment systems abroad and within other sectors in the UK.
Quality Assurance Steering Group Panel members
Chair and member of HEFCE Board Professor Dame Shirley Pearce CBE
Former Vice-Chancellor, Loughborough University
UUK nominees Professor Janet Beer
Vice-Chancellor, Oxford Brookes University and Vice-Chancellor designate University of Liverpool
Stephen Marston
Vice-Chancellor, University of Gloucestershire
Nigel Carrington
Vice-Chancellor, University of the Arts London
GuildHE nominee Professor David Green
Vice-Chancellor, University of Worcester
Association of Colleges nominee Mike Potter CBE
Chief Executive and Principal, Guildford College of Further and Higher Education
HEFCW nominee Professor Colin Riordan
President and Vice-Chancellor, Cardiff University
HEFCE Board member and Chair of HEFCE Teaching, Quality and the Student Experience Sub-Committee Professor Ruth Farwell
Vice-Chancellor, Buckinghamshire New University
HEFCE Teaching, Quality and the Student Experience Sub-Committee member Professor Amanda Chetwynd
Provost for Student Experience, Colleges and the Library, Lancaster University
HEFCE Board member Peter Houillon
Chief Executive Officer, Kaplan UK
National Union of Students Megan Dunn
Vice President Higher Education, NUS
Student representative and member of HEFCW Student Experience, Teaching and Quality Committee (TBC) Kieron Rees
Student representative Sorana Vieru
Postgraduate Officer, University of Bristol Students’ Union
AHUA nominee Liz Winders
Secretary and Registrar, Sheffield Hallam University
On behalf of the funding bodies:
Professor Madeleine Atkins
Chief Executive, HEFCE
Celia Hunt
Director of Strategic Development, HEFCW
Carol McCabe
Higher Education Division, DELNI
Project sponsor: Steve Egan
Deputy Chief Executive, HEFCE
SFC nominee (observer status) TBC