Author: Nick Linford

The preferred candidate to take over as Ofqual’s chief regulator has been revealed. Education secretary Nicky Morgan confirmed, in a letter published today to education select committee chair Neil Carmichael, that Sally Collier was first choice for the role. Ms Collier, who has spent 20 years’ experience in the civil service, will replace Glenys Stacey […]

The Association of Colleges (AoC) will have to re-advertise for a new chief executive after failing to find a suitable candidate through the first round  of interviews, FE Week can reveal. It initially posted an advert for the role, which will pay around £135,000 a year with “attractive benefits”, on the AoC website on January […]

Rachel Sandby-Thomas (pictured above) has been appointed to the role of shadow chief executive of new Institute for Apprenticeships (IfA). The announcement of the key appointment for the IfA, which will help police employers as apprenticeship reforms take effect, was announced today by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Ms Sandby-Thomas joined the […]

A row has broken out between the University and College Union (UCU) and providers that dispute the findings of its new report identifying where women were said to be paid “significantly less than men”. The union publicly unveiled the document today, but FE Week was shown a copy in advance and asked for responses from […]

The number of Skills Funding Agency offices are to be radically reduced as they become ‘Further Education funding centres’ from 2018, FE Week understands. The plan was set out in an internal document, ‘2020: Future and Beyond’, which has been circulated through the Department for Education (DfE) and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). […]

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) has defended itself after the Sixth Form Colleges Association (SFCA) said an upcoming strike would be “ill-timed and ill-judged”. The NUT ballot, which closed on February 29, showed 86 per cent of members in favour of strike action, from a 44 per cent turnout. It means that union members […]

South Staffordshire College and South Thames College have joined the 157 Group, the body has revealed. The announcement was made by 157 Group today on Twitter. It tweeted: “We are delighted to announce two new colleges @southstaffs and @SouthThamesColl, bringing the 157 Group to 30 fantastic members.” Graham Morley, chief executive principal of South Staffordshire […]

In 2013-14 a host of UK providers jumped at the chance to take part in a programme in Saudi Arabia that provided the opportunity to share their expertise overseas. The UK government promoted the ‘Colleges of Excellence’ programme widely, calling the huge contracts secured by providers a “£1 billion exports win for UK education” and […]

The Government has pushed back its consultation over plans to close the Sheffield base for hundreds of civil servants with “a huge amount of FE expertise”, FE Week has learned. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was accused of launching an “FE brain drain” after unveiling plans in January to close its Sheffield […]