The need to assemble an effective group of people to regulate Universities and other Higher Education bodies is clear. As Justine Greening stated in the announcement that was published a minute into the New Year as the new body came into force “The higher education sector is one of our nation’s greatest assets” The new regulator which will replace HEFCE is called the Office for Students (OfS) and the Government claim it is designed to champion the interests of students, promote choice and help to ensure that students are receiving a good deal for their investment in higher education. The statement went on to explain “These appointments will not only reflect the diverse needs of the HE sector but will also make sure the interests of employers and students are represented by the new body, which will also hold universities to account over issues such as vice chancellor pay and free speech”

The OfS board will comprises 15 people, nine of whom were already in place prior to Mondays announcement, either as employees of the new body, from HEFCE or from professional roles in Universities. The six appointments announced should in theory be the people who will ensure that the voices of employers and students are heard strongly if the words of the DfE are to be believed. It is tragic in a way that their appointment emerged when most people were partying, watching the London firework display or asleep. It is also deeply concerning that their names were announced at the same time as the OfS came into force. However these failings are nothing when compared to the idea of including someone on the list who is an educational hot potato and who is so supportive of the Tory Party that he regularly appears on panels on TV to speak up in defence of them. His involvement in the world of education in the creation of Academies, including one that has seen a constant churn of head teachers is well known. He is also well known for making statements that are critical of some of the people who are studying at both schools and universities. In short he is as good a fit to the OfS as Boris Johnson is to the Foreign Office. In the context of OfS and based purely on the information provided on the DfE website “he is the co-founder of the West London Free School, and now serves as the director the New Schools Network. His teaching experience includes working as a teaching fellow at Harvard and a teaching assistant at Cambridge. He is a Fulbright Commissioner” So apart from being willing to act as a ambassador for the Government on OfS his background does not match the profile being sought. The rest of the Board does include 2-3 people with a much more relevant background and understanding of the world of employers or students, although bearing in mind the way in which the world of work operates, the lack of an SME representative is deeply worrying:

• Ruth Carlson is a current student at Surrey University, where she is a Student Ambassador for civil engineering. She has experience as a course representative, as a former president of the Surrey University Women’s Football Team and has also worked in other institutional and regional representative forums.
• Elizabeth Fagan is Senior Vice President, Managing Director of Boots.
• Katja Hall is a partner at Chairman Mentors International, previously she was Group Head of External Affairs and Sustainability at HSBC where she was responsible for external communications, stakeholder engagement, social responsibility and community investment.

However the big gap which is only partly filled by the appointment of Ruth Carlson is that of the world of students, one person out of 15 is not capable of ensuring the various challenges of being a student are heard and responded to. This is particularly true in an environment where the voice of University Professionals is diverse and numerous. One could imagine the difficulty in appointing students who are by their very nature focused on other matters as the year progresses. However presumably these six appointments to the OfS will act as non executive decision makers, or even advisers to the main part of the board, so finding additional student voices would surely have been possible. This now places a demand on the OfS to work in a manner that ensures that the world of students is connected to their committee in an effective manner. The CEO of OfS is the person who will need to find a way to compensate for the gaps in the appointments made by Justine Greening and Jo Johnson, the DfE Ministers who are responsible for getting this sorted. Her name is Nicola Dandridge and she was previously CEO of Universities UK. Over to you Nicola, you now need to try to prevent the poor appointment of Toby Young from damaging the OfS from day one and make up for the gap created by the lack of other students apart from Ruth and find a way of listening to SME’s who are the employers who really need to be listened to. The reason for this second issue is that large businesses such as HSBC and Boots will always be listened to by both Governments and Universities. It is the SME’s who have the capacity to recruit graduates, yet whose voices are rarely heard by either Government or Universities due to their size and diversity.