Quality agency gets rough ride

The Higher Education Quality Council is in trouble and its chief executive is trying to bale out. But the question of how to assess quality in universities is still unresolved. The Higher Education Quality Council was rocked this week by the news that its chief executive has been shortlisted to head the new further education body, the Association of Colleges.

Roger Brown, who has led the HEQC for three years, was one of four candidates, shortlisted out of 32 applicants. The four were being interviewed on Thursday for the post of chief executive of the AoC.

News of Dr Brown's bid for a new job has heightened uncertainty over the future of the quality council. Leaked minutes of a meeting held by the joint planning group for a new single quality agency suggest the HEQC should be wound up.

Quality council staff, including Dr Brown, have all had their contracts extended until July 31 1998, but it is still unclear what role they will have under the proposed new quality regime.

Although Dr Brown would be considered a strong contender to head the new quality agency, it is thought political considerations might weigh against him.

He may also not want the job if the joint planning group's final report, expected to be published today, comes up with a formula for a future quality system that does not favour the style adopted by the HEQC.

An HEQC spokeswoman said there was a feeling of insecurity among staff even though contracts had been extended. "It is normal that if you are in this kind of position and something interesting comes up you will go for it," she said.

Peter Williams, director of the HEQC's quality assurance group, said morale was "extremely high" despite the unsure future of the council. "Obviously there is uncertainty, but I guess there is no more in our neck of the woods than there is elsewhere in higher education," he said.

The Higher Education Funding Council's quality assessment division, whose future is also in question, has appointed Peter Milton, formerly an associate director in the division, as its acting director.

The appointment to what is thought to be a caretaker position follows the departure of Paul Clark to take up the post of director of teaching and learning for the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council.

Other candidates shortlisted for the AoC post were Ruth Gee, former chief executive of the Association for Colleges; Roger Ward, former chief executive of the Colleges Employers Forum; and Elizabeth Cottrell, an adviser to the Education and Employment Secretary, Gillian Shephard.