New chair of Office for Students

07 February 2017

Commenting on the announcement of Sir Michael Barber as the preferred candidate for chair of the Office for Students, Acting Director of the Russell Group Dr Tim Bradshaw said:

“The OfS will have a huge amount of responsibility and the new chair has a big job ahead of him. Sir Michael Barber has a wide range of experience in education and we look forward to working with him closely as the OfS establishes itself.

“The OfS will need to engage constructively with universities and use its proposed powers carefully as a risk-based and proportionate regulator. We all want to see students get a high quality education that offers real value for money, and gives them the skills they need to thrive in their future careers. This can best be delivered by maintaining the institutional autonomy which underpins the success of UK higher education – and we need to see this recognised in practice by the OfS as well as in principle.”

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