Member News
20th February 2012A group representing higher education in the UK has welcomed the appointment of Professor Les Ebdon as the new Director of Fair Access, and condemned attacks on him as 'unacceptable'.
Business secretary Vince Cable announced today that Prof Ebdon will head OFFA, despite objections from the Commons Business, Innovation and Skills select committee, who voted against his appointment.
Tory MPs were among those on the committee who said they were “not convinced by Prof Ebdon's descriptions of the root causes of the obstacles to accessing universities".
Prof Ebdon had told the committee he would impose financial penalties on universities which failed to meet access targets. Andy Westwood, GuildHE's CEO, said:
“OFFA is an important part of the higher education sector and we support both it and the appointment of Prof Les Ebdon as its new director. All universities and higher education institutions are committed to the principles of fair access including GuildHE members, so much of the commentary that followed the BIS select committee’s decision not to endorse his appointment was both ill-informed and ill-judged.
"Furthermore, the attacks on OFFA, Les Ebdon and on the HE sector as a whole were unacceptable. Put simply, the UK needs all of the universities and colleges in its diverse higher education sector and all institutions need to seek out, recruit and retain the best and brightest students. OFFA’s role is to ensure that this happens and to monitor the performance of institutions against targets that they set themselves."
Vince Cable said Prof Ebdon's "considerable experience, gained through a working lifetime in higher education, will bring great benefits to the role and equip him to deal even-handedly with all parts of the sector".
He added: "We undertook two long, thorough searches to ensure we found the right candidate for the post, and I have no doubt that Prof Ebdon has the qualities and determination to help those students from low-income or other under-represented groups to secure the places in higher education that their attainments and potential show they deserve."
A BIS minister will answer an urgent question on the appointment in the Commons later this afternoon, where MPs are expected to complain that the decision of the committee was overruled by Mr Cable.
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd