Tom Boland: Chief Executive

Tom Boland, Chief Executive, Higher Education Authority, Ireland

Tom Boland is Chief Executive of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) since January 2004.  The HEA is a statutory body established to allocate public funding to Irish higher education institutions; to oversee performance of the higher education and research sector generally and to advise the Minister for Education and Science on the development of the sector.

He is Chairperson of the Board of HEAnet (a public sector company which provides high quality internet services to the Irish education and research system).  He is a member of the Board of Science Foundation Ireland, the Central Applications Office and the Governing Board of IMHE, a sub-programme of the OECD Education Directorate.

He holds degrees in Civil Engineering and Law and was called to the Irish Bar in 1987.

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Vice Chancellor: Professor Janet Beer

Professor Janet Beer, Vice Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University, took up post in 2007. She is a graduate of Reading and Warwick Universities and as a postgraduate student, held a fellowship at Yale University. She worked for the Inner London Education Authority between 1983 and 1989 and has fulfilled academic and leadership roles at Warwick, Roehampton and Manchester Metropolitan.

Professor Beer has an established record of research in late nineteenth and early twentieth century American literature and culture and contemporary Canadian women’s writing. She has published widely in these fields and is currently completing a study of the late writing of Edith Wharton.

Professor Beer has a significant national profile and is the current chair of the national steering group for the National Student Survey (HEFCE). She sits on the Advisory Board of the Higher Education Policy Institute, a Board member of the Equality Challenge Unit, a member of the Financial Sustainability Strategy Group (HEFCE), a member of the Advisory Group: Matched funding scheme for voluntary giving (HEFCE), is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of American Studies and, in August 2009, became the Chair of the University Alliance.

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Biographical Note: Professor Robin Middlehurst

Professor Robin Middlehurst was appointed Professor of Higher Education at Kingston University in July 2007. From May 1st 2004, she has also been on half-time secondment to the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education (LFHE) as Director of Strategy, Research and International. In the LFHE, she has to date commissioned more than 20 research projects on aspects of leadership, management and governance in the HE sector. She also leads on the development and implementation of the Foundation’s international strategy to support the internationalisation agenda of the UK higher education sector.

Robin’s own research, teaching and consultancy are concerned with the nature and impact of change in higher education policy and practice with a particular focus on:

• leadership and leadership development
• governance and management
• quality assurance and enhancement at national and international levels
• ‘borderless higher education’ and international HE strategy

Robin has taught at all levels of education, from primary to adult education and was previously involved in social and youth work. Robin’s career in higher education has included research and academic positions at the University of Surrey and the Institute of Education, University of London. From 1994-1998 she worked at the national policy agency for quality in higher education, the Higher Education Quality Council (and subsequently QAA), as Assistant Director and Director of the Quality Enhancement Group. She returned to the University of Surrey as Director of the Centre for Continuing Education and was awarded a personal professorship in higher education in 1998. In 1999, she led research and consultancy projects that provided evidence for the establishment of the Leadership Foundation in the UK in 2003, and in 2000, the findings of a major research project on Borderless Higher Education led by Robin and her team provided evidence for the establishment of the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education in 2002, a global strategic information service for higher education. Robin joined the OBHE Advisory Board in 2005.

Robin has co-directed the UK’s Top Management Programme since 1999. She is a Council member of Roehampton University and was elected as a Fellow of the Society for Research into Higher Education in December 2009. Robin is regularly invited to undertake consultancy and research work for national and international organisations including UNESCO, OECD, UUK, and the UK funding bodies.

June 2009

Some Relevant Publications

• Middlehurst R. (2002) ‘Variations on a Theme: Complexity and Choice in a World of Borderless Education’, (pp134-155) Journal of Studies in International Education, vol.6, no.2, summer 2002
• Middlehurst R. and Jackson N. (2003) ‘The Higher Education Quality Council’s Quality Enhancement Group: Brokering Enquiry, Policy and Action’ In: Jackson, N (ed) Engaging and Changing Higher Education through Brokerage Aldershot, Ashgate. pp109-123
• Middlehurst R. and Woodfield S. (2005). International Quality Review and Distance Learning: Lessons from Five Countries. CHEA Occasional Paper. CHEA Institute for Research and Study of Accreditation and Quality Assurance. Washington DC, Council for Higher Education Accreditation (pp1-80) (Research Report)
• Middlehurst, R. (2007). ‘A Challenging Journey: From Leadership Courses to Leadership Foundation for Higher Education’ in Glickman, T. and White, S. (eds) Managing for Innovation, New Directions for Higher Education. 137, Spring 2007, pp45-57
• Middlehurst, R. (2008). “Not enough science or not enough learning? Exploring the gaps between leadership theory and practice”. Higher Education Quarterly. Vol 62, no. 4, pp322-339. (October 2008)
• Middlehurst, R. (2008). “Leadership and Internationalisation.” in The Global University: the role of senior managers. London, Bournemouth University/DEA.