Ian Pryce believes FE “hasn’t been good” at telling the story of how 30 years of college independence from government changed it “out of all recognition”. The chief executive of the Bedford College Group, is determined to redress that in his final FE Week interview as he approaches retirement.
There is a perfect synchronicity to how his career matches that 30-year golden era.
Pryce, 64, started out in 1992 at the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC, forerunner to the Education and Skills Funding Agency), just as it was launched to replace local authorities in distributing funding to colleges.
He is now entering retirement as colleges have been reclassified as public sector entities and, as a consequence, lose the borrowing and spending freedoms independence has given them for three decades.
