TALKS are taking place with the funding councils and other higher education "stakeholders" to raise an estimated Pounds 500,000 for the new Institute for Learning and Teaching. The Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals has agreed to set up a shadow council with representatives from staff, institutions, funding bodies and the new quality agency to manage start-up arrangements.
By April next year, this council should have appointed a core staff to establish the institute, with an agreed corporate plan following by September 1. The CVCP wants the institute to develop along the lines of an independent professional body or learned society, preferably with a royal charter.