Acommencement order from Welsh education minister Jeremy Miles means that work at the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research will begin in earnest from 4 September.
For those who’ve not been paying attention, the commission will take over regulatory and funding responsibilities from the soon-to-be-shuttered Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW). But it’s to be much more than this, with a remit to oversee the tertiary sector as a whole – apprenticeships, adult learning, HE, FE, research – in a way that’s regularly held up as a possible model for other nations (and Labour in Westminster) to pay heed to.
It’s been a long time coming. After a tricky recruitment process, Simon Pirotte was confirmed as the new regulator’s inaugural chief exec earlier this year, and he should be starting in post any day now. It was hardly on par with the cases of James Wharton or Toby Young, but the direct appointment (without a panel interview) of the former Bridgend College chief executive attracted some polite ire from the Welsh education committee and opposition parties – and yet his background in further education was broadly welcomed, and looks to have been the ministerial priority.
He fastened onto the word “triumvirate” in his pre-appointment hearing to describe CTER’s leadership team – he joins up with already appointed chair Julie Lydon and deputy chair David Sweeney, who together bring an absolute boatload of higher education experience.
